...more recent posts
I was wondering when this story would hit. I think this is the "real" reason for the war. I've tried to make this argument in private and it's been, ummm, not well received. And while this article certain doesn't settle any questions, I'm glad to see it getting some air.
Effectively, the normal standards of economics have not applied to the US, because of the international role of the dollar. Some $3 trillion (£1,880 billion) are in circulation around the world helping the US to run virtually permanent trade deficits. Two-thirds of world trade is dollar-denominated. Two-thirds of central banks' official foreign exchange reserves are also dollar-denominated.Iraq is the only major oil exporter to clear their sales in Euros. Iran is reportedly "contemplating" a switch. There is a much longer paper about this subject. I'll dig up the link.
Dollarisation of the oil markets is one of the key drivers for this, alongside, in recent years, the performance of the US economy. The majority of countries that require oil imports require dollars to pay for their fuel. Oil exporters similarly hold, as their currency reserve, billions in the currency in which they are paid. Investing these petrodollars straight back into the US economy is possible at zero currency risk.
So the US can carry on printing money - effectively IOUs - to fund tax cuts, increased military spending, and consumer spending on imports without fear of inflation or that these loans will be called in. As keeper of the global currency there is always the last-ditch resort to devaluation, which forces other countries' exporters to pay for US economic distress. It's probably the nearest thing to a 'free lunch' in global economics.
Gary Hart has started a weblog. He's running Movable Type, and comments and trackback are on. Whoa. Is it really him?
To further this undertaking, I am starting a blog here on www.garyhartnews.com. The Internet is clearly the most important new medium to help increase people's involvement in a "primary of ideas." It's an amazing tool for people to share ideas, talk about their concerns and their dreams, and debate the many important policy ideas that will affect our country's future.
The Williamsburg bridge is closed in both directions. Lots of helicopters in the air. This is one block from my apartment. Not sure what is happening.
Richard Perle has resigned.
Interesting Reuters piece: A retired Yugoslavian army officer who claims to have helped construct Saddam's underground bunkers, says they can withstand a 20 kiloton blast.
Fazlic said underground concrete fortresses were built by the former Yugoslav military in the cities of Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, Basra and Nassiriya after Iraqi officials toured similar facilities in former Yugoslavia.
"We also built the so-called "zero," "P" and "C" types of bunkers which were smaller and meant for the military, communications centers and so on but can also resist heavy bombardment and longer isolation," he said.
Fazlic said he took part in the building of more than a dozen underground bunkers in former Yugoslavia which was then led by late President Josip Broz Tito, who had warm relations with Saddam Hussein.
"We built all of these facilities in Iraq because they liked what they saw here," Fazlic said, citing a large bunker dug into a mountain near the southern Bosnian town of Konjic that was meant for the former Yugoslav government in case of war.
NJ Governor James E. McGreevey and Sid Caspersen, New Jersey's director of the office of counter-terrorism, indicated in a press conference that if the U.S. moves to code red citizens will be required to stay inside their houses.
This according to the Courier Post Online.
If the nation escalates to "red alert," which is the highest in the color-coded readiness against terror, you will be assumed by authorities to be the enemy if you so much as venture outside your home, the state's anti-terror czar says.In addition, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia recently said, in public, that the government has room to scale back individual rights during wartime without violating the Constitution. "The Constitution just sets minimums," Scalia said. "Most of the rights that you enjoy go way beyond what the Constitution requires."