[extropy-chat] Extropian Scorecard

[Brent Neal]

 (11/8/04 6:20) Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:

>ANWAR is the big problem. The Euro is rising in value because of
>Russia's rise as an oil power as well as the shift by many states from
>backing their own currencies with the dollar to the euro. This creates
>a surplus of dollars and a dearth of euros as various Bumfukistan
>Central Banks dump their dollar reserves and buy up euro reserves.
>
>The US could reverse the influence of Russias oil on the euro by
>opening up ANWAR, which is why the european based tree-hugger groups
>are all dead set against it.


Hmm. Last I checked, Russia hadn't joined the EMU, and the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy were both based in the United States.

Let me propose an alternate theory: smaller governments are noticing that not only is our Federal deficit rising, but there seems to be no serious effort to restrain it. Further, our goverment's policies seem to be engineered to undermine our manufacturing sector.  Add that to the serious possibility of political instability as an extremely large portion of USians are concerned about the country's slide towards religious-based fascism, and suddenly Euroland, which also suffers large deficits but has made it clear that they are searching for a path to fiscal responsibility, seems like a better bet. Ah, how fickle the markets can be.  Of course, there are plenty of plausible things that could swing the tide back - the election of a communist government in France or a breakdown of Euroland's "harmonized" tax regime as individual member countries start rebelling against policies set by France and Germany.

B
-- 
Brent Neal
Geek of all Trades
http://brentn.freeshell.org

"Specialization is for insects" -- Robert A. Heinlein