Article Image

IPFS News Link • Dollar Meltdown The

Dollar Hegemony, Saudi Arabia, Oil, and Ron Paul

• http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org by adam dick

 This is the latest in a series of developments suggesting the Middle East nation and large oil producer is shifting away from supporting US dollar hegemony through trade.

In February of 2006, then US House of Representatives member Ron Paul (R-TX) discussed the history of US dollar hegemony and its looming doom in a House floor speech titled "The End of Dollar Hegemony." Paul began his speech with his assessment that the dollar dominance, called dollar hegemony more recently and dollar diplomacy in earlier decades of the prior hundred years, "is coming to an end."

The full history and analysis Paul related in the speech is fascinating. But, there is a particular portion of Paul's speech that relates to the Saudi finance minister's comment. This is when Paul focused on the key role the trade of oil has played in supporting dollar hegemony and the related position of the US dollar as the world reserve currency.

Paul explained that after President Richard Nixon removed the final link between gold and the US dollar in 1971, backing of the dollar with oil became key to maintaining dollar dominance. Paul stated:


ContentSafe