A brief history of the dollar

[kendoiwan]

http://economicrot.blogspot.com/2008/01/dollar-faltering-foundation-of-us.html

[kendoiwan]

http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/bre.htm

[Ferrus]

Very interesting. I'd day the changes wrought to the system of world finance and economics after the Bretton Woods agreement in 1945 and the Nixon shock of 1971 are somewhat similar to the realignment and calibration happening now with the financial turmoil. Perhaps it goes in 30 year cycles.

[kendoiwan]

There's a line of thinking out there that goes as follows: The real reason the U.S. is in Iraq and sabre rattling at Iran is because Sadam threatened to start selling his barrels in Euros and Iran is threatening the same...

[Ferrus]

These single causes cannot be pinned down as to the reason why the Iraq war happened. The reasons are a complex web of causes.

[kendoiwan]

Not as singular as one would think, if any of the oil producing nations followed through on that threat... you think the economy is in turmoil now

[jyakulis]

There's a line of thinking out there that goes as follows: The real reason the U.S. is in Iraq and sabre rattling at Iran is because Sadam threatened to start selling his barrels in Euros and Iran is threatening the same...

ever hear the story of jonathan may, governor connelly, and the hunt brothers. it ties into the petro dollar. i'm sure you'll find it very interesting.

http://belowthedial.com/jonnymay.html

[kendoiwan]

uljOLFyCjjc

[ryan_m_parr]

Euros and American currency have RFID

http://www.rfidbuzz.com/news/2004/rfid_tags_in_new_us_notes_explode_when_you_try_to_microwave_them.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904rfidtagsexplode.html

[kendoiwan]

Euros and American currency have RFID

http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904rfidtagsexplode.html

*runs to the mircrowave, but remembers this is his last 20...*

[ryan_m_parr]

*runs to the mircrowave, but remembers this is his last 20...*

I was tempted to try it out, though wasn't sure if it was really RFID. Supposedly all recent US Passports have an RFID.

If it's merely a strip of metal that happens to burn the bill whenever in the microwave, it makes me wonder. RFID doesn't seem out of possibility, for whatever reason exactly.


http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001003.html

[kendoiwan]

I was tempted to try it out, though wasn't sure if it was really RFID. Supposedly all recent US Passports have an RFID.

If it's merely a strip of metal that happens to burn the bill whenever in the microwave, it makes me wonder. RFID doesn't seem out of possibility, for whatever reason exactly.

Oh passports have them for fact, they tell you in the brocheure(sp) that comes with them...:mellow:

[stopharian]

I understand most of the economic implications in many discussions fairly well but at times I realize, that its basically on an intuitive level and with a surface understanding.

Perhaps someone with more economics background than myself could succinctly explain why Arab nations have to put their dollars back into the U.S. banking system and why other nations that want to buy oil must sell the US goods in order to gain dollars to buy their oil with. I understand that it cant be done...but why? An individual can simply exchange their money for foreign currency of equal value, why not a larger entity?

[kendoiwan]

http://economicrot.blogspot.com/2008/01/dollar-faltering-foundation-of-us.html

http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/bre.htm

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3340274697167011147&hl=en

[Ferrus]

Perhaps someone with more economics background than myself could succinctly explain why Arab nations have to put their dollars back into the U.S. banking system and why other nations that want to buy oil must sell the US goods in order to gain dollars to buy their oil with.
1) For the interest, I believe.

2) Because the US made agreements with Saudi Arabia, and through them with OPEC, that OPEC oil can only be bought with dollars. (Notice the EU gets much of its oil from non-OPEC Russia)

[ryan_m_parr]

The dependency on the dollar has caused a huge burden in the cost to the EU through OPEC (and the rest of the world,) and is increasingly unreliable to use. Having an alternative currency would be better off.

Ultimately it seems to be making the world dependent on US debt, by sharing the debt dependency through trade (though on a fundamental level this might be innacurate.)

The Euro was foolish to begin with.

Supposedly the US has a vast supply of oil, though has largely remained dependent on obtaining it from the Middle East.

[ryan_m_parr]

10 Euro
http://www.youtube.com/v/MY3482og_jE&hl=en&fs=1

$20
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/498696/tracking_device_in_20_dollar_bill/

Regular RFID in Microwave :)
http://www.youtube.com/v/4_5UYcyO3Pg&hl=en&fs=1

Though these microwave videos appear to be legit, anyone familiar with cell phones popping popcorn might also come across the claim that they were digitally inserted by a cell phone maker for marketing publicity? Anyone know about this? I've seen at least 3-4 videos from around the world where they were able to make popcorn pop using cell phones crowded around several un-popped kernels.

Note: I don't subscribe to the paranoia of the second video. My impression is that if it is RFID, it is used to monitor where bills are going and how they are being used. The way this would occur is possible from whenever money gets sent through a banking system. The amount of energy needed to recognize an RFID would have to be close enough to detect it.

[jyakulis]

Supposedly the US has a vast supply of oil, though has largely remained dependent on obtaining it from the Middle East.

The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April ('08) that only scientists and oilmen knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report (hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota; western South Dakota; and extreme eastern Montana ... check THIS out:

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.

'When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea', says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.

'This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years,' reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a formation known as the WillistonBasin, but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' And it stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada. For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves... and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 41 years straight.

2. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because it's from TWO YEARS AGO, people!
U.S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World!
Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006 Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction.

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

-8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
-18-times as much oil as Iraq
-21-times as much oil as Kuwait
-22-times as much oil as Iran
-500-times as much oil as Yemen- and it's all right here in the Western United States.

from here:
http://rense.com/general83/dtfe.htm

[ryan_m_parr]

I get the impression that the US has the hope of turning the oil/dollar around to it's advantage once other countries no longer have such an opportunity. Supposedly the popular claim of biomatter contributing to the main bulk of oil is false, as it should occur as result of tectonic activity. If the geology of the US has the right environment for oil development, it might have been known long in advance. Strategic oil reserves alone have extensive supply capacity as well. One of the ways the US egged Japan during WWII was by limiting the oil we were supplying them.

[meanlittlechimp]

These single causes cannot be pinned down as to the reason why the Iraq war happened. The reasons are a complex web of causes.

It's always been about the oil.

We overthrew Mossadegh (and installed the Shah) weeks after he announced he wanted to nationalize the oil industry in Iran.

We overthrew Kaseem and installed the Baathists the moment he wanted to nationalize his oil industry. As soon as the Baathists nationalized their oil industry anyways, we immediately started plotting ways to get them out as well.

[Ferrus]

It's always been about the oil.
I don't doubt the absolute essential nature of oil to US foreign policy. Nixon was drawing up plans to invade Saudi Arabia, an ally if not an especially close one, during the OPEC crisis after all.

But, but... there are other factors too, interwoven with the oil issue that mean things are never that clear-cut. Geopolitical hegemony in crucial regions, and the definite display of US power. The Iraq war was partially due to oil, partially due also to the Neo-conservative policy that American culture is best and a good deal of problems in the world (including oil security) could be set right by the imposition of democratic rule. The hope being that a show of power in Iraq would 'triggered' other regime changes, as indeed it did very weakly in areas that were all set to do so anyway.