Posted on 02/27/2005 7:59:17 PM PST by jb6
Jeddah: George Soros is warning all oil-producing countries about pegging their currencies and oil revenues to the dollar.
"The US dollar is weak, and is expected to deteriorate more," said Soros.
The famous currency trader and financier warned Russia and other oil-producing countries to sell their oil and price it in euros rather than US dollars, because the US dollar continues to fall against the euro.
The US dollar poses a danger to oil-producing countries and their economies, he said.
Many central banks intend to peg their currencies to the euro and increase their balances of European currency against the dollar.
Soros's remarks came during at a press conference on the sidelines of the Jeddah Economic Forum, which ended on Monday.
Soros rejected allegations by some economists who held him responsible for the collapse of financial markets and creating an economic crisis in South East Asia.
He was accused of leading an international campaign to weaken currencies of a number of South East Asian countries when he withdrew his funds from Asian stock markets in 1997.
Soros said he sold all his Malaysian and Asian currencies six months ahead of the crisis, and has insisted he had nothing to do with the carnage in the markets.
Soros attributed the crisis to short-term investments in stock markets and the property boom as many investors withdrew their funds and pumped them into real estate.
Ironically, Soros's comments about the dollar may find support from at least one of his old antagonists.
In an interview with Gulf News last month, Dr Mahathir Mohammad, former prime minister of Malaysia, also warned against relying too much on the US dollar.
"Why are we clinging to the US dollar when we know we are going to lose money [as it declines in value]?" Dr Mahathir said.
He and Soros clashed in 1997, when Mahathir blamed global currency traders for the decline in the Malaysian currency
Unlimited ability of the gov't to create money to fuel vote buying schemes and guaranteed profits for the banking cartel.
I don't believe he lost a penny with his contributions and his continuing contributions to Moveon and others that are on the extreme left.
His income I think is reported largely from hedge fund activity and through market trades. But I believe his true income is masked by his offshore connections and banking relationships.
The bottomline is that I suspect Soros of being a tax evader who shovels unpaid taxes into leftist 527 organizations. He doesn't lose anything.
But I am hoping the short position he is taking on the US dollar will backfire on him severely. The fact that he's pushing for oil producers to convert their accounts from dollars into euros could be a sign of desperation.
I always thought that it was because of the volatility of gold prices caused in times of crisis by emotional traders in comodities.
Gold by itself is not so useful as a metal. It is pretty, malleable, good conductor but its scarcity renders it uneconomic for most uses. There are better alternatives.
Gold is an 'emotional' commodity. When the oil crisis hit the USA in the 1970s, Gold went through the roof in value. If the dollar had been pegged to gold, the volatility alone would have brought on collapse in financial markets.
You thought wrong my friend. Traders don't run the economy.
Soros is punishing America for re-electing Bush.
How'd he collaborate with the Nazis. And if he really is a Nazi collaborator, what's he doing out on the street?
I'm not so sure my thinking is wrong. I never implied that traders run the economy. Traders trade around economic news.
My thinking was that the oil shocks of the 1970s exposed the flaw in gold backed dollars. If dollars=gold and oil rises in value against the dollar, then those controlling oil get control of gold and hence the dollar. Control of the dollar leads to control of the US economy. Solution: decouple gold from dollar.
Sorry but I don't see removing gold from indexing the dollar to be a big deal. The dollar is what people will pay for it on the currency market, not what they will pay for gold, a nearly useless commodity.
Wrong again. Dollars were not backed by gold during the oils shocks of the 70s. Nixon removed gold backing in 1971. In fact this removal contributed to the oil shocks as the markets knew that there were too many dollars floating around.
If you fly JetBlue, you are contributing to the Soros fortune!!
DON'T FLY JETBLUE!!
Once again I never said that gold backed dollars at the time. I know the removal of the dollar from gold happened a little time before.
Nixon followed advice from his economic advisors who forsall the coming turmoil with the dollar. It was a much discussed item that the dollar was backed by a commodity of decreasing utility and increasing volatility. It was also projected that those with the commodity e.g. oil would be in the driver's seat of the US economy if the dollar continued to be backed by gold.
You are accurate I believe in that the oil shocks were in part caused by removing gold backing from the dollar. It also played a part in the heavy inflation of the 1970s. Had gold not been removed, the consequences would have been more severe in terms of volatility in valuing the dollar.
This is the second time you stated I was 'wrong'. In each case you assumed I was saying things that I did not say. I have to infer your aim is to dismiss anyone who questions your reasoning as 'wrong'. If that is the case I'm not sure I will respond in the future.
Right. And this seems to be what is happening, Saddam wanted to price his barrels in euros: the europeans loved him, the US invaded and captured him. Now the russians are pricing their oil in euros, however you cut it up, it looks like a freefall for the dollar. The only good thing, weirdly, is that our dollar is pegged to the chinese currency, so imports from china won't increase that much if the dollar continues to fall, keeping inflation in check.
I don't think it can be done, that is pass a law forcing disclosure of foreign company operations. The IRS can request a foreign company to provide information but they cannot force it.
They have to go by what Mr. Soros claims as income in his 1040 unless they can investigate other sources of income hs has not reported. And any such investigation requires cooperation with foreign governments. But privacy in banking is a gold standard for many international banks.
Speaking of privacy, I am for abolishing the IRS as it presently supports the personal income tax. I would like to see privacy for all Americans by abolishing the personal income tax and replacing it with the NRST. I'm not sure I will see such in my lifetime but I do like to read about it.
When Soros donated funds to the organizations such as MoveOn and others, he had to claim it was from personal funds. If those funds exceeded his income then he must claim the funds came from savings or investments. If from investments, he must claim the income from those investments.
I believe Soros is one of many greedy international market interlopers who never donates anything for free. I believe his 'donations' arise from revenue streams of his associates that are not reported to the IRS or any other government tax office.
What is an NRST?
He is only able to play games like that, because of the Administration's reckless spending, already in the pipeline, over Medicare and rebuilding Iraq at our expense--rather than out of Oil revenues. Bush's vow to veto any change in the Medicare drug program probably seals something pretty ugly in exchange rates, over the next two to three years.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
The abandonment of the Gold exchange rate, the rising oil prices, and the double digit inflation of the late 70s under Carter, all have the same cause, the reckless increase in the supply of Dollars, which accelerated under LBJ, when we had a war with both "guns and butter," at the same time--as well as the launching of the "Great Society" nonsense.
The Bush coupling of staying in Iraq, while launching a horrendous prescription Medicare program next year, and not really cutting back on much else, will garner a similar multi-faceted crisis in the not so distant future. We need to understand that economic laws work, whether the culprit is a Democrat or Republican. And we need to find statesmen, who will not squander the fruits of American productivity, trying to be all things to all men.
William Flax
NRST = National Retail Sales Tax.
Type NRST into FR's search window and you will see alot of posts about it.
Thanks for the ping.
Dems who stand with him against their own country will pay a price. Soros is going to get his hand is caught in the cookie jar, and dems will go down with him. Now's the time for Hillary to distance herself from the biggest torpedo to hit the dems since Monica.
"The US dollar is weak, and is expected to deteriorate more," said Soros.
Dems who stand with him against their own country will pay a price. Soros is going to get his hand is caught in the cookie jar, and dems will go down with him. Now's the time for Hillary to distance herself from the biggest torpedo to hit the dems since Monica.
"The US dollar is weak, and is expected to deteriorate more," said Soros.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.