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Well, good. It's a shame nobody else has stepped up to do this first. Maybe China doing it first will help get the ball rolling. /s In all seriousness, I think
by jvanderbot 2y ago
Well, good. It's a shame nobody else has stepped up to do this first. Maybe China doing it first will help get the ball rolling. /s
In all seriousness, I think they were referring to getting everyone else's proverbial balls rolling.
- chii 2y ago"China's energy independence will threaten our national security!" -- trump, probably...
- lazide 2y agoWell, at some non trivial level it’s also true. The petrodollar and the US’s central role in protecting/enabling it is great for US national security.
- chii 2y agoI think the petrodollar has been given more weight than it deserves. The dollar's utility enabling international trade has more to do with the stability, freedom and general availability, than with the US enforcing it in any way.
- lazide 2y agoThe US spends more on its military than any other country, and actively gets involved in foreign affairs on this front constantly. And has bases in every country in the Middle East except Iran - [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_military_installations https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_military_in...] The dollar is strong because the US military is everywhere. The US military is everywhere because the dollar is strong. And oil is the strongest and biggest motivation for all this, but not the only one. Though the US military burns massive amounts of oil to operate.
- braincat31415 2y agoNot quite. You should look, for example, into the events of 1971, specifically, US policy regarding foreign exchange rates. Using dominant US dollar position, the US has achieved re-evaluation of exchange rates favoring US exports. As a concrete example, US Treasury Secretary drove the pressure to open European agriculture markets to US exports, weakening European farming industry in the process. Similar moves were made against Japan and South Korea.