Eric Clapton gets CBE

[Huge]

A Ford and a BMW, then.

[IMM]

Before WW2 the pound was the anchor currency, then it was a greed by the Brits, as the Yanks had us by the balls, that the dollar would be No.1. The Arabs still used the pound in oil transactions many, many years after as they trusted the pound.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Many contracts are now in Euros.

Ther are signs that there is a slow and careful shift out of dollars into the euro and sterling. from 1.5 dollars to the quid, its now 1.8 dollars. Even more marked against the euro.

There is a better than strong possibility that it will not. It will reamin one of teh main ones, with the yen, and teh euro.

Make that 15 years, not till it runs out, but till the political and social issues make it relatively much more expensive.

When I used to but petrol in the 70's I copuld fill a tank for a fiver. And I used to draw maybe 30 quid a week to live on. Today, I draw maybe

100 and 50 quid fuills the tank. Relatively fuel is now - with housing - very high budget items in anyone's book.

That is a sane policy up to a point: taxing consumption of scarce resource is perhaps a little better than keeping it cheap until it runs out altogether...

I would not bank on it.

The US economy has deep and serious structural problems. Or to put it another way, it doesn't live in the real world. That is not an infinitely sustainable fantasy. GWB has tried to keep it there, but at huge costs in terms of deficits. And, like anyine who borrows enough money, the easiest way to avoid paying it back is to let the debt value slide via exchange rate manipulation. George borrows dollars from saudi, and pays back dollras, but they are worth much less than the dollars he borrowed.

You will see inflation in the US up, but it may help the native industry to be competitive, but the dollar is set for a long long slide now.