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Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

aljazeera.com

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Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#121

Post by Hayvok »

0x445442 wrote: post #87
kaladin_1 wrote: post #3

Interesting the pressure is increasing. More and more countries questioning why they need to base their foreign transaction on the US Dollar. Could this mounting unrest be as a result of the seeming inability of the US Federal bank in checking inflation of the US Dollar. Also, some of these Nations can no longer determine what benefit it is to them is using the US Dollar as their reserve currency and trading currency…

I think it’s more an issue of other countries seeing that the U.S. can just confiscate their dollar reserves if the US doesn’t agree with their sovereign actions. Those countries are choosing to divest from the mono world order which is crumbling. For a long but instructive discussion on current economic events check out this interview. https://youtu.be/cD_UcRtljDU

“Mono world order” is a fun euphemism for “boo hoo we’re not allowed to run around the planet conquering other people”.

You’re free to “divest” as you put it… But you’re still expected to behave & play nicely with your neighbors.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#122

Post by SuoDuanDao »

kaladin_1 wrote: post #3

Interesting the pressure is increasing. More and more countries questioning why they need to base their foreign transaction on the US Dollar. Could this mounting unrest be as a result of the seeming inability of the US Federal bank in checking inflation of the US Dollar. Also, some of these Nations can no longer determine what benefit it is to them is using the US Dollar as their reserve currency and trading currency…

Somewhere in my comment history I made the prediction "It will be possible to buy large amounts of oil without USD by 2024" - so I think I've got a decent track record on this subject.

I'm much less confident in these predictions than that one, but I'll predict Saudi Arabia won't go off the USD because they depend on US military support in a pretty warlike part of the world and the CFA will be replaced by 2027 as currently planned without any major interference from the European powers.

As for a case for maintaining the status quo - The example made of Ghaddafi comes to mind.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#123

Post by ben_w »

tcbawo wrote: post #107
ben_w wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it's a prerequisite, though perhaps not the only one. I also suspect that political stability is more likely to favour China than the USA over the next few decades — it is very human for success to be followed by the assumption of indefatigability and that to be followed by fighting over who leads the nation, rather than continuing to focus on what actually made a nation dominant and how to keep it that way…

The US may have backslid a bit, but it still leads the world in property ownership rights and fairness of the legal system. When a foreign corporation takes a domestic corporation to court, which jurisdiction will they get the fairest shake? What happens to billionaires when they speak critically of the Chinese government? Despite claims to the contrary, freedom of speech and rights of the property ownership are stil…

Certainly; this is a hypothetical about a future where both China improves and the USA continues downhill. But even then, don't image a static world, imagine the difference (on the world stage, not in absolute terms) between the UK in 1922 and 1950, and assume the USA might fall proportionally as far by 2050. Or the growth of the Soviet Union in the same period, and apply that to China by 2050.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#125

Post by notahacker »

luciusdomitius wrote: post #116
jonnybgood wrote: post #98

This has nothing to do with USD dominance as many are suggesting. Ghana is running out of USD reserves and has to resort to buying with gold. Nothing suggests they wouldn’t use USD if they had it.

What prevents them exchanging gold for $ like all other gold producers are doing? This is probably what they themselves were doing beforehands?

This sibling comment has the answer to that: it helps disguise the margin the government makes on gold it compulsory purchases from local miners in local currency https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33742853

Also helps to look like you're doing something about a debt crisis even if the net effect is minimal or negative...

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#126

Post by KptMarchewa »

Isinlor wrote: post #39
ur-whale wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologies, but your reading of the situation is shallow. What do you think led Vlad to invade? The US has been mounting a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine for the past 20 years, one they're ready - barring political upheaval in the US - to fight down to the last European.

Polish and Ukrainian economies were exactly the same size in 1991 after collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2021 Polish economy was 3 times bigger than Ukrainian and almost 2 millions of Ukrainians emigrated to Poland for work. Very clearly Poland done some things right, while Ukraine did not. The one important thing that we have done right appears to be immediate turning towards West after collapsing communist regime i…

Your analysis is on point, except for one thing:

>Putin invaded Ukraine because he believed in a false story that Ukrainians wanted to be Little-Russians fed to him by FSB agents (KGB successor).

I don't think he really believed in an real enthusiasm, but rather passiveness and complacency that characterized "Great-Russians" under his regime.

>But Russian speaking Ukrainians sympathetic to Russia never asked for their whole lives to be upended and to be bombed by Russia into oblivion.

That's a giant point not even touched once by trolls that love to share 2012 Ukraine election results. There's massive difference between believing that Ukraine needs to ally with Russia, there are cultural ties and similar points, and wishing for literal invasion of your country by foreign empire.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#127

Post by ben_w »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #64
ben_w wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm only at the level of guessing for topics like this, but my guess is that a chain reaction is more likely to see a switch from USD to Renminbi than a switch to gold (or Euros). China because of the potential assuming similar GDP/capita as the current USA. Not soon because I expect as a prerequisite for change being the new winner's GDP to be dominant rather than just joint top 3 in a ranking system that changes th…

Wouldn’t a switch to Renminbi as a global reserve currency be fundamentally incompatible with China’s currency control regime? This has always been the explanation I’ve been given for why such a switchover is improbable.

Could be; I don't even understand British economic policies, despite my nationality, Chinese economic policies are completely outside my domain of knowledge.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#128

Post by luciusdomitius »

UltraViolence wrote: post #92
kaladin_1 wrote: post #3

Interesting the pressure is increasing. More and more countries questioning why they need to base their foreign transaction on the US Dollar. Could this mounting unrest be as a result of the seeming inability of the US Federal bank in checking inflation of the US Dollar. Also, some of these Nations can no longer determine what benefit it is to them is using the US Dollar as their reserve currency and trading currency…

Saudi Arabia isn't going off the USD. That would seriously undermine their relation with the U.S. and could even have them branded an antagonistic nation. The dominance of the USD is EXTREMELY important to the U.S. and I can assure you that Washington is even willing to wage war over it. But I believe the ball has already started rolling with Bitcoin and Russia's demand for payment in Rubles.

S. Arabia was already labeled a pariah nation by the senile old man. Just before they refused to increase production. So, no leverage there.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#129

Post by UltraViolence »

pirate787 wrote: post #100
UltraViolence wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saudi Arabia isn't going off the USD. That would seriously undermine their relation with the U.S. and could even have them branded an antagonistic nation. The dominance of the USD is EXTREMELY important to the U.S. and I can assure you that Washington is even willing to wage war over it. But I believe the ball has already started rolling with Bitcoin and Russia's demand for payment in Rubles.

LOL Bitcoin is a joke, its down 65% against the dollar this year

FTX's collapse has left its mark, but this will only be temporary.

Bitcoin is already demonstrating its usefulness by helping countries evade economic sanctions. There are a truckload of nations who're fed up with the West's financial dominance and are actively seeking alternatives.

Re: Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars

#130

Post by themihai »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #84
themihai wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Gold is valued in dollars. Oil is valued in dollars. If a long term contract is signed it protects you from dollar's inflation/volatility as the contract used gold as currency. I think this is important as tomorrow Fed's decision is no longer that important for your energy costs. The more important part is that if enough contracts are signed in gold(highly unlikely given U.S's oil exports) then the dollar is no lo…

> I think this is important as tomorrow Fed's decision is no longer that important for your energy costs. The Fed decision wasn't important to energy costs anyway, though. Oil is priced in dollars, but the price changes minute-to-minute. Whatever the Fed decides about the value of a dollar, the oil price will reflect that. If you're involved in a long-term contract involving the exchange of oil for dollars, then the…

>> The Fed decision wasn't important to energy costs anyway, though.

Of course it was. Rate hiking makes the dollar more expensive for anyone buying dollars(to pay for the oil). Were they dealing with gold they would not have this issue. Not to mention if the buyer is a gold producer.

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