http://www.japantoday.com/category/busin...-on-friday

This is a much bigger deal than most people will expect.

Didn't some OPEC countries want to stop using the dollar?

There are quite a few deals going on like this now, where countries are dumping the dollar. China's central bank is aggressively buying gold, presumably in an attempt to bypass the Fed's (unaudited) amount of gold in the future and stake a claim as the world's new reserve currency.

(05-30-2012 01:26 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  Didn't some OPEC countries want to stop using the dollar?

Iraq was one. You saw what happened there. Same with Libya. Coincidence, I'm sure.

If the US loses its status as reserve currency, it will seal our fate as a 3rd world country. The downgrade president will have a hand in pushing us over the edge of the cliff. You know the cliff he saved us from going over.

http://www.inflation.us has been preaching this for years

We can still save it, but not on the path we are on.

(05-30-2012 08:21 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  We can still save it, but not on the path we are on.

How's that? Like swimming upstream pulling the liberal boat anchor on the backs of the courageous.

I went to Canada and my dollar wasn't worth sh*t.

I went to Paris and my dollar wasn't worth sh!t. A sm bottle of water was 2.5 euro thats $3.25 us. Tap water at a restaurant was 7.00euro. F'uck France.

(05-30-2012 08:50 PM)SumOfAllFears Wrote:  I went to Paris and my dollar wasn't worth sh!t. A sm bottle of water was 2.5 euro thats $3.25 us. Tap water at a restaurant was 7.00euro. F'uck France.

Yeah, **** those damn socialists.

To be fair, soaf.. That is a reflection of the welfare state and not the exchange rate

I know. They are scared over there. What Dims want for the US.

On a related note the US Navy is deploying 60% of it warships to PACCOM and is negotiating for bases in Vietnam, Brunei, and Philippines

(06-03-2012 01:30 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  On a related note the US Navy is deploying 60% of it warships to PACCOM and is negotiating for bases in Vietnam, Brunei, and Philippines

Just what we need. More military bases.

(06-03-2012 01:30 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  On a related note the US Navy is deploying 60% of it warships to PACCOM and is negotiating for bases in Vietnam, Brunei, and Philippines

Interesting. Would be nice if they'd close down some bases in Europe in concert.

Money is money. With the arbitrager's in the market I can't imagine that a direct Yen <->Yuan will get out of sync with the Yen <- Dollar -> Yuan market. Heck with all of the derivatives (currency is the ideal commodity for a derivative, what with its sameness, easy verifiability, and near free shipping), I wonder how much actual US dollars are even tied up in the Yen <- Dollar -> Yuan trade to begin with as opposed to them being an abstract entity that mediates in theory, but is completely irrelevant in reality. With program trading firms literally making their communication paths shorter because the speed of light is too slow for them, the amount of time that something remains in its intermediate form during a two-step trade has got to be miniscule.

Currencies are a unit of measure. Yes, it is a bit more convenient when you can force all of your suppliers and customers to use the same currency your investors want, but that is become less and less true as Wall Street ramps up its derivative offerings. I'll admit that I never took a macro-economics class, but it is hard for me to imagine how this move makes much of a difference, unless it somehow frees up lots of dollars back into circulation, and since Congress is going for an easy monetary policy anyway...

(06-03-2012 03:38 PM)Ninerfan1 Wrote:  

(06-03-2012 01:30 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  On a related note the US Navy is deploying 60% of it warships to PACCOM and is negotiating for bases in Vietnam, Brunei, and Philippines

Interesting. Would be nice if they'd close down some bases in Europe in concert.

Oh they are. And the US Army is moving its European Mechanized/Armored units from Germany to Hungary and Romania.