The Petrodollar: inspired by the money thread below
Reminds me of the novel "The Buck Passes Flynn" by Gregory McDonald in which it is mooted that the shifting of the world economy from the gold standard to the oil standard (payment accepted only in dollars, thanks very much) was as the result of a conspiracy by US bankers and industrialists to cement their position as new world superpower after WW2.

And it apparently all hinged on one key speech given after the war (can't remember when or where right now), specifically one phrase in said speech which was said to have been inserted by a spy.

One of the unintended upshots of this is that it is directly responsible for putting everyone's economy on a shit-chute because what the economy is now based on is being poured into petrol tanks and burned.

As a side-note the book mentions that the US government has a full stock of alternative currency on standby for when (not if) the dollar finally collapses. Of course it's an old book so any new monetary system introduced would likely be entirely credit*

*Which of course links this conspiracy nicely to the 666 number of the beast, cannot buy or sell but you accept his mark, conspiracy.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 14:03, 19 replies)

Your post
is authentically incoherent.
(username failed moderation, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 14:13, closed)

Yeah, not my best effort
if I'm being honest.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 14:24, closed)

I followed it until the bit about satan

( rob, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 14:28, closed)

It's usually advisable to get off most conspiracy theories
before they pull in at the Satan station. I just threw that in there as an example of how you can daisy-chain conspiracies. Needs moar Knights Templar though.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 14:30, closed)

A stockpile of alternative currency?
Yeah, that'd be useful.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 14:51, closed)

In the event of massive inflation it's handy
to be able to devalue and switch to a new currency within a day or two, otherwise you can face god knows what in the streets.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 14:56, closed)

Wouldn't it be worthless on the international markets,
and so be no better than the existing dollar? ie. fine for internal use, but useless if you want to import anything.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 15:10, closed)

Maybe they bought all
the Deutschemarks, when Germany switched to the Euro.
(username failed moderation, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 15:29, closed)

Like I said, worthless.
Not to mention that the US is the country that gave the world Liberty Cabbage and Freedom Fries. Issuing the DM into circulation wouldn't do much to quell unrest!
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 15:35, closed)

I'm not sure how it works internationally
but I was in Russia when the rouble was falling against the pound by 100-150 roubles per day and nobody could buy anything; and also in Poland when they change to the new zloty and everyone had to change their old zloty for new zloty at a 100-1 exchange rate.

I think it's primarily to ward off complete collapse as things were getting hard for the average person in both countries. If you have a new currency ready to go though, you don't have to sit through a few months of constantly spiralling currency fall before you can get your new currency in place.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 15:54, closed)

I remember that too.
It also happened in Brazil, in both directions. Zimbabwe as well.

What happenes is everyone (who can) starts working with US$. The rest get fucked.
(username failed moderation, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 16:16, closed)

Hmm.
I still think you'd need a fair bit of international agreement to introduce your new currency, so as to give it value on the exchange markets. If you were stockpiling a reserve currency, I'd expect your actual currency to devalue pretty sharply, and a similar fate to befall your new currency, as it'd be an admission that your economy was knackered.

Money really is bollocks, isn't it? Back to barter, I guess.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 16:23, closed)

I dont' know why
but once the decision is taken to devalue and switch it does tend to stave off the rapid decline in value that's been experienced to that point.

With me there comes a point in economics when it leaves the realm of understanding and seems to bear more relation to voodoo. At least, the comprehensibility of it shifts in that direction.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 16:28, closed)

Agreed.
Economics seems to be based on the consensus of a few, rather than anything tangible.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 16:32, closed)

I think Mr Munch has hit the nail on the head in this thread
You can't simply magic a new currency out of nowhere, otherwise every indebted nation would be doing it willy nilly. If you replaced the $ with $ mk2 without addressing the underlying causes of the first currency's demise then the new denomination will simply inherit all of the economic ills of the old, which the added costs of altering the infrastructure to accept the new coins and notes.

Who pays for all the vending machines to be modified and for stockpiling the banks which have already been bailed out thrice?
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 8 Dec 2011, 11:32, closed)

"I think Mr Munch has hit the nail on the head in this thread
You can't simply magic a new currency out of nowhere"

I'm sorry, but that's precisely what struggling economies do actually do, there's no "can't" about it. I've seen it happen twice and know it's happened more often than that.

Just because you don't understand how it works doesn't mean it doesn't work. I don't know how it works but it's been done and it works, at least in some instances.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Thu 8 Dec 2011, 12:19, closed)

We should campaign for the CDC standard.
Then all B3tans will be rich beyond their wildest dreams!
( P-MONKE We're all fucked, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 18:44, closed)

I thought the 666 thing is strongly suspected to be errant translation.
Like the 72 vigins in the sequel.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 8 Dec 2011, 10:57, closed)

Some early copies of Revelations have a different number
I think it's 610 or something, someone has mentioned it on another entry. But that still leaves it that you can't buy or sell without bearing this number, whatever this number happens to be.
(Dildo Bugger destroyed a ring on, Thu 8 Dec 2011, 12:21, closed)