On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:50:30 -0500, F. George McDuffee
wrote:
snip
Note: Iran has begun to require payments in Yen from Japan, and
Euros from Europe for their oil, and China and the other large
holders of US dollars and dollar denominated securities are
forming "sovereign investment" entities, to exchange their
virtual dollar assets for equities including land, buildings and
large shares of American corporations.
snip
=======
connect the dots.....

========
dot #1
AP
Dollar Hits Low Against Euro
Thursday October 18, 5:35 pm ET
By Erin Conroy, AP Business Writer
Dollar Drops to Low Against Euro Amid Weak Economic News From
Washington

NEW YORK (AP) -- The dollar fell to a new low against the euro on
Thursday after the 13-nation European currency broke through the
$1.43 mark on reports from Washington that growing economic
weakness was boosting jobless claims.
for rest of article click on
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071018/dollar.html?.v=2
========
dot #2

MF says dollar ‘overvalued’

By Chris Giles in London

Published: October 17 2007 14:00 | Last updated: October 17 2007
14:00

Currency traders were given a green light to continue selling the
US dollar on Wednesday, as the International Monetary Fund said
the greenback “remains overvalued” and rejected claims the euro
had risen too far.
for rest of article click on
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e87f070e-7c9...lick_check= 1
==============
dot #3

October 18, 2007
Iraqi Contracts With Iran and China Concern U.S.
By JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 — Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in
contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of
enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said
Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among
American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial
investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened
tension with Iran.
snip
The Iraqi electricity minister, Karim Wahid, said that the
Iranian project would be built in Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in
Baghdad that is controlled by followers of the anti-American
cleric Moktada al-Sadr. He added that Iran had also agreed to
provide cheap electricity from its own grid to southern Iraq, and
to build a large power plant essentially free of charge in an
area between the two southern Shiite holy cities of Karbala and
Najaf.
snip
The agreements between Iraq and Iran come after the American-led
reconstruction effort, which relied heavily on large American
contractors, has spent nearly $5 billion of United States
taxpayer money on Iraq’s electricity grid. Aside from a few
isolated bright spots, there was little clear impact in a nation
where in many places electricity is still available only for a
few hours each day.
snip
Of the two new projects Iraq has agreed to finance, Mr. Wahid
said, the largest is a $940 million power plant in Wasit to be
built by a Chinese company, which he said was named Shanghai
Heavy Industry. That project would pump some 1,300 megawatts of
electricity into the Iraqi grid. For comparison, all of the
plants currently connected to Iraq’s grid produce a total of
roughly 5,000 megawatts.
snip
for rest of article click on
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/wo...gewanted=print


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
============
Merchants have no country.
The mere spot they stand on
does not constitute so strong an attachment
as that from which they draw their gains.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),
U.S. president. Letter, 17 March 1814.