[Southack]

"Putin is no fool, which is why I think he might actually be serious about switching to euro-based oil sales. Think about it...the dollar has lost 20% against the euro in the past several months. That means that the $30 they were getting for a barrel of Rusky crude only has $24 of purchasing power."

...Only in Europe.

Yes, the Dollar has dropped 20% versus the Euro recently, and yes, the Russians get paid in Dollars for each of their barrels of oil exports, and yes, that Dollar has dropped versus the Euro...but that Dollar still buys the same amount in the U.S.

So the Russians can either use those Dollars to purchase fewer European goods, or else they can use them to purchase the same amount of U.S. goods.

They're smart people over there. They'll figure out how and where to get the most value for their Dollars.

[Happy2BMe]

"So the Russians can either use those Dollars to purchase fewer European goods, or else they can use them to purchase the same amount of U.S. goods."

Wish I could back you up on this one, but America produces fewer domestic goods now than ever before in our entire history (those produced and used here or exported).

The Chinese are the ones laughing all the way to the bank!

[Orangedog]

...Only in Europe

It's not just Europe. In the past two yearsthe US dollar has dropped ~20% against the Canadian dollar and over 10% against the Yen. As far as that being good for US made goods, the drops in the dollar over the past two years has not stopped the loss in the number US manufactured goods. We do produce a hell of a lot of grain, but that has been more than offset by manufactureres closing up shop in the US and moving that capacity out of the country. All a weakening dollar is going to do is increase prices for consumers in the US. It may help the agricultural sector, but it's not going to spur demand for US manufactured goods because the US is not a friendly environment for manufactureres.