An article by Robert Fisk in today's Independent is creating a bit of a stir. Fisk alleges that the Saudis and other Middle Eastern governments, and China, Russia, Brazil (BRICs minus India), plus Japan and France, have been engaging in "secret meetings" in which they are planning to "end dollar dealings in oil." Today's episode of the public radio program Marketplace will include an interview with Fisk. In the interview, Fisk explains that the shift away from the dollar for oil transactions would have the effect of stabilizing oil prices ("Because you'd have more currencies to bounce along beside each other. And you couldn't have huge dips and falls on the market for either the consumer or the producer"). But it will bring the dollar down by chipping away at its status as reserve currency: "Well I mean the dollar ultimately will go down. It did go down slightly when my story appeared this morning. But then recovered when the Saudis denied that they had any plans for a new currency." (Must be fun to be able to move markets.)
Read the transcript of the Marketplace interview (or listen to it) here. Read Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism on the Fisk article here. And here's some of the original article:
The demise of the dollar
In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading
Read the original article.