US debt limit raised to $8.96 trillion

Oil remains the main chink in the armor of the US economy though. It's the main way the dollar would collapse, and frankly, in a business sense, it's stupid for OPEC and others to keep trading in dollars anyways. With the terrible exchange rates, they would make much more money by selling in Euro's simply put, and if it weren't for the obvious threat of a US military intervention to prevent an economic collapse, I'm sure countries would be much more open to a change.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

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It's gonna be a slow shift to be sure. At the same time countries have to be careful about not underminding their own vast dollar reserves. You also covered the whole military intervention aspect. Which is a concern. Unless the US somehow overextends itself making the fear of a military intervention moot.

Yeah, but the profits from such a change would mean money lost in dealing with dollar exchanges would be made back pretty quickly.

Actually, I can see such a change occuring in the near future though, especially as the US becomes a less dominating factor in international politics. Most people outside the region don't know this, but the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) is planning to adopt a common currency by 2010. Logic means that it won't be pegged to the dollar, since that would just be the same thing it is now then (all current gulf currencies are dollar pegged, mostly because the Saudi Riyal is, and they control the gulf). Oil sales in that currency would be a great way to prop up the currency, give it international legitimacy, and even give the region potentially better rates to China, who they see as a more reliable ally since it doesn't "interfere in their internal affairs."

And do you know why above all they will want to do this? To fuck over Israel, and frankly, it's the ultimate way to fire a broadside at the economies of Israeli supporting nations, while also greatly helping the regions allies that decide to cater to their interests.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

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I've only heard really vague plans to that extent. Plans don't always mean occurances in reality. The US may not be able to interfere in your internal affairs at that point, but the Europeans can. I'm not convinced that they wouldn't at that point.

Then again, it'll be 2010 or later. It won't be hard to imagine that there's going to be a whole 'nother playing field at that particular point in time.

European economies deal much more with oil exports than the US does however, and while in decline, a boost in oil prices would probably benefit the continent. Russia, the Netherlands, and Britain would all like to make more money off it after all.

Considering China's economic boom as well and the strains it will be putting on global oil supplies, anything that causes a decrease in US oil consumption would lossen up capacity for them that they desperately need. They'll be interested in seeing how such a situation plays out as well.

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The main reason I would think such a switch over would occur would be to get their currencies/economies away from the dollars instability and unpredictability. That's primarily the reason why the European Union collectively turned to the Euro. Helping to foster trade in the region, which convienently leaves out Israel is a bonus.

You've highlighed the problem in that though. The main reason many countries peg their currencies to the dollar and that oil is traded in it is because it is considered a stable currency. A dollar fluctuating too much is not a safe currency to do business in, which is why many are probably looking for a slow way out.

How ya doing, buddy?

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Not just China, but India too. Also factor in the world's inability to keep raising production quotas of our hydrocarbon energy sources to keep our economies growing.

Which is why I said that the global playing field is definitely going to shift by 2010 even though that's only four years away. Exciting times we live in eh?

Definately, Gulf economies are at over 5% GDP growth, China and India are booming, it's going to be very interesting to see how everything is soon after this.

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