The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is shifting away from total reliance on the dollar as an international currency - and adopting the euro as an alternative. This is probably the US government's worst nightmare, economically speaking. Saddam Hussein's biggest crime in the minds of the US is his demand to be paid in euros instead of dollars for the oil that Iraq exports.
In November 2000, Iraq announced that it would cease to accept dollars for its oil, and would accept instead only euros. At the time, financial analysts suggested that Iraq would lose tens of millions of dollars in value because of this currency switch; in fact, over the following two years, Iraq made millions. Other oil-exporting nations, including Iran and Venezuela, have stated that they are contemplating a similar move. If OPEC as a whole were to switch from dollars to euros, the consequences to the US economy would be catastrophic. Investment money would flee and Americans would shortly find themselves living in Third-World conditions.
2007-10-06
20:48:23
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acer_junior
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