by Petrodollar » Thu 10 Jul 2008, 13:57:24
This candid Bloomberg article from last week really summarizes the dollar/ energy /commodities pricing/ inflation connundrum...and IMO, outlines how the G.W. Bush administration has done more damage to the US dollar's role as the world's reserve currency than any president on the post-WWII era. The contrast between the 2001 G8 meeting vs. the 2008 G8 meeting is staggering.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... 0_cYGS8Avc
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Bush's Dollar Drop Maps Loss of U.S. Clout at Final G-8 Summit
July 3 (Bloomberg) -- When President George W. Bush went to his first Group of Eight summit in 2001, a dominant issue was the dollar -- the strong dollar, that is. The U.S. currency was on a record-setting streak, and the free-marketeering president wasn't going to stand in the way.
{what a contrast after 7 years of Reagan/Bush II voodoo economics...}On the eve of Bush's last G-8 appearance, the dollar's gyrations are again in the crossfire. This time, it is a weak currency, upended by slumping growth, a housing recession and record gas prices, that is gnawing away at the world economy.
The dollar's 41 percent drop against the euro during Bush's term writes the economic epitaph of an administration that set out to restore American preeminence. Instead, Bush heads to Japan next week for his final international summit with diminished leverage as Russian and Chinese influence grows.
...and speaking of commodities and oil pricing in the dollar...
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')rice Surge
G-8 finance ministers last month identified surging commodities prices as a bigger threat than the credit squeeze to the world economy.
Prices for 19 commodities in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index rose 29 percent in the first half, the most since 1973. Rice, corn and wheat futures have all touched records this year.
Sagging faith in the dollar -- it now makes up 63 percent of global currency reserves, down from 71 percent when Bush took office -- complicates efforts to tame commodity prices because they are primarily denominated in the U.S. currency. America's dependence on imported capital to finance a $9.5 trillion debt -- up from $5.7 trillion when Bush took office -- has driven down the currency. The decline was accelerated by the subprime crisis that plunged the U.S. into an economic tailspin.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '`')`If Bush could get others at the G-8 summit to demand a stronger dollar he'd have done a final good after a lot of negatives over the years,'' said Uwe von Parpart, chief Asia strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald LP in Hong Kong. ``
Speaking at the White House yesterday, Bush tried to give the markets a nudge: ``