Well i would have thought the point was clear, given that no other country can print money to the same extent and run up deficits in the trillions accumulated over decades. Why does China offer to buy US debt ? Simple, the US always was and continues to be a good risk.
The dollar & the US economy fluctuates like it always has. I don't think this time is any different. What helps the US bounce back every time, oil sold in dollars.
Its more complex now, other developed economies are also quite mature, so a boom somewhere eventually spreads elsewhere, things are more interconnected. But the importance of Oil sold in dollars is still quite tangible and therefore significant to national security.
At the end of the last great war, if peace was to continue, the most important commodity ever would have to be protected. Who's doing the protecting ?, maybe if they were big & powerful enough, a lot of useless wars might not even start.
Which then leads to, would it not be safer and easier to trade oil in their currency ?
So after some time, that old and irrelevant gold standard is replaced with dollars instead (in the early 70s). This point i'd say marks the beginning of sorts for globocop. Think about that, since when has a country's currency been as trusted outside its own borders, for as long, without having to necessarily occupy everyone that trusts it. Taken to the extreme you get Iraq (an aberration).
Oil makes policy(where applicable), the military enforces it .
I'd think you'd be in for a rude shock if the US didn't keep the oil flowing.
Well then oil won't be sold in dollars anymore and i say that would be unacceptable on Capitol Hill, not to mention national reserves of several countries.
The dollar became what it is because of the guns that protect it. The US might get a lot of flack over its current policy, but the dollar is still liked & *most importantly* trusted. Yeah its taking a beating now, but there is also lots of hoarding going on abroad. Why not, lets profit by helping the dollar appreciate, it has to sometime..
Yeah it would cause a slump but the US would be the biggest loser in this aspect, since it has gained the most in the last 50 years. You'd be taking away the second most important contributor to American greatness in recent history.
No, Enlightened self interest is what makes the world go round.
When Iran last threatened to close the gulf to shipping, who kept it open? The US. Minesweepers, re-flagged tankers, etc.
The same nice folks have mentioned they will close the gulf to shipping over their nuke program.
Right, so its quite clear, that they must not be allowed to do this. Having forces on two sides of their borders helps things. Like the wonderful game of GO, strategically, you'd have the advantage at this point. Not to mention the gulf emirates across the gulf, who of late have also developed a newly found ironic interest in nuclear energy. Iran would be taking on the world, at some point, and they won't take it that far, they are not that dumb.
I think they are just pulling a Kim Jong-Il. He's been quite quiet of late..i wonder why