Saturday, October 27, 2007


The US Dollar: "Falling With Style"

The head of the IMF is basically saying the dollar's at the edge of a cliff. Iran has been wanting to open a Euro-based oil exchange. The US wants to stop it from doing so. Naj at Iran Facts alerted me to an Iranian news story re: their Minister of Finance visiting Washington for IMF talks. This just after Con-di, Con-di, Con-di threw a sanctions party and nobody came. Maybe it's a great time for a Finance Minister to do some back-room dealing:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The head of the International Monetary Fund, Rodrigo Rato, warned Monday of a potential "abrupt fall" in the US dollar that could roil the global economy.

"There are risks that an abrupt fall in the dollar could either be triggered by, or itself trigger, a loss of confidence in dollar assets," Rato said at the close of annual meetings here of the IMF and the World Bank.

The outgoing IMF managing director spoke here as the European single currency hit a new high of 1.4347 dollars and global equity markets plunged amid renewed fears a US credit crunch could pitch the world's biggest economy into recession.

"The uncertainty ... comes from downside risks that are much higher than they were six months ago. The turbulence in the credit markets is a warning that we cannot take the benign (global) economic environment of recent years for granted," Rato said on the final day of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

"We still do not know the full effects of the decline in the housing market and the subprime problems of the US economy. Further disruption in financial markets and further falls in housing prices could lead to a global economic downturn," he said.

Eww. Better make that visit to the Seven Dwarves' Mine.

9 comments:

Naj said...

Spiffy translation:
26-oct-2007, Fars News

Danesh-Jafari: Any move against Iran will distabelize the world's economy

In a press conference in Washington, refering to the insignificant impact of America's sanctions against Iran, the Finance minister warned that any move against Iran will jeopardize teh world's economy.

Citing Press TV, The Iranian finance minister participated in a press conference after teh IMF meeting in washington and stated that Iran believes that the share of the rich nations that take extra benefits from the IMF and the world bank needs to be reduced.

Davood Danesh-Jafari said: "it is necessary that some of the shares of the rich nations be transfered to the poor ones to balance teh disparities.

According to this report, after establishment of the IMF and WB after WWII, rich countries such as US, EU and Japan purchased large shares and left very little to poor countries.

Danesh-Jafari criticized America prohibiting the increase in shares of poorer nations. He added that the US and EU were controlling these institutions. He pointed to Amrica's political interference in WB's decisions and said: many countries hold shares in this bank and they have to reap the benefits as well, "This political phenomenon has steped over Iran's interests"
He added that, in spite of american propaganda against Iran to occlude the investment environment in Iran, Iran has been able to sustain its economic conditions.
He added that America's conspiracy has has little effect on Iran and that any move against Iran will destabilize teh world economy.
he added that, everytime the rift between Iran and the US widens and America's anti-Iran rhetoric increases, teh oil market becomes destabilized.
He added, Iran has always been the winner of this friction!

(end)

my comment: this is CLEAR signal to the US: "shut up and put up and will will help you!" Which has been the consistent message from tehran since at least 15 years ago.

MarcLord said...

You Da Woman! (Meaning, "Thank you, my esteemed friend Naj, I appreciate you doing such painstaking translation work on my request. Is there any way I can repay you, or perhaps your family?")

euroguillem said...

Every crisis has name: that of their authors, of course. Even the 29´s which I believe was a "rabbinical" attempt to (in a bad sense) "Europeanise" the U.S.. Roosevelt and the war capitalized to AMERICAN PEOPLE for future decades. What does crisis can exist if all the society continues to work and consume? How can a divided and paralyzed Europe to have a stronger currency than the dollar?
Moreover (in my opinion) China and Arabian countries are in the economy in order to destroy it.
Somehow, somebody wants a new "corrections" for the most happy people ever been.
Guillem.

Naj said...

Sure you can re-pay me, keep posting your wonderful posts :)

Frankly, when it comes to "economics" I become a dummy. My grade in accounting was the only B I ever got in undergrad school!

If someone can teach me athe ABCs of America's economic power, and how it is fairing now, I will be very grateful.

MarcLord said...

Naj,

If you were to choose any course to get a 'B' in, it should be accounting. Not many organizations are bothering with it anymore!

MarcLord said...

guillem,

That the divided Euro should be stronger than the dollar does indeed give much cause for worry. If you want to make someone beholden to you, as every loan-shark knows, you loan them money.

Naj said...

Bingo!

Maybe I can apply to become Georgis's personal accounts officer?

euroguillem said...

The only thing I have drawn clear on the matter, is that a devalued US dollars, also devalues the petrodollar. Thus, Iran becomes a nuclear power to continue selling its oil and also continue piling up dollars.
That all around international opinion speaks about them, it also gives them great pleasure.
Moreover, I understand that U.S. buys all the oil that someone wants to sell them.

MarcLord said...

guillem:

Oil-exporting nations are being forced to improvise a currency "baskets" approach to pricing their oil. They can't kill the dollar all at once, of course, but a smooth transition away from it will be a difficult trick to pull off. There's just not enough liquidity in other currencies to absorb it all without come Central Banks printing enough M1 to clear it. Corner cases like Iran-Japan-yen transactions, though, are something we'll start seeing more of. You might call them direct transactions.