Skip Navigation | Sheffield IMC | UK IMC | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

UK Indymedia UK Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia Sheffield Indymedia

Why the Dollar Bubble is about to Burst

Steve Masterson | 14.06.2006 15:28 | Analysis | Globalisation | Sheffield

London - 24 May, 2006

The Voice (issue 264 - 11th May) ran an article beginning, "Iran has really gone and done it now. No, they haven't sent their first nuclear sub in to the Persian Gulf. They are about to launch something much more deadly -- next week the Iran Bourse will open to trade oil, not in dollars but in euros." This apparently insignificant event has consequences far greater for the US people, indeed all for us all, than is imaginable.

Currently almost all oil buying and selling is in US-dollars through exchanges in London and New York. It is not accidental they are both US-owned.

The Wall Street crash in 1929 sparked off global depression andWorld War II. During that war the US supplied provisions and munitions to all its allies, refusing currency and demanding gold payments in exchange.

By 1945, 80% of the world's gold was sitting in US vaults. The dollar became the one undisputed global reserve currency -- it was treated world-wide as `safer than gold'. The Bretton Woods agreement was established.

The US took full advantage over the next decades and printed dollars like there was no tomorrow. The US exported many mountains of dollars, paying for ever-increasing amounts of commodities, tax cuts for the rich, many wars abroad, mercenaries, spies and politicians the world over. You see, this did not affect inflation at home! The US got it all for free! Well, maybe for a forest or two.

Over subsequent decades the world's vaults bulged at the seams andmore and more vaults were built, just for US dollars. Each year, theUS spends many more dollars abroad that at home. Analysts pretty much agree that outside the US, of the savings, or reserves, of all other countries, in gold and all currencies -- that a massive 66% of this total wealth is in US dollars!

In 1971 several countries simultaeously tried to sell a small portion of their dollars to the US for gold. Krassimir Petrov, (Ph. D. in Economics at Ohio University) recently wrote, "The US Government defaulted on its payment on August 15, 1971. While popular spin told the story of `severing the link between the dollar and gold', in reality the denial to pay back in gold was an act of bankruptcy by the US Government." (1) The 1945 Bretton Woods agreement was unilaterally smashed.

The dollar and US economy were on a precipice resembling Germany in 1929. The US now had to find a way for the rest of the world to believe and have faith in the paper dollar. The solution was in oil, in the petrodollar. The US viciously bullied first Saudi Arabia and then OPEC to sell oil for dollars only -- it worked, the dollar was saved. Now countries had to keep dollars to buy much needed oil. And the US could buy oil all over the world, free of charge. What a Houdini for the US! Oil replaced gold as the new foundation to stop the paper dollar sinking.

Since 1971, the US printed even more mountains of dollars to spend abroad. The trade defecit grew and grew. The US sucked-in much of the world's products for next to nothing. More vaults were built.

Expert, ­Cóilínn Nunan, wrote in 2003, "The dollar is the de facto world reserve currency: the US currency accounts for approximately two thirds of all official exchange reserves. More than four-fifths of all foreign exchange transactions and half of all world exports are denominated in dollars. In addition, all IMF loans are denominated in dollars." (2)

Dr Bulent Gukay of Keele University recently wrote, "This system of the US dollar acting as global reserve currency in oil trade keeps the demand for the dollar `artificially' high. This enables the US to carry out printing dollars at the price of next to nothing to fund increased military spending and consumer spending on imports. There is no theoretical limit to the amount of dollars that can be printed. As long as the US has no serious challengers, and the other states have confidence in the US dollar, the system functions." (3)

Until recently, the US-dollar has been safe. However, since 1990 western Europe has been busy growing, swallowing up central and eastern Europe. French and German bosses were jealous of the US ablility to buy goods and people the world over for nothing. They wanted a slice of the free cake too. Further, they now had the power and established the euro in late 1999 against massive US-inspired opposition across Europe, especially from Britain - paid for in dollars of course. But the euro succeeded.

Only months after the euro-launch, Saddam's Iraq announced it was switching from selling oil in dollars only, to euros only -- breaking the OPEC agreement. Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Libya, all began talking openly of switching too -- were the floodgates about to be opened?

Then aeroplanes flew into the twin-towers in September 2001. Was this another Houdini chance to save the US (petro)dollar and the biggest financial/economic crash in history? War preparations began in the US. But first war-fever had to be created -- and truth was the first casualty. Other oil producing countries watched-on. In 2000 Iraq began selling oil in euros. In 2002, Iraq changed all their petro-dollars in their vaults into euros. A few months later, the US began their invasion of Iraq.

The whole world was watching: very few aware that the US was engaging in the first oil currency, or petrodollar war. After the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, remember, the US secured oil areas first. Their first sales in August were, of course, in dollars, again. The only government building in Baghdad not bombed was the Oil Ministry! It does not matter how many people are murdered -- for the US, the petrodollar must be saved as the only way to buy and sell oil -- otherwise the US economy will crash, and much more besides.

In early 2003, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela talked openly of selling half of its oil in euros (the other half is bought by the US). On 12 April 2003, the US-supported business leaders and some generals in Venezuela kidnapped Chavez and attempted a coup. The masses rose against this and the Army followed suit. The coup failed. This was bad for the US.

In November 2000 the euro/dollar was at $0.82 dollars, its lowest ever, and still diving, but when Iraq started selling oil in euros, the euro dive was halted. In April 2002 senior OPEC reps talked about trading in euros and the euro shot up. In June 2003 the US occupiers of Iraq switched trading back to dollars and the euro fell against the dollar again. In August 2003 Iran starts to sell oil in euros to some European countries and the euro rises sharply. In the winter of 2003-4 Russian and OPEC politicians talked seriously of switching oil/gas sales to the euro and the euro rose. In February 2004 OPEC met and made no decision to turn to the euro -- and yes, the euro fell against the dollar. In June 2004 Iran announced it would build an oil bourse to rival London and New York, and again, the euro rose. The euro stands at $1.27 and has been climbing of late. See the European Central Bank history of the euro/dollar:  http://www.ecb.int/stats/exchange/eurofxref/html/eurofxref-graph-usd.en.html#1999

But matters this month became far, far worse for the US dollar. On 5th May Iran registered its own Oil Bourse, the IOB. Not only are they now selling oil in euros from abroad -- they have established an actual Oil Bourse, a global trading centre for all countries to buy and sell their oil!

In Chavez's recent visit to London he talked openly about supporting the Iranian Oil Bourse, and selling oil in euros. When asked in London about the new arms embargo imposed by the US against Venezuela, Chavez prophetically dismissed the US as "a paper tiger".

Currently, almost all the world's oil is sold on either the NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange, or the IPE, London's International Petroleum Exchange. Both are owned by US citizens and both sell and buy only in US dollars. The success of the Iran Oil Bourse makes sense to Europe, which buys 70% of Iran's oil. It makes sense for Russia, which sells 66% of its oil to Europe. But worse for the US, China and India have already stated they are very interested in the new Iranian Oil Bourse.

If there is a tactical-nuclear strike on - deja-vu - `weapons of mass destruction' in Iran, who would bet against a certain Oil Exchange and more, being bombed too?

And worse for Bush. It makes sense for Europe, China, India and Japan -- as well as all the other countries mentioned above -- to buy and sell oil in Euro's. They will certainly have to stock-up on euros now, and they will sell dollars to do so. The euro is far more stable than the debt-ridden dollar. The IMF has recently highlighted US economic difficulties and the trade deficit strangling the US -- there is no way out.

The problem for so many countries now is, how to get rid of their vaults full of dollars, before it crashes? And the US has bullied so many countries for so many decades around the world, that many will see a chance to kick the bully back. The US cannot accept even 5% of the world's dollars -- it would crash the US economy dragging much of the world with it, especially Britain.

To survive, as the Scottish Socialist Voice article stated, "the US, needs to generate a trade surplus to get out of this one. Problem is it can't." This is spot on. To do that they must force US workers into near slavery, to get paid less than Chinese or Indian workers. We all know that this will not happen.

What will happen in the US? Chaos for sure. Maybe a workers revolution, but looking at the situation as it is now, it is more likely to be a re-run of Germany post-1929, and some form of extreme-right mass movement will emerge.

Does Europe and China/Asia have the economic independence and strength to stop the whole world's economies collapsing with the US? Their vaults are full to the brim with dollars.

The US has to find a way to pay for its dollar-imperialist exploitation of the world since 1945. Somehow, eventually, it has to account for every dollar in every vault in the world.

Bombing Iran could backfire tremendously. It would bring Iran openly into the war in Iraq, behind the Shiite majority. The US cannot cope even now with the much smaller Iraqi insurgency. Perhaps the US will feed into the Sunni v Shiite conflict and turn it into a wider Middle-East civil-war. However, this is so dangerous for global oil supplies. Further, they know that this would be temporary, as some country somewhere else, will establish a euro-oil-exchange. Perhaps in Brussels.

There is one `solution' -- scrap the dollar and print a whole new currency for the US. This will destroy 66% of the rest of the world's savings/reserves in one swoop. Imagine the implications? Such are the desperate things now swimming around heads in the White House, Wall Street and Pentagon.

Another is to do as Germany did, just before invading Poland in 1938. The Nazis filmed a mock Polish Army attack on Germany, to win hearts and minds at home. But again, this is a finger in the dam. So, how is the US going to escape this time? The only global arena of total superiority left is military. Who knows what horrors lie ahead. A new world war is one tool by which the US could discipline its `allies' into keeping the dollar in their vaults.

The task of socialists today is to explain to as many as possible, especially our class, that the coming crisis belongs purely to capitalism and (dollar) imperialism. Not people of other cultures, not Islam, not the axis of evil or their so-called WMDs. Their system alone is to blame.

The new Iranian Oil Bourse, the IOB, is situated in a new building on the free-trade-zone island of Kish, in the Persian Gulf. It's computers and software are all set to go. The IOB was supposed to be up and running last March, but many pressures forced a postponement. Where the pressure came from is obvious. It was internationally registered on 5th May and supposed to open mid-May, but its opening was put off, some saying the oil-mafia was involved, along with much international pressure. Just google `pertroeuro', and the story lies before you.

From now on, anyone in the know will wake up every morning and, even before coffee, will check out the latest exchange rate between the euro and dollar.


(1) The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse (Krassimir Petrov, Jan 2006)  http://www.countercurrents.org/us-petrov200106.htm

(2) Oil, Currency and the War on Iraq (Cóilínn Nunan, Scotland, Dec 2003)  http://www.feasta.org/documents/papers/oil1.htm

(3) Petrodollar Became the Essential Basis for the US Economic Hegemoney in the 1970s. (Bulent Gokay, Keele University, May 2006)  http://english.pravda.ru/topic/petrodollar-138/

Steve Masterson

Additions

Dollars and Oil

14.06.2006 20:13

Perhaps it might be helpful if I clarified a few misconceptions re the "Iran Oil Bourse" by updating and reiterating the following Asia Times article I wrote

 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA21Ak01.html

Firstly, the reason for the project in the first place was nothing to do with Euro's and everything to do with the domination and manipulation of the global market in energy by intermediaries. A problem which has got worse not better.

Secondly, neither NYMEX nor ICE Futures (formerly known as IPE) have much to do with buying and selling physical oil or products. Their purpose is to allow buying and selling of oil price RISK by allowing producers and consumers to "hedge" the risks of falling or rising oil prices respectively. Unfortunately the derivatives tail has in recent years been wagging the oil market dog to the serious detriment of producers and consumers.

As for progress of the IOB, there really has not been any for well over a year. Yes, a building in Kish island has been bought and legal entities created, but no other elements of market infrastructure have yet even been specified, never mind begun..

Assuming our consortium is put in funds (which we are told is imminent) then probably simple electronic exchange infrastructure could be completed within 6 months and something like bitumen or heavy fuel oil made available to be traded on it domestically.

I doubt whether crude oil will be traded (in ANY currency) on the IOB within 2 years: there are immense practical difficulties not least political.

As for trading oil in euro's most commentators tend to forget how limited the supply of Euro's is, and I don't think that will change much soon either bearing in mind how conservative the European Central Bank is.

Having said all that I do tend to agree that the dollar's collapse is both inevitable and overdue, and that it MIGHT be precipitated in the next year or so by a "melt-down" in the energy markets caused by rampant speculation by hedge funds.

A bit like the Long Term Capital Management fiasco, the difference being that the Federal Reserve Bank cannot print oil to bail market particpants out...

Best Regards

Chris Cook






Chris Cook
mail e-mail: cojock@hotmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.opencapital.net


Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

Dollar decline - Cashless Society

14.06.2006 22:37


Soon to come, along with more action against the so called 'terrorists', the United States will go Cashless.
They will blame the economic problems on the big bad Arab's of course and our only salvation is the new Cashless system.

Brian Moses
mail e-mail: nevillegoddardarchive@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.realneville.com/


gold

15.06.2006 20:16

i read churchill's voluminous history of world war two.

the reason the united states ended up with so much of the world's gold was because the allies did not want germany, italy, or japan to take it away from them if they were run over .
so instead of taking the chance of losing it, they shipped it to the only part of the world where it would remain safe, these united states. these are and were the facts.

this revisionist history must end.
america bashers must be stopped.
they are communists in the extreme stalinist form.
no matter what they call themselves, they are just the same as nazis.
hungry for blood and power.

keep yourselves aware of their writings and of their political affiliations.

or we will all be facing an 'american gulag' in the near future.

thefarnz


a little bit paranoid Mr. thefarnz.?

15.06.2006 23:14

“i read churchill's voluminous history of world war two.

the reason the united states ended up with so much of the world's gold was because the allies did not want germany, italy, or japan to take it away from them if they were run over .”

>>>You need to revise something less voluminous and more REAL….The essential fact about Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill ..and he was a Druid) is that his mother's father was Leonard Jerome (formerly Jacobson, 1818-1891) a speculator and business partner of August Belmont (nee Schoenberg 1813-1890), who was Rothschild's main American representative. … His rise was assisted by his mother's connections with the Rothschild circle including the powerful banker Ernest Cassell. > Source > The Last Lion, p. 108

In the 1930's Churchill's banker friends made him the leading light in their lobby, "The Focus Group," led by the Zionist chairman of British Shell, Sir Robert Waley-Cohen. Churchill became the main opponent of "appeasement" and eventually the main barrier to making peace with Hitler.

"Germany's unforgivable crime before the second world war," Churchill said," was her attempt to extricate her economic power from the world's trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit." (Churchill to Lord Robert Boothby, quoted in the Foreword, 2nd Ed. Sydney Rogerson, 'Propaganda in the Next War' 2001, orig. 1938.) >> The existence of a state of war between the United States and Germany
in 1917 had prompted the passage of the Trading with the Enemy Act, one
purpose of which was to make unlawful all dealings between Americans
and the enemies of the United States. However, an obscure subsection
of the Act authorized the President to regulate, investigate, and
PROHIBIT "under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe...any
transactions in foreign exchange, export or earmarkings of gold or
silver coin or bullion or currency...by any person within the United
States..." These sweeping new presidential powers had teeth in them:
elsewhere the Act provided for severe criminal sanctions of up to ten
years in prison and/or up to a $10,000 fine for violation of any
decrees which the President might make under the Act.

The net result of the Act, vis-a-vis transactions in gold, was the
arrogation by the Sixty-Fifth Congress of a "money power" not granted
by the Constitution -- and further: the delegation of that power to
the Executive branch of the Government.

The war emergency and the President's duty to fight the war provided
Congress with a convenient rationale for the Act. The fact is,
however, that the Constitution nowhere empowers Congress to prohibit
dealing in gold -- much less authorizes Congress to delegate that power
to a coordinate branch of the government.

Worst of all, the power which Congress delegated to the President
enabled him to make criminals out of honest American citizens whose
"crime" would consist only of trying to protect themselves from
official debasement of their money. In more fundamental terms,
Americans henceforth would be "under the gun" for exercising a
fundamental, inalienable right: the right to deal with theis own
property as they saw fit. Gold, no matter what its special
characteristics, is, after all, just another form of property.
(HOW AMERICANS LOST THEIR RIGHT TO OWN GOLD AND BECAME CRIMINALS IN THE PROCESS by Henry Mark Holzer) >> humm… a little bit paranoid Mr. thefarnz.?

Tom


No, not paranoid

16.06.2006 02:24

Mr. thefarnz is not paranoid. He is a dupe who has bought into the programming/spin of right wing radio. The reason that I specify "radio" is that I have observed this sort of blindness only in those who regularly listen to right wing radio. TV and print media don't seem to have the same effect. Don't bother trying to educate him, Tom. It's facts themselves that he doesn't like.

But just for fun, if these European countries sent their gold to the US so the Nazis wouldn't steal it, how come they didn't get it back after the war?

You are of course completely correct about Churchill and what Hitler's "original sin" actually was. As I recall, the big one was trading German locomotives for Argentinian beef with no bankers involved.

m-astera
mail e-mail: mastera@ywave.com


"By 1945, 80% of the world's gold was sitting in US vaults."

16.06.2006 02:27

I think the author must mean that 80% of the gold held by central banks was in the US.

HiGord


Capitalism is not the problem

16.06.2006 04:21

This fiasco the US finds itself in has nothing to do with capitalism or oil. I do agree that the dollar must fall, and soon, but not for the same reasons. The origins of the problem are in the federal reserve. Everybody should research the Federal Reserve extensively, along with the system of fiat currency based on debt and nothing more. Nearly every dollar in existence was loaned into the economy. It is created out of thin air by the Fed, then lent out to the government through the purchase of treasury securities (which the tax payer must some day pay) and multiplied by the fractional reserve system the commercial banks use. In essence, everything belongs to those who create money. How could we ever possibly pay off the debt? We would have to return every dollar to the banking system, plus interest which was never even created in the first place. It is impossible. I know it sounds hard to believe, but that is how it works. Inflation, buisness cycles, nothing more than robbing hard working people of their wealth. Capitalism, provided competition exists, is the only system where man can be free. Free to choose where he wants to use his labor, what kind of buisness he wants to start, if he wants to go to school to make more money, if he wants to work hard, or not at all. Socialism is slavery and is being promoted by the people who control the federal reserve and the banks and the big buisnesses. Do the research! The UN, the feminist movement, the new socialist ideology! It is funded by names Im sure you have all heard. Rockafellar, Rothschild, JP Morgan, etc....

Alex
mail e-mail: alexnewman_85@hotmail.com


in the middle of facts you tell a lie

17.06.2006 11:24

>>>just before invading Poland in 1938. The Nazis filmed a mock Polish Army attack on Germany, <<<


Where is your proof of this other than another obscure ziontoady
still telling lies about that era of history that shows a clear path to all Nations getting out of the grasp of International Banksters??

Poland was attacked after repeated requests by The Third Reich to desist
torturing and murdering German Nationals living in lands given over to Poland by the Verasilles Treaty. The documents are visible at www.wintersonnedwende.com

When you spread such lying spin to show you are in the camp of the Pavloved
puppets of the string pullers. You have an agenda to keep up the false
front of zionistcontrols !

Other than that most of your piece is spot on.

S.M.
NYC




sophia martin
mail e-mail: sophiamartin8@hotmail.com


US $ won't burst - probably get a lot stronger

19.06.2006 00:53

check out the historic work of Bob Hoye (instituionalinvestor.com???) He points out that contrary to expectation, historically the senior currency grows stronger rather than weaker as markets grow too indebted.

I would also add that the FED RESERVE may appear 100 years later like a conspiracy, but it was an attempt to mitigate the harmful outcomes of the then too free markets. I own a copy of a economic book written about 1880 where the author constantly refers to the createn of the new "bank money" in providing liquidity. he doesn't see it as a bad thing, even though he sees it for what it is. everyone at the time knew it to be very different than gold / silver as a monetary base. I would therefore suggest it is the goldbugs who could just as well be called the revisionists when they insist gold makes for a more 'honest' money. gold was the monetary base all through the Gilded Age (thus the name) & times of the Robber Baron. you can hardly classify that time as honest. there's a reason our ancestors agreed to move away from gold.

it's been a while since I've read his books, but I don't recall great 19th Century economist Henry George having much to say about bank credit vs gold. He focused on rent, which I have to agree is better angle for asking the same Q. You can approach the Q from a financial point of view - what should make up the monetary base? You can approach the Q from a political point of view...is capitalism better than socialism...is a free economy better than a centralized economy? (don't discount Japan yet, 15 years of deflation have hardly slowed the economy). For George it was a matter of how to put resources into the most useful hands rather than the hands of idleness. Think National Trust of the 60s @ 99% taxation, but also consider yourself too. R U useful?

I think the usefulness Q is far more profound than any conspiracy revisionist approach. Maybe you are a lawyer living in California. Maybe you are a software designer in Seattle or a farmer in Iowa. In our present situation (think planet Earth with warming atmosphere) all three jobs are complete waste of time. The value each adds to "the real economy" (all debate aside) is negative, yet all three are rewarded well. A US $ crash does nothing to address that problem. You'd only be moving value from one time wasting population to another. The problem with all economic systems is that after a while, they no longer reflect reality.

this in mind, the only reason the US$ has only grown weak the past few years is because everyone has so much FAITH in global casino-style capitalism. In the past few weeks, that faith has been tested, and maybe in few more few weeks the facts won't justify the happy, happy mood. Watch the US $ grow much STRONGER. Bob Hoye suggest history predicts this as the outcome, although he doesn't claim to know when. Historically, the senior currency always grows stronger in time of indebtedness. I believe underlying reality (too much superflous labor) suggests the same.

why? because far greater weakness in the US $ will ultimately reward casino-capitilism as useful, which isn't the case.I know that sounds simple minded, but eventually all economies must reflect reality. A weaker US $ will end up rewarding bad economic actions: US corporations which moved overseas to profit off slave-like conditions, the Yen Carry Trade do-nothing class, and over-indebted US households will get to use cheap US$s to pay back the dear...

Ah, you say I got it backwards!!! NO,NO,NO! US household debt is in US$s (Fannie Mae), so a weaker US $ makes the 2001-2006 debt orgy OK. A stronger US $, contrary to logic, makes the debt problem worse.

I know you keep thinking to yourself I got it backward. Instead, say to yourself "eventually all economic systems fall back in with reality" - which means a really, really strong dollar, which contrary to logic DOES NOT result in an overseas spending spree, but instead results in a far worse debt situation...

steve mandel
mail e-mail: hardtoremember@juno.com


US dollar, a disaster waiting to happen.

19.06.2006 11:49

Found on the net >>>>

A Terrible Foreboding
By Carl F. Worden
 wolfeyes@hisurfer.net
4-17-4


Ladies & gentlemen...

Most of you familiar with my writings know that I am a financial consultant involved in just about every aspect of economic and financial proceedings, and I must tell you I have a terrible feeling of foreboding regarding the future of American prosperity. The threat is imminent, and much closer than most Americans can possibly foresee.

My associates from every corner of America have consistently confided to me that the primary driving force in the American economy right now is people refinancing their homes at low interest rates, and withdrawing the equity to make purchases like cars and appliances, and to pay off credit card debt.

Those of you old enough, and those of you who are younger, but cognizant of the historical events leading up to the crash of 1929, will recall that people were buying stock on credit credit that became immediately due and payable when those stocks lost their value. Thousands of people lost their homes put up as collateral in the ensuing catastrophe, and wound up living in cars and on the streets and in soup lines.

That is exactly what is going on right now. Further, there are sharp increases in home purchases in various areas of the United States, driven not by people buying homes to live in, but to purchase a home on pure speculation that they will reap a huge profit by re-selling the home a month or two later often to another speculator. Economically, it is a disaster waiting to happen, and these home speculators are playing a reverse game of musical chairs in which you do not want to have a seat (read overpriced home) when the music stops as in when the buying frenzy suddenly ends and prices drop. All it will take is a Federal Reserve announcement of an interest rate increase, and I see that coming very soon.

Couple this trend with the fact fuel prices are soaring, making the price of everything from groceries to basic household goods, jump substantially due to transportation costs.

This trend cannot go on without harsh economic consequences, including double-digit, runaway inflation -- and the inevitable rise in interest rates. If interest rates jump just one or two percent, the entire basis for our existing economy through refinancing of homes will come to a screeching halt. If the Federal Reserve refuses to raise interest rates, inflation will explode unchecked. It,s a no-win situation, no matter how you look at it.

What,s going on right now isn,t very different from the events leading up to the crash of 1929. People were betting on the come line that stock values would keep on rising forever, just like people of today are betting their home,s equity will keep rising forever, but this cannot continue without a drastic correction that can be brought about by any number of unforeseen events. It,s like a house of cards in a high wind, and you never know when the breeze will bring the whole delicate structure to ruin.

I do not understand why the Bush Administration is not trying to do something about these exploding fuel costs. $2.00 (4-17-4)+ per gallon for diesel?? Diesel is just about the most cheaply produced fuel, yet its cost at the pump is equal to or higher than regular grade gasoline here in Oregon! Clearly, the oil companies are profiteering and cooperating in illegal acts of trust with one another, yet the Bush Administration is taking no hard federal action to even investigate, let alone bring prosecutions that send a strong message. I don,t get it, and I don,t understand why there has been no massive media or public outcry for action.

Foreclosures and bankruptcies all across America are already spiking, despite government assurances that we,re all enjoying a growing economy and a promising job market. Those government assurances are all a big, fat lie! The unemployment figures are completely unreliable, since those dropping off the unemployment compensation rolls are no longer counted, even if they remain unemployed after their benefits run out. It,s all a big, fat lie, and I have a terrible sense of foreboding of what is to come, because this economy is not built with underpinnings that can withstand even the slightest breeze.

Carl F. Worden

Tom


Thumbs Up

26.06.2006 16:02

Fantastic analysis.

MisterDog


Comment to Sophia Martin

28.11.2006 05:54

Reply to comment by sophia martin

in the middle of facts you tell a lie
17.06.2006 13:24

>>>just before invading Poland in 1938. The Nazis...



I don't know how well is Ms. Martin educated if at all.
The facts are in history books!!!
We all know who natzis were and what Gemans did.


derrick.

derrick


Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Sheffield Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Sheffield [navigation.actions2016]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2015]

Sheffield [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Sheffield Actions 2013

G8 2013

Sheffield Actions 2012

Workfare

Sheffield Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Sheffield Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Sheffield Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Sheffield Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Sheffield Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Sheffield Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Sheffield Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Sheffield Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Sheffield Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech