According to the below Russia Today segment, Gadhafi was trying to mobilize the oil-exporting nations to accept only gold dinars as payment – not printed money.
Remember, Libya is part of OPEC, and during the 1973 oil crisis, the organization raised the price of oil dramatically. OPEC has stated their actions were due to hyper-inflation caused by unilateral changes driven by the U.S. in the world financial system at that time.
Since the USD is the defacto reserve currency, the Fed printing vast quantities of the dollar is creating inflationary pressures around the world. It is not far-fetched to think OPEC is strongly interested in a move towards gold to protect the value of their oil.
Granted, the U.S. is not forcing USD on any one. The world buys USD denominated assets because they believe the currency is stable.
What is important to remember is that when the U.S. financial system is in trouble, she will have a currency policy that best suits her. Print more of it. Raise interest rate and constrict the flow of it. These and others are all unilateral actions that can be taken to suit the U.S.. Put any other country in the U.S.’s shoes, they’d do the same.
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