Putin is no fool -- he's been to Texas enough time to realize that there is no future in selling oil to Europeans who work 35 hours a week, bathe once a month, and drive around in cars made out of popsicle sticks and aluminum foil.
If nothing else, I would hope that this discussion will drive the U.S. government to clean up its finances in a big way.
Agreed, 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. From the looks of things, the Fed wants to see the dollar weaken even more, maybe twice as much as it has already. That would make that same $30 worth $20. One of two things has to give...either they start demanding more dollars per barrel (a lot more), or they start pricing oil in a currency that isn't being inflated.
You also said, "If nothing else, I would hope that this discussion will drive the U.S. government to clean up its finances in a big way." I see this hope as utterly vain. Maybe if the real GDP per capita of the USA is reduced to, say, Ecuadorian levels, then maybe.
There was a pretty good novel in the 70's called _The Sheep Look Up_. Sentimentally lefty and green, as was the fashion, and hopelessly optimistic about "the masses" being able to see reality. That is why the 3rd International people called themselves the "Worker's Vanguard". Not that they were seeing reality, not at all, just a bunch of self deluding fools. Humans are like that.