I find this someplace under a dark rock...you read 
_____________________________________________
Apocalypse March?
"Change everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fight
The battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead
Don't let yourself go
Your last chance has arrived
Best
You've got to be the best
You've got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now"
- Muse
Do you >>>KNOW<<< the foundational reason we went to war in Iraq? If you do then you can skip to the next (hopefully more cheerful) blog (smile). If you >>>BELIEVE<<< you know, keep reading.
It was not because Iraq's military was a threat to the US (they never were).
It was not because they had weapons of mass destruction (they didn't).
It was not to liberate an oppressed people from a dictator.
If you think oil had something to do with it, you are getting warm.
It was because Iraq SOLD OIL IN A CURRENCY OTHER THAN THE DOLLAR.
Do you >>>KNOW<<< why the US is so hot about Iran?
It is not because Iran wants to blow Israel off the map.
It is not because Iran is developing nuclear technology or weapons.
It is not to liberate an oppressed people from a religious fanatic leader.
If you think oil has something to do with it, you are getting warm. Again.
It is because Iran is opening an international market to SELL OIL IN ANOTHER CURRENCY BESIDES THE DOLLAR - this March.
What we are and will be witnessing going forward is an ongoing desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable demise of a long established order - the American dollar - and the grip that the US has held on nearly every nation on Earth since the end of World War II.
We approach a pivital moment in history - a time when America's global economic hegemony ends. It could end peacefully. It more likely will end in another World War. But it WILL end, and soon. Whether you like it or not, or accept it or not, it will shape your life-path, I can assure you.
If you think I am lunatic then do the research, as I have done, and PROVE ME WRONG. I will accept facts. I will NOT accept ignorance masquerading as patriotism.
Short version:
After WWII the (largely untouched) United States was the only country strong enough, with enough economic strength, to rebuild the war-torn world economy. The dollar, backed by the massive gold reserves of America, was literally "good as gold" then, and nations kept dollars as reserves to back their own currencies. The dollar became the currency of the world markets, circulating everywhere, not just in America. The power of such an arrangement appealed to American leaders and financial magnates, and in the fifties and sixties they could not resist the temptation to abuse this power, and overextended and overspent, printing more dollars than they had gold to redeem. Some nations, especially France, recognized what was happening and began lawfully turning in their dollars for the gold that backed them. In 1971, faced with a gold run on the Treasury, President Nixon suspended this convertibility - leaving the world's central banks stuck with reserves of a currency based now only on the "full faith and credit" of the United States. It was a slap in the face of every dollar-holding nation. It meant that the US could now print as many dollars as they wanted, and print they did. No one else had this privilege. And since the world was on a dollar hook, and most world markets denominated in dollars, there was nothing anyone could do but go along - those that did not found themselves economically at a disadvantage. As the most powerful nation on the planet, the US had the economic - and military - might to make the system work.
But the lesson was not lost on the rest of the world, and they have designed a way out from under a broken, misused dollar system that has allowed America to enjoy the fruits of the world at everyone else's expense. Enter the Euro.
The Euro, like the dollar, is a fiat currency and will eventually fail, as all unbacked paper currencies do. But it is younger and built with a different philosophy, and many nations have begun adding euros to their reserves and are looking for a place to dump their dollars - a currency near the end of it's timeline.
Oil is the lifeblood of the modern economy. It is getting harder to find and produce (peak oil). It's strategic importance and that of nations that have it cannot be underestimated.
All oil markets today trade oil only in dollars - if you want to buy oil you must first convert your currency into dollars to pay for it. This also goes for many other major markets. Can you begin to see now, the tremendous influence the US enjoys in matters outside its own borders to the exclusion of all others? What would happen if a nation began trading oil in a currency outside of US control? Buyers would now have a choice - competition as euros and dollars both bid for oil. The US does not like competition, to put it lightly.
Iraq was selling oil for euros. One of the first things the US did when they gained control of Iraq was to switch the trading of oil back to dollars - to the detriment of the Iraqi people, since the actual value gained thereby, supposedly to help rebuild the country, was less!
Now you have a glimpse of the ugly things behind the spin-curtains in the US mass media.
And now the US is trying to figure out how to stop Iran from doing the same thing Iraq did.
America can't do this with every nation that decides to switch from dollars to euros. Something somewhere is going to snap.
But the real ugly begins when all those hundreds of trillions of dollars - and the claims on goods and services and labor that they represent - and the wealth that people think they represent - can no longer find a place to call home. Then everyone will find out what their dollars are really not worth. If you live in the US it's not going to be pretty.
I don't know how long it will take for the situation to work itself out, or if there will be a crash, depression, war or a long recession. What to do in the meantime?
Gold, silver, land, anything that will store the wealth you've worked so hard for - that's the place to be. Get some. Try as hard as you can to get out of debt, and build up food, water and emergency supplies - beginning now, be smart, not caught. Live small. Doing so now will take the sting off later and is a wise thing to do even in good times - look at what happened in New Orleans after Katrina.
-----
The long version:
Please take the time to read these articles. They explain things and cover more bases than I can in this space. After reading them you will have a good idea of what is going on. And you might even be angry enough at the deception to do something about it.
"Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse"
http://www.energybulletin.net/7707.html
"The Grand Illusion"
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/kirby/2005/1213.html
"A New American Century? Not!"
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/steer/2004/0208.html
Snip from above article (much more at link):
"Informed banking circles in the City of London and elsewhere in Europe privately confirm the significance of that little-noted Iraq move from petrodollar to petroeuro. 'The Iraq move was a declaration of war against the dollar', one senior London banker told me recently. 'As soon as it was clear that Britain and the U.S. had taken Iraq, a great sigh of relief was heard in London City banks. They said privately, “now we don't have to worry about that damn euro threat.”'
Why would something so small be such a strategic threat to London and New York, or to the United States that an American President would apparently risk fifty years of alliance relations globally, and more to make a military attack whose justification could not even be proved to the world?
The answer is the unique role of the petrodollar to underpin American economic hegemony.
How does it work? So long as almost 70 pecent of world trade is done in dollars, the dollar is the currency which central banks accumulate as reserves. But central banks, whether China or Japan or Brazil or Russia, do not simply stack dollars in their vaults. Currencies have one advantage over gold. A central bank can use it to buy the state bonds of the issuer, the United States. Most countries around the world are forced to control trade deficits or face currency collapse. Not the United States. This is because of the dollar reserve currency role. And the underpinning of the reserve role is the petrodollar. Every nation needs to get dollars to import oil, some more than others. This means their trade targets dollar countries, above all the U.S.
Because oil is an essential commodity for every nation, the petrodollar system, which exists to the present, demands the buildup of huge trade surpluses in order to accumulate dollar surpluses. This is the case for every country but one -- the United States which controls the dollar and prints it at will or fiat. Because today the majority of all international trade is done in dollars, countries must go abroad to get the means of payment they cannot themselves issue. The entire global trade structure today works around this dynamic, from Russia to China, from Brazil to South Korea and Japan. Everyone aims to maximize dollar surpluses from their export trade.
To keep this process going, the United States has agreed to be 'importer of last resort' because its entire monetary hegemony depends on this dollar recycling.
The central banks of Japan, China, South Korea, Russia and the rest all buy U.S. Treasury securities with their dollars. That in turn allows the United States to have a stable dollar, far lower interest rates, and run a $ 500 billion annual balance of payments deficit with the rest of the world. The Federal Reserve controls the dollar printing presses, and the world needs its dollars. It is as simple as that."
_____________________________________________
Apocalypse March?
"Change everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fight
The battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead
Don't let yourself go
Your last chance has arrived
Best
You've got to be the best
You've got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now"
- Muse
Do you >>>KNOW<<< the foundational reason we went to war in Iraq? If you do then you can skip to the next (hopefully more cheerful) blog (smile). If you >>>BELIEVE<<< you know, keep reading.
It was not because Iraq's military was a threat to the US (they never were).
It was not because they had weapons of mass destruction (they didn't).
It was not to liberate an oppressed people from a dictator.
If you think oil had something to do with it, you are getting warm.
It was because Iraq SOLD OIL IN A CURRENCY OTHER THAN THE DOLLAR.
Do you >>>KNOW<<< why the US is so hot about Iran?
It is not because Iran wants to blow Israel off the map.
It is not because Iran is developing nuclear technology or weapons.
It is not to liberate an oppressed people from a religious fanatic leader.
If you think oil has something to do with it, you are getting warm. Again.
It is because Iran is opening an international market to SELL OIL IN ANOTHER CURRENCY BESIDES THE DOLLAR - this March.
What we are and will be witnessing going forward is an ongoing desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable demise of a long established order - the American dollar - and the grip that the US has held on nearly every nation on Earth since the end of World War II.
We approach a pivital moment in history - a time when America's global economic hegemony ends. It could end peacefully. It more likely will end in another World War. But it WILL end, and soon. Whether you like it or not, or accept it or not, it will shape your life-path, I can assure you.
If you think I am lunatic then do the research, as I have done, and PROVE ME WRONG. I will accept facts. I will NOT accept ignorance masquerading as patriotism.
Short version:
After WWII the (largely untouched) United States was the only country strong enough, with enough economic strength, to rebuild the war-torn world economy. The dollar, backed by the massive gold reserves of America, was literally "good as gold" then, and nations kept dollars as reserves to back their own currencies. The dollar became the currency of the world markets, circulating everywhere, not just in America. The power of such an arrangement appealed to American leaders and financial magnates, and in the fifties and sixties they could not resist the temptation to abuse this power, and overextended and overspent, printing more dollars than they had gold to redeem. Some nations, especially France, recognized what was happening and began lawfully turning in their dollars for the gold that backed them. In 1971, faced with a gold run on the Treasury, President Nixon suspended this convertibility - leaving the world's central banks stuck with reserves of a currency based now only on the "full faith and credit" of the United States. It was a slap in the face of every dollar-holding nation. It meant that the US could now print as many dollars as they wanted, and print they did. No one else had this privilege. And since the world was on a dollar hook, and most world markets denominated in dollars, there was nothing anyone could do but go along - those that did not found themselves economically at a disadvantage. As the most powerful nation on the planet, the US had the economic - and military - might to make the system work.
But the lesson was not lost on the rest of the world, and they have designed a way out from under a broken, misused dollar system that has allowed America to enjoy the fruits of the world at everyone else's expense. Enter the Euro.
The Euro, like the dollar, is a fiat currency and will eventually fail, as all unbacked paper currencies do. But it is younger and built with a different philosophy, and many nations have begun adding euros to their reserves and are looking for a place to dump their dollars - a currency near the end of it's timeline.
Oil is the lifeblood of the modern economy. It is getting harder to find and produce (peak oil). It's strategic importance and that of nations that have it cannot be underestimated.
All oil markets today trade oil only in dollars - if you want to buy oil you must first convert your currency into dollars to pay for it. This also goes for many other major markets. Can you begin to see now, the tremendous influence the US enjoys in matters outside its own borders to the exclusion of all others? What would happen if a nation began trading oil in a currency outside of US control? Buyers would now have a choice - competition as euros and dollars both bid for oil. The US does not like competition, to put it lightly.
Iraq was selling oil for euros. One of the first things the US did when they gained control of Iraq was to switch the trading of oil back to dollars - to the detriment of the Iraqi people, since the actual value gained thereby, supposedly to help rebuild the country, was less!
Now you have a glimpse of the ugly things behind the spin-curtains in the US mass media.
And now the US is trying to figure out how to stop Iran from doing the same thing Iraq did.
America can't do this with every nation that decides to switch from dollars to euros. Something somewhere is going to snap.
But the real ugly begins when all those hundreds of trillions of dollars - and the claims on goods and services and labor that they represent - and the wealth that people think they represent - can no longer find a place to call home. Then everyone will find out what their dollars are really not worth. If you live in the US it's not going to be pretty.
I don't know how long it will take for the situation to work itself out, or if there will be a crash, depression, war or a long recession. What to do in the meantime?
Gold, silver, land, anything that will store the wealth you've worked so hard for - that's the place to be. Get some. Try as hard as you can to get out of debt, and build up food, water and emergency supplies - beginning now, be smart, not caught. Live small. Doing so now will take the sting off later and is a wise thing to do even in good times - look at what happened in New Orleans after Katrina.
-----
The long version:
Please take the time to read these articles. They explain things and cover more bases than I can in this space. After reading them you will have a good idea of what is going on. And you might even be angry enough at the deception to do something about it.
"Petrodollar Warfare: Dollars, Euros and the Upcoming Iranian Oil Bourse"
http://www.energybulletin.net/7707.html
"The Grand Illusion"
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/kirby/2005/1213.html
"A New American Century? Not!"
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/steer/2004/0208.html
Snip from above article (much more at link):
"Informed banking circles in the City of London and elsewhere in Europe privately confirm the significance of that little-noted Iraq move from petrodollar to petroeuro. 'The Iraq move was a declaration of war against the dollar', one senior London banker told me recently. 'As soon as it was clear that Britain and the U.S. had taken Iraq, a great sigh of relief was heard in London City banks. They said privately, “now we don't have to worry about that damn euro threat.”'
Why would something so small be such a strategic threat to London and New York, or to the United States that an American President would apparently risk fifty years of alliance relations globally, and more to make a military attack whose justification could not even be proved to the world?
The answer is the unique role of the petrodollar to underpin American economic hegemony.
How does it work? So long as almost 70 pecent of world trade is done in dollars, the dollar is the currency which central banks accumulate as reserves. But central banks, whether China or Japan or Brazil or Russia, do not simply stack dollars in their vaults. Currencies have one advantage over gold. A central bank can use it to buy the state bonds of the issuer, the United States. Most countries around the world are forced to control trade deficits or face currency collapse. Not the United States. This is because of the dollar reserve currency role. And the underpinning of the reserve role is the petrodollar. Every nation needs to get dollars to import oil, some more than others. This means their trade targets dollar countries, above all the U.S.
Because oil is an essential commodity for every nation, the petrodollar system, which exists to the present, demands the buildup of huge trade surpluses in order to accumulate dollar surpluses. This is the case for every country but one -- the United States which controls the dollar and prints it at will or fiat. Because today the majority of all international trade is done in dollars, countries must go abroad to get the means of payment they cannot themselves issue. The entire global trade structure today works around this dynamic, from Russia to China, from Brazil to South Korea and Japan. Everyone aims to maximize dollar surpluses from their export trade.
To keep this process going, the United States has agreed to be 'importer of last resort' because its entire monetary hegemony depends on this dollar recycling.
The central banks of Japan, China, South Korea, Russia and the rest all buy U.S. Treasury securities with their dollars. That in turn allows the United States to have a stable dollar, far lower interest rates, and run a $ 500 billion annual balance of payments deficit with the rest of the world. The Federal Reserve controls the dollar printing presses, and the world needs its dollars. It is as simple as that."
