Friday, January 20, 2012

The US-GCC fatal attraction

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online.
...the House of Saud sells its oil only in US dollars - thus the pre-eminence of the petrodollar - and in exchange benefits from massive, unconditional US military and political support. Moreover the Saudis prevent the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) - after all they're the world's largest oil producer - to price and sell oil in a basket of currencies. These rivers of petrodollars then flow into US equities and Treasury bonds.
But, hold on! Escobar looks at some trends which suggest a very different scenario in the future. You see, a major factor propping up the Empire is the imposition of the US dollar on most of the rest of the world. It is very much like a hooligan in your neighborhood forcing everyone to use his money. This is a huge benefit to him. He can merely print money, and as much as he likes and use it to get the goodies he wants from everyone in the neighborhood.