OPEC Abandons Dollar

Moneynews/Newmax ^ | 12/11/06 | Newmax & AntiMullah

[IronJack]

I think this is just another front in the war. I suspect much of the redesign of our currency is because the various towelhead nations have been trying to undermine its credibility by counterfeiting Federal Reserve notes. The oil spike in the last couple of years has certainly contributed to inflationary pressure. The housing bubble burst at an oddly selective time; there didn't seem to be any more reason for it to pop when it did than at any other time. China is buying friends all over Africa using money from its vast trade surplus. And now the ragheads are shorting dollars.

This isn't just coincidence. All these events wouldn't just randomly converge against the United States at the same time. There's something behind this, he declared, at the risk of being called a Colander Commando.

[AmusedBystander]

Respreading one's portfolio from time to time is always a wise decision.

Certainly the oil sheiks could have made much more money by doing this much earlier like when one Euro was launched to equal one Dollar.

[Brilliant]

The only way the dollar could crash is if a large holder like China just unloads their holdings at once. That would be a pretty dumb thing to do, hurting them more than us.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

bump

[BenLurkin]

Indeed. The headline makes it sound as though oil itself was not going to be traded in dollars.

[Pepper777]

"This isn't just coincidence. All these events wouldn't just randomly converge against the United States at the same time. There's something behind this, he declared, at the risk of being called a Colander Commando."

I agree with you about this not being random. Too much going on at once, way too much.

[Pepper777]

Any thoughts on this??

[gotribe]

Well, the oil princes DO own us.

[Freedom4US]

the way I heard it, and this is almost 20 years ago, certain very expensive US type intaglio press, through a circuitous route ended up in Lebanon, if I recall correctly. North Korea is probably in on this game as well. Anyway, somewhere in unfriendly land, and they were cranking out perfect bills by the sea container load, whatever. Bastards.

[McGavin999]

I'm not exactly sure why, but this doesn't seem to bother me much.

[FARS]

"The only way the dollar could crash is if a large holder like China just unloads their holdings at once. That would be a pretty dumb thing to do, hurting them more than us."

---

Not quite correct. It does not need a huge "unload". About a year or so ago, a mid-level employee of South Korea's Central Bank had a conversation at some insignificant lunch with table partners where he mentioned South Korea might take a look at divesifying foreign exchange holdings.

By the end of the day, the dollar had dropped 10% on the fear of what he had said casually.

Nobody wants to start a panic run on the dollar but nobody wants to be the last to hold dollars if there is a run. The emotional mindset is as or more significant than the first couple of covert sales. Then all heck breaks loose.

As little as $50 million sell off by say an Asian or South American Central bank might suffice to trigger the run. Not any bank of that country but the Central Bank.

[SunkenCiv]

That'll screw up the foreign currency trade, particularly in the Far East where they buy a lot of oil. The Euro will be moving based on the price of oil instead of whatever the European economy is doing. If I had to guess, this has to do with the Saudis, who still dominate, wanting Turkey in the EU.

[FARS]

Possibly because it resembles being overly worried by the possibility of an earthquake or a Tsunami. Not much you can do to stop it if it decides to occur.

The main difference is that we may be able to predict/foresee/guess at the currency market better than the above items.

[IronJack]

As George Soros and his ilk have aptly demonstrated, our enemies don't always fight with fulminating weapons. There's an economic war being waged right beside the one on the battlefield.

[RaceBannon]

That is the intent.

I remember in the 90's there was a headline to just that: That OPEC was going to switch to the Euro

[killermosquito]

It makes little sense to me for the same reasons you suggest. Europe is an ecomomic joke.

It could be however that the world is predicting the demonrats to dominate the upcoming electionsin 2008.

[SunkenCiv]

GoldMoney Alert: OPEC Has Already Turned to the Euro
Edited by James Turk
18 February 2004

US Imports of Crude oil
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Year	Quantity (thousands of barrels)	Value (thousands of US dollars)	Unit price (US dollars)	Average daily US$ per € exchange rate	Unit price (euros)
2001	3,471,066	74,292,894	21.40	0.8952	23.91
2002	3,418,021	77,283,329	22.61	0.9454	23.92
2003	3,673,596	99,094,675	26.97	1.1321	23.82

We can see from column (4) in the above table that in 2001, each barrel of imported crude oil cost $21.40 on average for that year. But by 2003 the average price of a barrel of crude oil had risen 26.0% to $26.97 per barrel. However, the important point is shown in column (6). Note that the price of crude oil in terms of euros is essentially unchanged throughout this 3-year period.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.willthomas.net/Convergence/Weekly/US_Dollar.htm

"11/29/05 -- In the year of Allah 1385, a 2,500 year-old Islamic nation will begin pricing its oil in euros. On that day in March 2006, the industrial world will shift on its axis with the launch of the Iranian oil bourse (IOB). Just about everyone on the planet will benefit by the ascendancy of the euro and liberation from the declining dollar. Except the United States. [aljazeera.com Sept 14/05]

"Weary of watching its increasingly valuable black crude perversely decline in value along with the diving dollar tendered by its buyers, the second largest OPEC producer is making good on a promise first floated in 1999 to demand payment for its oil to euros."

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BLA310A.html

Centre for Research on Globalisation
Russia's Switch into the Euro signals Decline of US Dollar as a Global Currency
21 October 2003

The Global Redlining of America: Bush Plunges U.S. into Rapid Decline
http://www.blackcommentator.com/
16 October 2003

"The previously unthinkable is now on the table. Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter, is giving serious consideration to trading its black gold in euros, a switch that would surely set dominos in motion among other oil producing nations and, ultimately, knock the dollar off its global throne... A switch to the euro 'is really possible,' according to Russian economist and Putin advisor Yevgeny Gavrilenkov. 'Why not? More than half of Russia's oil trade is with Europe. But there will be great opposition to this from the United States.'"

[SunkenCiv]

http://energybulletin.net/123.html

Published on 11 Jan 2004 by Globe and Mail Update. Archived on 11 Jan 2004.

OPEC mulls move to euro for pricing crude oil

by Patrick Brethour

"Several members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are seeking formal talks on using the euro, as well as the U.S. dollar, when determining price targets for crude, a senior oil minister within the cartel said Monday. 'There are countries that are proposing this,' Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said in Caracas. 'It's out there, under discussion.' Mr. Ramirez did not specify which OPEC members are pushing the proposal, but much of the impetus is believed to come from Persian Gulf producers. They have seen their purchasing power in Europe pinched as the U.S. dollar loses ground against the euro -- including touching a record low Monday."