Overview of article on the Petrodollar System
In the final days of World War II, 44 leaders from all of the Allied nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in an effort to create a new global economic order. With much of the global economy decimated by the war, the United States emerged as the world's new economic leader. The relatively young and economically nimble U.S. served as a refreshing replacement to the globe's former hegemon: a debt-ridden and war-torn Great Britain.
In addition to introducing a number of global financial agencies, the historic meeting also created an international gold-backed monetary standard which relied heavily upon the U.S. Dollar.
Initially, this dollar system worked well. However, by the 1960's, the weight of the system upon the United States became unbearable. On August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon shocked the global economy when he officially ended the international convertibility from U.S. dollars into gold, thereby bringing an official end to the Bretton Woods arrangement.
Two years later, in an effort to maintain global demand for U.S. dollars, another system was created called the petrodollar system. In 1973, a deal was struck between Saudi Arabia and the United States in which every barrel of oil purchased from the Saudis would be denominated in U.S. dollars. Under this new arrangement, any country that sought to purchase oil from Saudi Arabia would be required to first exchange their own national currency for U.S. dollars. In exchange for Saudi Arabia's willingness to denominate their oil sales exclusively in U.S. dollars, the United States offered weapons and protection of their oil fields from neighboring nations, including Israel.
By 1975, all of the OPEC nations had agreed to price their own oil supplies exclusively in U.S. dollars in exchange for weapons and military protection.
This petrodollar system, or more simply known as an "oil for dollars" system, created an immediate artificial demand for U.S. dollars around the globe. And of course, as global oil demand increased, so did the demand for U.S. dollars.
Petrodollar definitionAs the U.S. dollar continued to lose purchasing power, several oil-producing countries began to question the wisdom of accepting increasingly worthless paper currency for their oil supplies. Today, several countries have attempted to move away, or already have moved away, from the petrodollar system. Examples include Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and North Korea… or the “axis of evil,” if you prefer. (What is happening in our world today makes a whole lot of sense if you simply read between the lines and ignore the “official” reasons that are given in the mainstream media.) Additionally, other nations are choosing to use their own currencies for oil like China, Russia, India, among others.
As more countries continue to move away from the petrodollar system which uses the U.S. dollar as payment for oil, we expect massive inflationary pressures to strike the U.S. economy.
The Coming Collapse of the Petrodollar System
When historians write about the year 1944, it is often dominated with references to the tragedies and triumphs of World War II. And while 1944 was truly a pivotal year in one of history's most devastating conflicts of all time, it was also a significant year for the international economic system. In July of that same year, the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference (more commonly known as the Bretton Woods conference) was held in the Mount Washington hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The historic gathering included 730 delegates from 44 Allied nations. The aim of the meeting was to regulate the war-torn international economic system.
During the three week conference, two new international bodies were established. These included:
The International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, later known as the World Bank)
The International Monetary Fund
In addition, the delegates introduced the the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, later known the World Trade Organization, or WTO.)
More importantly, for our purposes here, another development that emerged from the conference was a new fixed exchange rate regime with the U.S. Dollar playing a central role. In essence, all global currencies were pegged to the U.S. Dollar.
From Bretton Woods to the Petrodollar System
At this point, an appropriate question to be asking yourself is: ''Why would all of the nations be willing to allow the value of their currencies to be dependent upon the U.S. Dollar?" The answer is quite simple. The U.S. Dollar would be pegged at a fixed rate to gold. This made the U.S. dollar completely convertible into gold at a fixed rate of $35 per ounce within the global economic community.
This international convertibility into gold allayed concerns about the fixed rate regime and created a sense of financial security among nations in pegging their currency's value to the dollar. After all, the Bretton Woods arrangement provided an escape hatch: if a particular nation no longer felt comfortable with the dollar, they could easily convert their dollars holdings into gold. This arrangement helped restore a much needed stability in the financial system. But it also accomplished one other very important thing. The Bretton Woods agreement instantly created a strong global demand for U.S. dollars as the preferred medium of exchange.
And along with this growing demand for U.S. Dollars came the need for… a larger supply of dollars.
The United States government benefits from a global demand for U.S. dollars. How? Because a global demand for dollars gives the Federal government a "permission slip" to print more.
Washington only has four basic ways to solve its economic problems:
1. Increase income by raising taxes the citizens. (Obama answer)
2. Cut spending by reducing benefits
3. Borrow money through the issuance of government bonds
4. Print money (Fed Reserve ie Foriegn Bankers answer)
Raising taxes and and making meaningful spending cuts can be political suicide. Borrowing money is a politically convenient option but you can only borrow so much. That leaves the final option of printing money. Printing money requires no immediate sacrifice and no spending cuts. It's a perfect solution for a growing country that wants to avoid making any sacrifices. However, printing more money than is needed can lead to inflation. Therefore, if a country can somehow generate a global demand for its currency, it has a "permission slip" to print more money. Understanding this "permission slip" concept will be important as we continue.
Finally, the primary beneficiary of an increased global demand for the U.S. Dollar is America's central bank, the Federal Reserve.
The U.S. Dollar is issued and loaned to the United States government by the Federal Reserve.
Because our dollars are loaned to our government by the Federal Reserve, which is a private central banking cartel, the dollars must be paid back. And not only must the dollars be paid back to the Federal Reserve. They must be paid back with interest!
A petrodollar is a U.S. dollar that is received by an oil producer in exchange for selling oil and that is then deposited into Western banks.
Despite the seeming simplicity of this arrangement of "dollars for oil," the petrodollar system is actually highly complex and one with many moving parts. It is this complexity that prevents the petrodollar system from being properly understood by the American public.
By 1975, all of the oil-producing nations of OPEC had agreed to price their oil in dollars and to hold their surplus oil proceeds in U.S. government debt securities in exchange for the generous offers by the U.S.
The petrodollar system has proven tremendously beneficial to the U.S. economy. In addition to creating a marketplace for affordable imported goods from countries who need U.S. dollars, there are more specific benefits.
In essence, America receives a double loan out of every global oil transaction.
First, oil consumers are required to purchase oil in U.S. dollars.
Second, the excess profits of the oil-producing nations are then placed into U.S. government debt securities held in Western banks.
The petrodollar system provides at least three immediate benefits to the United States.
It increases global demand for U.S. dollars
It increases global demand for U.S. debt securities
It gives the United States the ability to buy oil with a currency it can print at will
By creating incentives for all oil-exporting nations to denominate their oil sales in U.S. dollars, the Washington elites effectively assured an increasing global demand for their currency. As the world became increasingly dependent on oil, this system paid handsome dividends to the U.S. by creating a consistent global demand for U.S. dollars.
The artificial dollar demand created by the petrodollar system returned to Washington the "permission slip" to supply the global economy with freshly printed dollars that it lost after the demise of the Bretton Woods agreement.
And with so many dollars floating around the globe, America's asset prices (including houses, stocks, etc.) naturally rose. After all, as we have already demonstrated, prices are directly related to the available money supply.
With this in mind, it is easy to see why maintaining a global demand for dollars is vital to our national "illusion of prosperity" and our "national security."
When, not if, the petrodollar system collapses, America will lose its "permission slip" to print excessive amounts of U.S. dollars.
The Petrodollar and Hyperinflation in AmericaWhen this occurs, the amount of dollars in existence will far exceed the actual demand. This is the classical definition of hyperinflation.
When hyperinflation strikes America, it will be very difficult to stop without drastic measures. One possible measure will be a quick and massive reduction in the overall supply of U.S. dollars. However, with a reduction of the supply of dollars will come a massive reduction in the value of assets currently denominated in U.S. dollars.
(It is obvious that the more countries that start using their own currency and not the US dollar the sooner the dollar will inflate and collapse. It could be coming this fall. When it does place yourself in the picture instead of the lady pushing the cart with nothing on the grocery shelves. I can see it coming soon. The article says when, not if. Its all tied to the federal reserve printing excess money that is being used less and less by foreign governments. The fed, (international bankers) are of course preparing for the "new world order". Our country is controlled by foreign banks. It is the enemy within.) Story Reports
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