The Real Reason For The Iraq War

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html#p2 ^ | January 2003 | William Clark

[mnehring]

But, I hope what you're saying is that we had no need to go to war for oil because of the dollar being converted to 'fiat currency' [by Nixon circa 1973] -- ???


It is more of a statement of the entire macroeconomic process. A high school economics student could identify that any military action poses significant risk to supply as well as the currency valuation of those involved in the military action. With the result of supply costs increasing and the dollar reduced, this 'war for oil' (sic) could result in a worse oil situation (if the war was actually about that.)

Luckily, economics factors haven't driven this to a worst case scenario specifically for the reason that this war isn't about oil but about regional and international stability and security/(big picture)

If anything, because the war isn't about oil, the price has stayed relatively low compared to the naysayers predictions of $100/barrel +. The only real spikes weren't from the war but from natural disasters.

[Froufrou]

I don't feel picked on, not at all! I didn't have the benefit of any economics and mnehrling has done a great job of placing it in simple terms for me.

I wish I'd researched the piece a little longer and better instead of glomming onto the one part that I thought was the brass ring...
:o(

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"World trade is now a game in which the US produces dollars and the rest of the world produces things that dollars can buy.

Absurd. Dollars must be scarce in order to retain their function as a unit of value - as money. The government can't just print dollars and not tax them back, or else the quantity of dollars would increase not only as the dolars flowed out of government at a constant rate, but at an accellerating rate as the decrease in their scarcity made them less valuable.

All efforts to ignore that law are doomed to end in extreme inflation. And in economic stagnation: no matter how many socialists speculate about a supposed tendency for unemployment to decline as inflation goes up, the Philips "Curve" isn't a curve showing a consistent trend but an incoherent blob of data admiting just about any combination of inflation and unemployment.

[Froufrou]

Thank you for sharing. I've always heard that war is about the $$$ if nothing else...

[griswold3]

I just saw Steve Forbes the other night lamenting about the excess of dollars on the market. He said the government needed to buy them back. I wondered how they did that?

[Froufrou]

I can't argue intelligently with you because I've had no formal economics.

I have read one poster elsewhere who questions the legality of the Fed Reserve. My brain just dosen't work that way.

[hosepipe]

[ The Real Reason For The Iraq War ]

NOPE.. The real reason is to take all eyes off the Mexican border.. and its worked beautifully.. The Mexican insurgency is preceeding as expected.. Expected by whom?.. By BOTH partys..

[Froufrou]

Don't doubt ya for a minute. See it everyday in good old S.A.! Why do the Dems always buy that "we'll look out for you" garbage, as if there are any poor politicians? It's just ludicrous!

[MEGoody]

The liberals won't believe any facts you present to them, so your efforts to 'debunk' their talking points is probably a waste of time.

Having said that, simply tell them if we wanted to war against someone for oil, we would attack Canada or Mexico. (Mexico would be my first choice for obvious reasons.)

Since we do not get a single drop of oil from Iraq, some 2 years after going in there, the 'war for oil' talking point is beyond silly.

[MEGoody]

NOPE.. The real reason is to take all eyes off the Mexican border

LOL! Tin foil hat alert!

[RightWhale]

If we could drill in alaska

Seven leases have just been approved in NPR-A and nearby, which represents about 2 billion barrels. The North Slope Natural Gas Pipeline contract is nearing final negotiations and will be submitted to the Legislature for approval--35 trillion cf. ANWR, vetoed by Clinton after passing Congress, still gets the headlines, but is not the only game in town.

[hosepipe]

[ LOL! Tin foil hat alert! ]

You, Forgot the boots.. you NEED the boots..
Make a note..

[Dat]

They're obsessed with Mexicans.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Yeah, but remember that OPEC still sets the prices.

Only for member nations.