Thai Baht in biggest weekly fall in four months after US Fed move

[nong38]

Wonderful news for all expats!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to one and all.

[VegasVic]

The USA is the largest importer of foreign goods of any country in the world. By 2017 it will be the largest exporter of energy. It has been weaning itself away from imports from the middle east and will be self reliant in a few years. It has discovered more oil and natural gas than Saudi Arabia. It has more refining capabilities than any country in the world. The USA is still the richest country in world. It gives more foreign aid than any other country. It receives no foreign aid from any country. It's citizens donate more to charities through out the world than any other country. It has repatriated and set free more of the worlds people more than any other country.

Say what you want, but the U.S. isn't done yet. At least not in your lifetime or your grandchildren's.

At least you better hope not. Why, is all this possible. Because the American people with all their own problems want it this way. Those of you that knock the "Yanks", should thank god that they came to the rescue of your country men with their unselfish commitment when it was needed.

If you think the USD is done, maybe you should tell your governments to stop relying on it. I am sure the American people could put their money to better use.

Yes the US has massive oil reserves, of shale oil that is, which is not commercial viable to drill

http://phys.org/news/2013-10-scientists-wary-shale-oil-gas.html

Next there are laws that prohibit to drill for shale oil. Texas which has the largest shale oil reserves in the US, recently approved a new law which make it impossible to drill. Other states approve similar laws.

http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2013/12/20/pennsylvania-supreme-court-reins-in-state-drilling-laws-stands-up-for-localities/

That's just nuts. Almost all of the new production of oil is from shale oil. I see nothing where Texas outlawed the drilling of shale oil and they are extracting massive amounts of it.

The massive new find that is causing N. Dakota to boom is all shale oil.

Canada is the US's #1 supplier of oil and it all comes from shale oil.

All I see is where Pennsylvania has ruled that it can zone areas against oil drilling. I doubt very seriously if they will do much of that because there is just to much money in oil. The taxes that go into state and Federal coffers are massive.

It's not "if." The US is producing more and more oil and in 2 years will surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer of oil and become energy independent. A couple of years after that, the US will become a net exporter of oil.

This is all on private land. On Federal land there is far more oil along the Rockies, of the 88,000 miles of coastal shoreline, and in Alaska.

It is far too soon to buy flowers for the casket of the United States of America, despite your wishful thinking. alt=thumbsup.gif pagespeed_url_hash=1443177670 width=25 height=19>

Once again you are correct Never Sure The U.S. has barely begun to tap into the Marcellus and Bakken oil shale deposits both on private lands, these will last for decades to come and the mother load on the western side of the rockies on federal land will be opened within a few years with or without Mr. obamas approval Also great strides are being made in securing large scale leases on Alaskas north slope outside of the artic wildlife refuge area that could yield more than the Bakken or Marcellus deposits All in all it really doesn't matter if the U.S. becomes energy independent and a net exporter of energy 2 years from now or 5-6 years from now, the fact is that it will happen and when it does it becomes a game changer

[VegasVic]

Wonderful news for all expats!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to one and all.

and to you and your family as well

[morrobay]

All that gold would fit in a single vault in England? England must have a very special vault. If all the pure gold on the planet was made into a cube, it would be 20 meters (67 feet) square, and weigh 167,000 metric tons. Where is this vault?

A cube 20 meters on a side = 20³ m = 8000 m³ The density of gold is about 19 kg/cubic meter , mass/volume. So 19kg/m³ = 152 000 kg/8000m³. There are 1000kg/metric ton

So (152,000 kg) ( 1 metric ton/1000 kg) = 152 metric tons

note when referring to volume its cubed not squared

[geriatrickid]

This headline should read "USD strengthens", as it has done against all of the other major currencies this week! I am waiting for the posts now of oh Thailand's doomed, it was bound to happen, Yinluck's fault, yellow/red shirts etc........... Yawn!

Simple fact, the US$ has strengthened globally on the back of the reduced amount of bond purchases from the FED.

Yes sir, and those with AUD and CAD are feeling the pinch too.

[ginjag]

Just loving cash from the ATM that doe's not want 150 bht for the transaction, and getting my near 54 baht to the pound, I AM SELFISH he he he, sorry for you Ausies, really don't understand why you are going the other way. Your day will come again when you were 32 not that long ago.

[Prbkk]

AUD and CAD are complicated by the fact that reserve /central banks around the world kept buying ( most particicularly Russia and China), even at above parity and the fact that both counties were trying to talk down the currencies. AUD @ .85 is a good spot for the economy ( not so great for expats wanting a Starbucks ). The GBP at current levels is going to stall economic growth in the UK. The Thai govt will be pleased to see the lower Baht.

[metisdead]

A post containing a link to another forum has been removed. Another post in which the reply was inside the quoted post has been removed as well.

[kowpot]

Firstly, let's look at the official development assistance given by different governments around the world. This is a measurement of money given by official government organisations that goes towards economic development and welfare. It is the United States who gives most of any country, with approximately $29 billion donated a year. This is more than double the next countries on the list, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, all of which give $12 billion.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5532085

The USA is the largest importer of foreign goods of any country in the world. By 2017 it will be the largest exporter of energy. It has been weaning itself away from imports from the middle east and will be self reliant in a few years. It has discovered more oil and natural gas than Saudi Arabia. It has more refining capabilities than any country in the world. The USA is still the richest country in world. It gives more foreign aid than any other country. It receives no foreign aid from any country. It's citizens donate more to charities through out the world than any other country. It has repatriated and set free more of the worlds people more than any other country.

Say what you want, but the U.S. isn't done yet. At least not in your lifetime or your grandchildren's.

At least you better hope not. Why, is all this possible. Because the American people with all their own problems want it this way. Those of you that knock the "Yanks", should thank god that they came to the rescue of your country men with their unselfish commitment when it was needed.

If you think the USD is done, maybe you should tell your governments to stop relying on it. I am sure the American people could put their money to better use.

Just to correct a few errors: the US is not, by any meaningful measure, the richest country in the world; it does NOT provide more foreign aid per capita( way down the list, in fact), it's citizens do NOT donate more to international charities , again WAY down the list per capita. There is a common misconception that the US does all these things, the reality is different. I don't believe the US is going to suffer any imminent collapse but it does face very significant headwinds notwithstanding energy self sufficiency

Rankings + Records Top 10 List

Richest Countries in the World

view as: list / map

▲ Country GDP 1. United States $15,940,000,000,000 2. China $12,610,000,000,000 3. India $4,761,000,000,000 4. Japan $4,704,000,000,000 5. Germany $3,250,000,000,000 6. Russia $2,555,000,000,000 7. Brazil $2,394,000,000,000 8. United Kingdom $2,375,000,000,000 9. France $2,291,000,000,000 10. Italy $1,863,000,000,000

[Naam]

Firstly, let's look at the official development assistance given by different governments around the world. This is a measurement of money given by official government organisations that goes towards economic development and welfare. It is the United States who gives most of any country, with approximately $29 billion donated a year. This is more than double the next countries on the list, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, all of which give $12 billion.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5532085

The USA is the largest importer of foreign goods of any country in the world. By 2017 it will be the largest exporter of energy. It has been weaning itself away from imports from the middle east and will be self reliant in a few years. It has discovered more oil and natural gas than Saudi Arabia. It has more refining capabilities than any country in the world. The USA is still the richest country in world. It gives more foreign aid than any other country. It receives no foreign aid from any country. It's citizens donate more to charities through out the world than any other country. It has repatriated and set free more of the worlds people more than any other country.

Say what you want, but the U.S. isn't done yet. At least not in your lifetime or your grandchildren's.

At least you better hope not. Why, is all this possible. Because the American people with all their own problems want it this way. Those of you that knock the "Yanks", should thank god that they came to the rescue of your country men with their unselfish commitment when it was needed.

If you think the USD is done, maybe you should tell your governments to stop relying on it. I am sure the American people could put their money to better use.

Just to correct a few errors: the US is not, by any meaningful measure, the richest country in the world; it does NOT provide more foreign aid per capita( way down the list, in fact), it's citizens do NOT donate more to international charities , again WAY down the list per capita. There is a common misconception that the US does all these things, the reality is different. I don't believe the US is going to suffer any imminent collapse but it does face very significant headwinds notwithstanding energy self sufficiency

Rankings + Records Top 10 List

Richest Countries in the World

view as: list / map

▲ Country GDP 1. United States $15,940,000,000,000 2. China $12,610,000,000,000 3. India $4,761,000,000,000 4. Japan $4,704,000,000,000 5. Germany $3,250,000,000,000 6. Russia $2,555,000,000,000 7. Brazil $2,394,000,000,000 8. United Kingdom $2,375,000,000,000 9. France $2,291,000,000,000 10. Italy $1,863,000,000,000

why is India only "Number 3" on that list? i travel to India quite often and see only extremely rich people, e.g. our housemaid in Mumbai and our gardener in Pune; whereas i have seen many poor people when i lived in the USA

[Prbkk]

Firstly, let's look at the official development assistance given by different governments around the world. This is a measurement of money given by official government organisations that goes towards economic development and welfare. It is the United States who gives most of any country, with approximately $29 billion donated a year. This is more than double the next countries on the list, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, all of which give $12 billion.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5532085

The USA is the largest importer of foreign goods of any country in the world. By 2017 it will be the largest exporter of energy. It has been weaning itself away from imports from the middle east and will be self reliant in a few years. It has discovered more oil and natural gas than Saudi Arabia. It has more refining capabilities than any country in the world. The USA is still the richest country in world. It gives more foreign aid than any other country. It receives no foreign aid from any country. It's citizens donate more to charities through out the world than any other country. It has repatriated and set free more of the worlds people more than any other country.

Say what you want, but the U.S. isn't done yet. At least not in your lifetime or your grandchildren's.

At least you better hope not. Why, is all this possible. Because the American people with all their own problems want it this way. Those of you that knock the "Yanks", should thank god that they came to the rescue of your country men with their unselfish commitment when it was needed.

If you think the USD is done, maybe you should tell your governments to stop relying on it. I am sure the American people could put their money to better use.

Just to correct a few errors: the US is not, by any meaningful measure, the richest country in the world; it does NOT provide more foreign aid per capita( way down the list, in fact), it's citizens do NOT donate more to international charities , again WAY down the list per capita. There is a common misconception that the US does all these things, the reality is different. I don't believe the US is going to suffer any imminent collapse but it does face very significant headwinds notwithstanding energy self sufficiency

Rankings + Records Top 10 List

Richest Countries in the World

view as: list / map ▲ Country GDP 1. United States $15,940,000,000,000 2. China $12,610,000,000,000 3. India $4,761,000,000,000 4. Japan $4,704,000,000,000 5. Germany $3,250,000,000,000 6. Russia $2,555,000,000,000 7. Brazil $2,394,000,000,000 8. United Kingdom $2,375,000,000,000 9. France $2,291,000,000,000 10. Italy $1,863,000,000,000

Meaningless unless it is per capita or PPP

[Naam]

By 2017 it will be the largest exporter of energy. It has been weaning itself away from imports from the middle east and will be self reliant in a few years.

that's a good one!

[Naam]

Firstly, let's look at the official development assistance given by different governments around the world. This is a measurement of money given by official government organisations that goes towards economic development and welfare. It is the United States who gives most of any country, with approximately $29 billion donated a year. This is more than double the next countries on the list, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, all of which give $12 billion.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5532085

The USA is the largest importer of foreign goods of any country in the world. By 2017 it will be the largest exporter of energy. It has been weaning itself away from imports from the middle east and will be self reliant in a few years. It has discovered more oil and natural gas than Saudi Arabia. It has more refining capabilities than any country in the world. The USA is still the richest country in world. It gives more foreign aid than any other country. It receives no foreign aid from any country. It's citizens donate more to charities through out the world than any other country. It has repatriated and set free more of the worlds people more than any other country.

Say what you want, but the U.S. isn't done yet. At least not in your lifetime or your grandchildren's.

At least you better hope not. Why, is all this possible. Because the American people with all their own problems want it this way. Those of you that knock the "Yanks", should thank god that they came to the rescue of your country men with their unselfish commitment when it was needed.

If you think the USD is done, maybe you should tell your governments to stop relying on it. I am sure the American people could put their money to better use.

Just to correct a few errors: the US is not, by any meaningful measure, the richest country in the world; it does NOT provide more foreign aid per capita( way down the list, in fact), it's citizens do NOT donate more to international charities , again WAY down the list per capita. There is a common misconception that the US does all these things, the reality is different. I don't believe the US is going to suffer any imminent collapse but it does face very significant headwinds notwithstanding energy self sufficiency

Rankings + Records Top 10 List

Richest Countries in the World

view as: list / map ▲ Country GDP 1. United States $15,940,000,000,000 2. China $12,610,000,000,000 3. India $4,761,000,000,000 4. Japan $4,704,000,000,000 5. Germany $3,250,000,000,000 6. Russia $2,555,000,000,000 7. Brazil $2,394,000,000,000 8. United Kingdom $2,375,000,000,000 9. France $2,291,000,000,000 10. Italy $1,863,000,000,000

Meaningless unless it is per capita or PPP

[PeterSmiles]

On 11 December the Dallas City Council passed new restrictions barring hydraulic fracturing within 1,500 feet of a home, school, church, and other protected areas, effectively barring the practice within the city. Dallas had previously outlawed fracking within 300 feet of protected areas.

The ordinance was approved by a 9-6 vote, with Mayor Mike Rawlings voting in favor.

Not surprisingly, the natural gas industry was quick to react. Trinity East representative Dallas Cothrum, which had hoped to exploit the city’s location on the edge of the massive Barnett Shale region lamented, “You just can’t drill under these conditions. It’d require more than 250-acres of property and in an urban area it’s just not possible.” Dallas City Council Lee Kleinman, who opposed the new restrictions said, “We might as well save a lot of paper and write a one-line ordinance that says there will be no gas drilling in the city of Dallas. That would be a much easier ordinance to have.”

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/texas-2014-oil-output-to-surpass-some-opec-members-cm311422#ixzz2oAYt0W4C

This is the basis for your argument, that one major metropolitan area doesn't want drilling within its city limits?

Some here really do make a sport of grasping at straws.

I posted previous a link regarding drilling in Pennsylvania, above is one for Dallas, do you expect me to look up the laws for the entire US and pot them here ?

If you had bothered to click on the link, you would have found what the reasoning is for the restrictions, and that they apply to anywhere in the world where fracking is applied, and for that reason more and more states will apply restrictions which in turn will make the cost for the drilling even more expensive.

[jackr]

40 to a dollar would be nice....back to the good old days. Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Good for selfish people like you, but not good for Thai people who want to travel abroad. Funny how so many expats on this forum just think of themselves. Why care about anyone else, as long as you're ok.

The Thai people can look after themselves without your overt mawkishness. The baht has been way over the top and, coupled with the higher wages here etc, the Thai people have done very well these past few years.

[aTomsLife]

On 11 December the Dallas City Council passed new restrictions barring hydraulic fracturing within 1,500 feet of a home, school, church, and other protected areas, effectively barring the practice within the city. Dallas had previously outlawed fracking within 300 feet of protected areas.

The ordinance was approved by a 9-6 vote, with Mayor Mike Rawlings voting in favor.

Not surprisingly, the natural gas industry was quick to react. Trinity East representative Dallas Cothrum, which had hoped to exploit the city’s location on the edge of the massive Barnett Shale region lamented, “You just can’t drill under these conditions. It’d require more than 250-acres of property and in an urban area it’s just not possible.” Dallas City Council Lee Kleinman, who opposed the new restrictions said, “We might as well save a lot of paper and write a one-line ordinance that says there will be no gas drilling in the city of Dallas. That would be a much easier ordinance to have.”

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/texas-2014-oil-output-to-surpass-some-opec-members-cm311422#ixzz2oAYt0W4C

This is the basis for your argument, that one major metropolitan area doesn't want drilling within its city limits?

Some here really do make a sport of grasping at straws.

I posted previous a link regarding drilling in Pennsylvania, above is one for Dallas, do you expect me to look up the laws for the entire US and pot them here ?

If you had bothered to click on the link, you would have found what the reasoning is for the restrictions, and that they apply to anywhere in the world where fracking is applied, and for that reason more and more states will apply restrictions which in turn will make the cost for the drilling even more expensive.

I did read the articles, perhaps you should have another look at them.

The Texas article reports that the state is already outperforming three OPEC members, Nigeria, Venezuela and Algeria. And that the increase in seismic activity is essentially a moot point.

The next is nothing more than a theory being pushed by a professor, which assumes the current technology being used for extraction won't be further developed, thus making long term drilling more commercially viable, as well as being able to go deeper into the ground. He makes these assertions despite the fact that 25 years ago current methods were unheard of. In short, IMHO he's being a pessimist and a bit of an alarmist.

The article about Pennsylvania just states that local governments haven't had their power usurped, and they're in position to decide where, when and how much drilling takes place. Nothing wrong with that. Seriously, read the article again. No one is saying there won't be any drilling, just that local communities deserve to be protected.

[Pinot]

Many have asked, what do you do now with your now more valuable USDs? First of all, no one know where the baht/$ thing is going. NO ONE. The $ is just as likely to go up as it is to go down.

What I'm doing is bringing in $'s and putting it in Thai banks term savings accounts at 3.25%. I've been bringing in about 60k baht a month. This is a form of "dollar cost averaging" a way of spreading out what your paying for baht. If the baht continues to go down or stays the same I'll continue to buy. If it goes down below say 32, I'll stop. The baht in the savings banks mature at different times. You can either roll the money over in a different savings program or pull it out and spend it. This along with my social security is what I live off of.

The money fluctuations will continue. At least with this method you know, you're getting future spending money at a good rate. Think of it as a short term insurance program for monthly expenses.

One note here is that if you have over $10,000 in a foreign bank you have to report it to the IRS and possibly pay US income tax on interest. I get around this by having the money in my Thai wife's name. Thai banks are getting increasingly stand offish when it comes to Americans and savings accounts.

[mitsubishi]

YIPPEEEEEEEE, from 44 baht to the pound sterling to 54 in a few months, YIPPPPEEEEE

It really went as low as 44???!!!

[PaullyW]

You guys are a riot. The US bashing is always funny. Please step back - you're dealing with the big boys now chaps.

Since you blokes like statistics so much. Here you go. All these things matter in the long run currency and most everything else.

IMF GDP PPP

HDI Index

Total Foreign Aid

Foreign Aid as Percentage of GDP (OECD, The World Bank, Development Assistance Committee)

Population

Education

Olympic Medals

GDP Per Capita

Best for Business

Edited December 22, 2013 by PaullyW

[ratcatcher]

YIPPEEEEEEEE, from 44 baht to the pound sterling to 54 in a few months, YIPPPPEEEEE

It really went as low as 44???!!!

Apparently. In April 2013.

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=THB&view=1Y

[Naam]

The US still are printing over 80 BILLION usd each and every month. That is 1 TRILLION usd a year. Ditch the usd as standard or go down with it.

With the tapering the U.S. will only be printing 75 billion dollars each

month, that is only 900 billion ($900,000,000,000 USD) a year. See, isn't this alot better than printing a trillion dollars a year?

Ditching the USD as a standard is probably a wise move.

Do you guys not know that the Bank of England has also been engaged in QE, and that GB's national debt and deficits are stunning, considering its tiny size and lack of resources?

"UK National Debt - how Britain owes over £900 billion

"It's a truly frightening figure. Why is the world's sixth richest country so deeply in debt?

Every year the UK runs a large budget deficit. The Government spends more money than it can tax, so we plug the gap by selling bonds to investors at home and abroad. These bonds - known as gilts - have to be repaid in full, with interest. Added together, our unpaid loans make up the UK's national debt.

Right now, that debt is growing violently. The Government forecasts it will soar to an eye-watering £1.1 trillion by 2011. To put that in perspective, the UK went bust in 1976 running a budget deficit of 6% of GDP. In 2010 that deficit is going to top 11%."

The UK debt clock bombshell

the UK went bust in 1976...

that's the usual distorted and totally misleading gloom&doom rubbish from an obscure site.

facts in short: UK wanted to prevent a run on the Pound but the Bank of England did not have the necessary "ammunition". that's why the IMF provided a bridge loan of SDR 3.36 billion (Special Drawing Rights), interest rates were hiked and government spending reduced. no such thing like "going bust" did happen!

people (like me) started to buy gilts yielding 12% and kept on investing at 13, 14, even 15% and applauded twice a year when Treasury Secretary Robert Sheldon and later Nigel Lawson paid the "hansum" interest

those were the days!

[morrobay]

All that gold would fit in a single vault in England? England must have a very special vault. If all the pure gold on the planet was made into a cube, it would be 20 meters (67 feet) square, and weigh 167,000 metric tons. Where is this vault?

A cube 20 meters on a side = 20³ m = 8000 m³ The density of gold is about 19 kg/cubic meter , mass/volume. So 19kg/m³ = 152 000 kg/8000m³. There are 1000kg/metric ton

So (152,000 kg) ( 1 metric ton/1000 kg) = 152 metric tons

note when referring to volume its cubed not squared

Sorry, NeverSure has the correct metric tons. I messed up on the density. Correct density = 19300kg/cubic meter. So that equals 167000,000 kg / 8652 m³

Thats a cube 20.5 meters on a side. And one metric ton = 1000 kg . So thats 167,000 metric tons

Edited December 23, 2013 by morrobay

[wileycoyote]

Personally I would welcome a minor devaluation

Edited December 23, 2013 by wileycoyote

[harryfrompattaya]

Many have asked, what do you do now with your now more valuable USDs? First of all, no one know where the baht/$ thing is going. NO ONE. The $ is just as likely to go up as it is to go down.

What I'm doing is bringing in $'s and putting it in Thai banks term savings accounts at 3.25%. I've been bringing in about 60k baht a month. This is a form of "dollar cost averaging" a way of spreading out what your paying for baht. If the baht continues to go down or stays the same I'll continue to buy. If it goes down below say 32, I'll stop. The baht in the savings banks mature at different times. You can either roll the money over in a different savings program or pull it out and spend it. This along with my social security is what I live off of.

The money fluctuations will continue. At least with this method you know, you're getting future spending money at a good rate. Think of it as a short term insurance program for monthly expenses.

One note here is that if you have over $10,000 in a foreign bank you have to report it to the IRS and possibly pay US income tax on interest. I get around this by having the money in my Thai wife's name. Thai banks are getting increasingly stand offish when it comes to Americans and savings accounts.

Great Idea but the money is now yor wife's and her family say good bye money. Please do not be mad at me just telling you the law.

bMy money is in US stock market in mine name wife and her family knows nothing about it. Now that money is mine

[EricBerg]

US $ is not a Debt as like other currency i think its a big game plan of US as i heard and read many articles on us dollars as they influenced the OPEC for purchasing oil with dollars that made a huge difference, i think ditch dollar and purchase the oil with own currency makes the difference and fall of Dollar ,

its only an view i do not want to offend any one ,

sorrry,

...That depends on how old we are. I personally think the Dollar will go down, my guess is within 10 years, there are many factors that i base my assumption on, here's a few to start... 1) i believe there is no gold left in Fort knox, 2) the sellers of 'paper gold' (again in my opinion) have over sold the contracts by at least 5 times. 3) One of the reasons the Dollar keeps its value is that to buy oil the price is in Dollars so oil has to be purchased (from Saudi etc) in Dollars therefor other countries use Dollars for this purpose, soon however i believe there will be a change to this (Russia, China or India) will trade their currency direct for oil thus stunning the Dollar, add that to the $17.2 Trillion Dollars of the US nationel debt will maybe not kill the Dollar outright but it will make it pretty worthless.

I do believe the gold is in Fort Knox but so what. It is a pittance in the scheme of things. However I do agree that countries like

Russia/ China/India/Europe/ Middle East will start buying/selling oil in there own currencies. There is already vastly different prices

for crude from different production areas. How hard is it to sell/buy oil in Euro? When this happens the USD will loose 20% value

as the worlds reserve currency. Of course many countries will still need it. Africa in particular but they may choose to use Euro

if that is were most of there trade is with. Also the US debt will play a roll eventually, it has to, look at Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Spain,

Portugal, Argentina etc...etc...Things cannot go on forever. On the positive side as the dollar drops exports will increase. I think

10 years give or take, who knows but as US debt climbs fewer oil producing countries will want to be paid in US dollars. They already

have enough.

You guys are really missing it, sorry. The US has more oil reserves than all of the rest of the world combined. Oil = Money.

Within just two years, the US will be pumping more of its own oil than it can use, and after that it will be a net exporter of oil, bringing in other peoples' money.

The US doesn't need OPEC. When the US buys oil, it's #1 supplier is Canada. #2 is Brazil. OPEC is way down the list.

It is Europe which is in trouble for oil. It is Europe which is vulnerable to the Russians and OPEC.

The US has more oil reserves than all of the rest of the world combined in just one place. If it was all drilled, including off all 88,000 miles of shoreline and in Alaska, the US might have 3X as much oil as all the rest of the world combined.

The last places in the world to run out of oil would be the US and Canada.

So many people can't see the USA for what it really is - huge and resource rich and wealthy - leading the world by far in manufacturing, resource production, invention, technology, and overall economy.

The US national debt is over 17 TRILLION usd. That's more than 57 thousand usd for every man, woman, child living in the US. For every taxpayer it is over 1 MILLION usd.

They better start drilling for and selling that oil, because far as I understand that national debt is going up fast. Paying interest can't be easy I suppose.

[watso63]

Can't be bothered checking, but if true....pretty shocking!

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[sirineou]

The US national debt is over 17 TRILLION usd. That's more than 57 thousand usd for every man, woman, child living in the US. For every taxpayer it is over 1 MILLION usd.

They better start drilling for and selling that oil, because far as I understand that national debt is going up fast. Paying interest can't be easy I suppose.

I am not trying to excuse the national debt of the US or of many other countries which is just as bad, but the only meaningful measure of national debt is as a percentage of GDP .

Edited December 24, 2013 by sirineou

[Naam]

The US national debt is over 17 TRILLION usd. That's more than 57 thousand usd for every man, woman, child living in the US. For every taxpayer it is over 1 MILLION usd.

They better start drilling for and selling that oil, because far as I understand that national debt is going up fast. Paying interest can't be easy I suppose.

I am not trying to excuse the national debt of the US or of many other countries which is just as bad, but the only meaningful measure of national debt is as a percentage of GDP .

-the only meaningful measure of national debt is not GDP.

-debt cannot be serviced with GDP.

-revenue is required to service debt.

-U.S. revenue is far below the required debt service.

that's why new debt is continously issued to pay interest as well as redemption of existing debt.

[thailiketoo]

The US national debt is over 17 TRILLION usd. That's more than 57 thousand usd for every man, woman, child living in the US. For every taxpayer it is over 1 MILLION usd.

They better start drilling for and selling that oil, because far as I understand that national debt is going up fast. Paying interest can't be easy I suppose.

I am not trying to excuse the national debt of the US or of many other countries which is just as bad, but the only meaningful measure of national debt is as a percentage of GDP .

Debt per capita UK $160,158, Germany $57,775, Netherlands, $226,503, Switzerland $154.063, Norway $131,220, US $52,170, Thailand $1,292

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

[Naam]

The US national debt is over 17 TRILLION usd. That's more than 57 thousand usd for every man, woman, child living in the US. For every taxpayer it is over 1 MILLION usd.

They better start drilling for and selling that oil, because far as I understand that national debt is going up fast. Paying interest can't be easy I suppose.

I am not trying to excuse the national debt of the US or of many other countries which is just as bad, but the only meaningful measure of national debt is as a percentage of GDP .

Debt per capita UK $160,158, Germany $57,775, Netherlands, $226,503, Switzerland $154.063, Norway $131,220, US $52,170, Thailand $1,292

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

debt per capita is as irrelevant as debt per gdp. especially when it's a country like Thailand who's population consists of nearly 35% inhabitants below the age of 18 and above 65 plus another 25-30%, a total of 60-65% who don't pay any income tax.