Dollars vs. Euros, Condi Rice, et al



  • I am starting a new thread, as I felt this part of the discussion was mixed in with all the other discussions in 'America vs Europe.' If this is a breach of ettiquite here, sorry.

    @ammoQ said:

    @R.Flowers said:

    I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Wouldn't the value of oil (or any commodity) stay the same (within market considerations of course) irrespective of what currency it was traded in? I've always been terrible understanding the disparities in exchange rates.



    Currently, the exchange rate EUR/USD=1.2
    If Iran stars trading oil in EUR, and other oil producing countries do the same, this might change to EUR/USD=2.5 or so.

    Why? Is this because the U.S. would have to start buying Euros in order to buy the oil, thus demand would drive up the value of the Euro? I can kind of see that.


    Currently,  a barrel of oil costs about 60 USD (=50 EUR). Then, it would cost 125 USD (=50 EUR). Currently a European product, e.g. a car, costs (say) 24K USD (=20K EUR) in the US. Then, it would cost 50K USD (=20K EUR), but obviously no-one pays that much for a medium-class car. But if the European manufacturer keeps the price of 24K USD, that will be less than 10K EUR. By far not enough to cover the production costs in Europe.



  • Yes, exactly. Currently, USD buys oil and everybody keeps his "savings
    for a rainy day" in USD for that reason. If oil is suddenly being sold
    for EUR, many countries will sell their USD to buy EUR instead. The law
    of supply and demand predicts a strong shift in the exchange rate in
    such a situation.



  • Has everyone been noticing how much Condi has been in the news lately?



  • @CPound said:

    Has everyone been noticing how much Condi has been in the news lately?

    There is some speculation that there are behind-the-scene maneuvers to slide Cheney out of the way (i.e., he would resign), replace him with Condi, thus giving her some V.P. experience in a prelude to a 2008 presidential campaign. Not my opinion, but interesting. Also, there is the problem of Iran wanting to go nuclear, so she will be in the news by virtue of being Secretary of State.

    For what it's worth, I do believe the first woman and/or black president will be Republican, for the same reason that it took Nixon to go to China and it took Bill Clinton to sign welfare reform.

    BTW, sorry I started this new thread then had nothing to say. I think ammoQ explained the exchange rate problem well enough, so I dropped it.



  • @R.Flowers said:

    There is some speculation that there are behind-the-scene maneuvers
    to slide Cheney out of the way (i.e., he would resign), replace him
    with Condi, thus giving her some V.P. experience in a prelude to a 2008
    presidential campaign. Not my opinion, but interesting. Also, there is
    the problem of Iran wanting to go nuclear, so she will be in the news
    by virtue of being Secretary of State.


    Interesting thought...


    For what it's worth, I do believe the first woman and/or black president will be Republican, for the same reason that it took Nixon to go to China and it took Bill Clinton to sign welfare reform.

    The same happened in Germany during the last years... The coalition of social democrats and the green party did some determined cuts to social spending; and the first woman to be a cancellor (most powerfull position in Germany) happens to be from the conservatives.



    BTW, sorry I started this new thread then had nothing to say. I think ammoQ explained the exchange rate problem well enough, so I dropped it.



    No problem, the other thread was already way too long anyway.


  • Does anyone know of a good Condi Rice webpage? A site that gives daily updates on her rise to pow...I mean her career?



  • I don't necessarily think if oil is suddenly traded in euros it's going to drive the exchange rate up that much.  There's too much foreign invenstment in US companies for this to happen.  Sure it'd go up a bit but not that much.  It's all about buying power, and currently most of the world's nations need to be able to buy high quality manufactured goods (a la high tech engineering tools, airplanes, etc.) and services.  I think it's all irrelevant though because a. we don't buy oil from iran (I'm pretty sure anyway) and b. the saudis and other oil producing countires governments want to keep their status quo, which we help so much to keep around.  Besides even if they do start trading in euros it won't matter...that money flows back to the states anyway.  Companies are moving en masse to the US, China and Japan thanks to the bueacratic socialist mess that is the european continent.



  • @CPound said:

    Does anyone know of a good Condi Rice webpage? A site that gives daily updates on her rise to pow...I mean her career?

    Well, any such site would be biased, I'm sure, in today's climate.

    Here is a pro-Condi site: http://www.condipundit.com/

    Here is more of a bio page; it's more neutral/critical: http://www.nndb.com/people/205/000024133/

    Here's something I'm just not sure about: http://thedavidlawrenceshow.com/condoleezza_rice_001852.html



  • @beerthirty said:

    I don't necessarily think if oil is suddenly traded in euros it's going to drive the exchange rate up that much.
     There's too much foreign invenstment in US companies for this to happen.

    Why would that slow the change of the exchange rate?

     Sure it'd go up a bit but not that much.  It's all about buying power, and currently most of the world's nations need to be able to buy high quality manufactured goods (a la high tech engineering tools, airplanes, etc.) and services.

    Most of that stuff can be buyed in Europe, too.

     I think it's all irrelevant though because a. we don't buy oil from iran (I'm pretty sure anyway) and b. the saudis and other oil producing countires governments want to keep their status quo, which we help so much to keep around.  Besides even if they do start trading in euros it won't matter...that money flows back to the states anyway.

    Currently, the US spend a lot more money than they receive. Look at the trade deficit.


    Companies are moving en masse to the US, China and Japan thanks to the bueacratic socialist mess that is the european continent.

    I don't see that at all. Some are moving to China because of the lower wages there. Many are moving to Eastern Europe, for the same reason.


  • Condi exercising

    Possibly more than anyone wants to see:

    http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/02/rice.workout.ap/index.html



  • You know...the Third Reich promoted physical education. The similarities here are uncanny.



  • @CPound said:

    You know...the Third Reich promoted physical education. The similarities here are uncanny.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_Law



  • I call Godwin! [:P]





  • @ammoQ said:

    A link about the Iran Oil Bourse etc.

    Fascinating. Assuming that article is astute (a better assumption than trusting my own uneducated opinion), what bothers me is this:

    @article said:

    At this stage, only a direct and immediate action on the part of the US administration aimed at preventing a military confrontation with Iran on the one hand, and at giving up the idea to monetarise the US foreign debt on the other hand, could change the course of events. For LEAP/E2020 it is obvious that not only such actions will not be initiated by the current leaders in Washington, but that on the contrary they have already chosen "to force the destiny" by shirking their economic and financial problems at the expense of the rest of the world.

    Why? LEAP/E2020 seem fairly convinced that this course of action leads to a massive collapse of the US economy. The US administration must surely be aware of these consequences. So what's their motivation for "forcing destiny"? Do they know something LEAP/E2020 doesn't?



  • @Snagglepuss said:

    Why? LEAP/E2020 seem fairly convinced that
    this course of action leads to a massive collapse of the US economy.
    The US administration must surely be aware of these consequences. So
    what's their motivation for "forcing destiny"? Do they know something
    LEAP/E2020 doesn't?



    The administration is obviously not convinced about that outcome of
    these actions. Predictions about the future are always a bit difficult.
    I don't think that those LEAP/E2020 guys are the most reliable and
    unbiased source of information, but their site describes the problem
    better than I could, so I linked it.




  • Go Condi! Go Condi!


  • Do I have to be the only one who contributes to the Condi thread? Jeez!



  • I think you scared everyone away. She looks about ready to go for the jugular.





  • @Snagglepuss said:

    I think you scared everyone away. She looks about ready to go for the jugular.

    IMHO it looks more like she's an actress in one of them there adult movies I keep hearing about. ;)



  • Campaign Song

    For some reason I hear Beyonce's "Check On It" as Condi Rice's campaign song.

    Here are the lyrics. Note the relevance.


    You need to stop playin' 'round

    with all them clowns (Bush) and the wangstas (Rumsfeld)

    Good girls gotta get down with the gangstas (the people)

    Go ahead girl put some back and some neck up on it (like that pic above)

    While I stand up in the background and check up on it


    I’m checkin' on you Boo, do what you do (run for president)

    While you dance (win the election), I'ma glance at this beautiful view (Condi as president)

    Keep my hands in my pants (?!?)

    I need to glue 'em with glue (?!?)

    hands in my pants? Eww...



  • @Ulvhamne said:

    IMHO it looks more like she's an actress in one of them there adult movies I keep hearing about. ;)

    Does that mean you will be voting for her? Or would you rather save your vote for a real porn actress?

    Seriously, though, Condi has her sights set on a higher office - commissioner of the NFL.



  • @R.Flowers said:

    @Ulvhamne said:

    IMHO it looks more like she's an actress in one of them there adult movies I keep hearing about. ;)

    Does that mean you will be voting for her? Or would you rather save your vote for a real porn actress?

    Seriously, though, Condi has her sights set on a higher office - commissioner of the NFL.



    I'd love to vote in your elections, and if we ever had a porn star rise to the occasion here in sweden I'd vote for them in a heartbeat. ;)


  • Condi is in the news quite a lot these days.

    I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that she's Secretary of State.



  • Ok, Condi fans (and foes), I have discovered some fresh content:

    Condi Rice is Angry!



  • @CPound said:

    Condi is in the news quite a lot these days.

    I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that she's Secretary of State.


    ...



    NAAAAAAAAHH.



  • It is once again time for our Condi update!



    Anger, apology over "Condoleezza" quiz


    By Rachel Tuinstra


    Seattle Times Eastside bureau

    	<!--​ start photo -->
    	
    
    
    	
    
    	<p>Bellevue Community College
    

    President Jean Floten apologized Wednesday at an emotional open-campus
    meeting called after students complained about what they said was a
    racially offensive math question used on a practice test.

    ...

    The question read, "Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge
    of the roof of the 300-foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a
    velocity of 20 feet per second."


    The whole story: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002927599_bcc13e.html



  • Condoleezza Rice's spokesman on Saturday
    branded as "utterly false" a lawyer's claim the secretary of
    state leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist
    charged with receiving and disclosing such information.

    "The claims by these defense lawyers are utterly false,"
    Rice's spokesman, Sean McCormack, told The Associated Press.



  • Condi update : Whitehouse.com

    One of the digg.com postings points to a web design blog, where the fellow takes famous sites and "makes them better." His latest subject matter is www.whitehouse.gov. I thought I would have a little fun and post a joke about www.whitehouse.com, but it's no longer a porn site! However, I did find this picture which is quite appropriate for this thread, i think.


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