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Dollar
vs. Euro The Currency War by Duncan Reilly Here's a post on the influence of Currencies in the US War on Iraq. It could not be posted directly without permission of author, but has been linked here for its usefulness. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QuietPolyJuryFury/message/563 by Sophia Barkat re: Duncan's post Thanks for sharing that very enlightening piece. Incidentally, Iraqi Dinar is pegged to the Euro Dollar. Saddam did this the day after the Euro was introduced -- such being the relationship between Iraq and Europe. by Duncan Reilly re: Sophia's post I just read in 'The Guardian' that the Iraqi government in waiting in Kuwait is considering scraping the Iraq Dinar (as all the notes have Saddam's picture on them) and instituting the US Dollar as the 'new' Iraq's currency. First shots in the war against the EU? by Trevor Batten re: Duncan's post - original I know I slipped this in amongst other links -but people may have missed it. It's a great story -and I found it when looking for references for a friend. A little light entertainment perhaps..... The Wizard of Oz and the gold standard http://www.amphigory.com/oz.htm Incidentally, the post-war London currency market apparently got off the ground when the Soviet Union started selling surplus dollars on the London market because they obviously wouldn't want to sell them in the US during the cold war. Many people do see Europe as a potential counterbalance to the US -something which it seems Tony Blair is fighting hard to prevent. However, he is again under pressure regarding the future government in Iraq. If the US doesn't give him something substantial this time -then he may be finished. by captmingus@ev1.net Re: Duncan's Oil vs. Gold Interesting...My question is how can a currency be backed by such a temporary value? I mean gold was worth something since we lived in caves. But crude has only had a real market value since what the late 19th century and then probably no value when it runs out in the next century. If the technology in the future develops so that separating hydrogen from water becomes much more feasible, than does water than become the gold or oil factor in the future. Will these values change like I change socks(once a week), depending on the technology of the day? By the way I am an anglophile, I even like the racists ones! by Trevor Batten Re: Post by captmingus@ev1.net captmingus@ev1.net wrote: "Interesting...My question is how can a currency be backed by such a temporary value?" I guess -once money becomes a commodity, then like anything else -the value is the highest price somebody is prepared to pay. With oil tied to the dollar -then buying oil is indeed like buying dollllars. captmingus@ev1.net wrote: "I mean gold was worth something since we lived in caves. But crude has only had a real market value since what the late 19th century and then probably no value when it runs out in the next century." Scarcity affects price -so presumably, the price will show an interesting curve: As scarcity increases (and the need continues) the prices will rise -until the shortages will force people to mmmove to other technologies and oil has only a museum value and the price crashes. This is probably an ideal scenario for speculators (if one is able to define in advance the point of collapse and know when to get out). captmingus@ev1.net wrote "If the technology in the future develops so that separating hydrogen from water becomes much more feasible, than does water than become the gold or oil factor in the future." The war has attracted all the attention for some time -so all the other problems have been put on the back burner (which doesn't mean they have been solved or gone away). However, there has recently been a (UN?) conference on water (in Kyoto, I believe). As Sophia has already mentioned -water is rapidly becoming a source of international tension. Once again, much argument is about the relative advantages and disadvantages of commercialization. Some argue that paying for valuable resources is the only way to encourage people to be careful with them -while other people claim that this often means that those without income have no access to even basic water supplies. captmingus@ev1.net wrote: "Will these values change like I change socks(once a week), depending on the technology of the day?" I guess it depends on how quickly the technology changes (and is adopted by society). I used to work in Sunderland - in the north east of England. Earlier it had been a shipbuilding and mining area, but when I was there, unemployment levels were high because the heavy industry had been exported to low wage areas. Light manufacturing (employing women) was replacing the heavy stuff -so you ended up with a bunch of guys who came from a tradition of hard working, hard drinking and heavy fighting spending their days pushing kid's prams in the park while their wives worked. Interestingly, it seems that local conditions and feeding patterns (determining energy flows) are important factors determining animal behavior. Economic conditions also determine human behavior patterns (including such basic issues as monogamy or polygamy) so I guess one could investigate how cultural values have changed throughout the last century (or half century) in various areas. Perhaps this would give some indication as to how things might change in the future. Obviously, it is questionable how "deterministic" these shifts are -sometimes they are not related to local conditions -but conditions in the dominant culture -or perhaps circumstances surrounding locall leaders. The effect of the death of Prince Albert on Queen Victoria and the rest of country may have been quite considerable. I understand that Victoria was only made "Empress of India" because one of her daughters married the German Emperor and she didn't like being out-ranked by her own child -so the Prime Minister fixed her up with the title. captmingus@ev1.net wrote: "By the way I am an anglophile, I even like the racists ones!" Well, it is a fine art -refined to be dependent not only on race but also on the town and even (which side of) the street one was born in...... Yes folks, true Brits (of a certain class) are born in the streets -no need for namby-pamby hospitals for true empire builders, so don't believe the rumors about the poverty of our health service (its really a clever system to retain and contain aliens)! captmingus@ev1.net wrote: "Interesting...My question is how can a currency be backed by such a temporary value?" Another, closely related topic, is the current belief in "virtuality". Popular mythology has it that the rise of the computer has lead to a "dematerialization" of a previously "materialistic" society. True, it is almost impossible to imagine modern society without the (personal) computer -and we do seem to live in a "virtual" society where not only do immaterial goods (video, music, TV, computer games) play an important role but even the money paid for them is more of a concept than a reality. However, we could perhaps ask if the computer has lead to a virtual society -or a virtual society has lead to (our currrrent vision of) the computer. The shift away from the gold standard was happening in the 60's and culminated in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971 -earlier than the popular use of the computer, which only got off the ground around 1984(!)...... The dematerialization of the economy probably goes back to the "Golden Age" of Holland (and the other great sea traders) when long term futures were being sold to finance the ships sailing to the (east and west) Indies in search of exotic oriental goods to be sold at great profit in the West (assuming the ships made it home). However, even before this -the banking system had been established in Italy (Lombardy) -as a result of the trade with the Middle East -and several European kings used banker's credit to finance their wars. Photography, film and video were also "dematerializing" the world by converting it into a single "image" format -long before the computer became popular (although artists were exploring the use of the computer for image making before video came on the market). However, long before photography, there was painting (which is illusionary although perhaps more "material" than video). Music is less "materialistic" than painting -and oral story telling (which must be one of the oldest of arts) is probably even less materialistic than music. Possibly derived from the aristocratic traditions of the dominant Athenian culture, post-Renaissance western culture has relied heavily on an assumed split between mind and body -in which the mind was considered superior to the body. In some cases this has lead to misogynous attitudes, accusing women of being the material seducers of the more spiritually orientated male. Further evidence of the (absurd) power of abstract belief to dominate concrete thought can be found in the way that our society is happy to condemn "terrorists" and "communists" without any real detailed understanding of what these terms might actually mean. We seem happy to support the overthrow of Saddam Hussein (because he is evil) -even though we have no clear idea of what will replace him. In theory, we condemn the Catholic Church for persecuting Galileo instead of evaluating the evidence objectively -but in practice we often imitate the church's attitude in our daily lives. Such a brief survey is obviously open to detailed criticism -but it does seem to suggest that the "virtual" image of the computer may well be the result of our "virtual" society -and not vice versa. The Bretton Woods System: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/bre.htm "East-India Company" + banking: http://www.alltheweb.com/search?cat=web&cs=iso-8859-1&q=%22east-india+company%2\ 2+%2B+banking&_sb_lang=nl+en Mind-body split: http://www.alltheweb.com/search?cat=web&cs=iso-8859-1&q=%22mind-body+split%22&_\ sb_lang=nl+en Church persecution of Galileo: http://www.rae.org/bits21.htm Perhaps another interesting social phenomenon, is the number of commercial sites (in comparison with informational sites) found by the search engine -even when searching for information regarddding the most fundamental, abstract or abstruse subjects. Presumably, there is even a market for a search engine that filters out commercial sites..... by Duncan Reilly Re: Post by captmingus@ev1.net Oh you poor misguided anglophile. You have my deepest sympathy but I believe there are treatments for the disease! True oil is only temporary but that is all the US needs at the moment. Oil is something the all countries need at this time. As it is sold only for dollars (excepting some small amounts) all countries need dollars to buy it. The US prints dollars for very little cost. The dollars gain worth because other countries are prepared to exchange goods for dollars whether they have an intrinsic value or not. With those dollars they but oil and in turn those oil suppliers use the dollars to buy what they need. So long as there is an increase in demand and/or the wholesale cost of oil (in dollars) the need for dollars continues and the US can print more to fulfil that demand. All goes well until countries want to convert those dollars into something else (e.g. if oil became priced in Euros) or until demand or supply and cost of oil begins to fall. However these problems for the US (except possibly the Euro problem) are probably decades down the track and as Politicians only look as far ahead as the next election they don't give a rip about that. So, the US fights hard to maintain oil demand (e.g. killing off Kyoto) and to break the threat of monopoly (OPEC) and particularly to prevent another currency being used to price oil (Hussein sells (sold) oil in Euros). To do otherwise would threaten the whole basis of the US economy and its ability to consume far for than it can produce (thus its huge Current account debt). i.e. it can be strongly argued that the war in Iraqi is not just about oil it is about the pricing of oil and the breaking of the OPEC monopoly. by Trevor Batten Re: Letter to "Talking Point" - BBC Show (talkingpoint@bbc.co.uk) Dear Talking Point, If the attached article is in any way correct, then it would seem that the attack on Iraq is a symptom of the fact that America is fighting its corner in a last ditch attempt to avoid going in the same direction as the British and Soviet empires. The reconstruction of Iraq must therefore be seen entirely within the context of either encouraging or restraining American global hegemony. Considering the way history appears to be repeating itself -we may be forced to conclude that the demise of the American Empire is inevitable and this can either be accepted gracefully or that it can be fought out to the bitter end (with the same final result). It seems to be a fact of life that organic systems automatically create the conditions that lead to their own demise. We literally poison ourselves with our own by-products. Presumably, a multi-polar system will not only allow a complex (ecological) "recycling" of by-products, turning disadvantage to advantage -but will also permit a wider range of social experiment than a uni-polar system will. Within such a diverse system, "best practice" will naturally evolve and become adopted as conditions dictate -in a more "organic" way that could be achieved when a single dominant system imposes its will. Taking these points into consideration, one must assume that conflict with the US is the central issue and not just an accidental by-product of contemporary politics. Depending on the actualities of the situation, this confrontation can be short and swift -or long and subtle -but it cannot be avoided. Looking at the environmental, political and economic problems that have accumulated under American hegemony -one must seriously question the sustainability of the status quo. |
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