The Plan to De-dollarise the Oil Markets: Its Roots and Implications
Courtesy of Jesse’s Café Américain
The breakdown of US dollar reserves being held overseas in the attached article of news is interesting, even though estimated.
I am curious to see when Kevin Phillips and Chalmers Johnson start speaking to this as this sort of historic change is in their respective ballparks.
Of course, there is always the option to listen to those in the American financial media who dismiss the internationally respected and well-connected Robert Fisk as a commie crank, a liberal web spinner, and a tinfoil conspiracty theorist.
Not all opinions are created equal, but all must be substantiated by data and sustained by confirming evidence. On the other hand, willful ignorance, prejudice, and groupthink, also known as the herd mentality, may work in the day to day amongst a select group of chums and the like-minded, but their consequences can render a thoroughly discouraging experience in the markets, where no one really cares what you think and why.
Don’t blindly feed your arms and legs to the sharks, especially out of a misplaced allegiance to a favorite theory or betting system, as it just encourages them and mucks up the water.
But do not rush out and react to this news story, because these types of adjustments take several years to occur. They are longer term macro-trends. But they do matter because they also occur slowly, not all at once at the end of a period of time.
These are lessons that every trader still standing must ultimately learn.
Here is some additional detail on this story in a video interview with Robert Fisk, in addition to the news story below.
The Independent
A financial revolution with profound political implications
By Robert Fisk
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
The plan to de-dollarise the oil market, discussed both in public and in secret for at least two years and widely denied yesterday by the usual suspects – Saudi Arabia being, as expected, the first among them – reflects a growing resentment in the Middle East, Europe and in China at America’s decades-long political as well as economic world dominance.
Nowhere has this more symbolic importance than in the Middle East, where the United Arab Emirates alone holds $900bn (£566bn) of dollar reserves and where Saudi Arabia has been quietly co-ordinating its defence, armaments and oil policies with the Russians since 2007.
This does not indicate a trade war with America – not yet – but Arab Gulf regimes have been growing increasingly restive at their economic as well as political dependence on Washington for many years. Of the $7.2 trillion in international reserves, $2.1trn is held by Arab countries – China holds about $2.3trn – and the nations interested in moving away from dollar-trading in oil are believed to hold over 80 per cent of international dollar reserves….
Read the rest here.
Photo: Getty image, in Telegraph.co.uk.
