Tony Liang 6th period Essays - Economy, Petroleum Politics

Tony Liang 6th period The World's Greatest Con As Americans, we take great pride for living in a democratic society, free of government tyranny. In fact, the United States values such ideologies to a point that we would take matters into our own hands when there are oppressive regimes commit crimes that us, westerners view as inhumane and unethical -- whether it's through military intervention or economic sanctions. America is the world's premier superpower, hence we feel there is a certain obligation that we should be the "police of the world" and enforce rules that we believe to be right. This is extremely ironic; for the United States has a long history of installing dictators in countries where there is economic or social-political interest. One of our closest allies, Saudi Arabia, is one of the few remaining monarchs with absolute power, but we turn a blind eye, even though we acknowledge that fact that many of the citizens there do not have the basic human rights such as freedom of speech and women not having the equal rights as men. The Saudi regime even committed genocide to Shia muslims, a minority groups. In current day society, we view such immense atrocities as a thing in the past, but it is still common dilemma humanity has yet to solve. Most people are unaware of this, not because we're ignorant, but because news corporations in the United States, which are owned by extremely rich and powerful individuals, and are often in shady cahoots with various governments that simply do not want us to know. The relationship between the America and Saudi Arabia is ver y straightforward. The US provides military assistance and helps Saudi Arabia become the dominate power in the Middle East through intentionally causing turmoil in the region; in return the Saudi's help the US straggle it's enemies by opposing sanctions and not selling oil to them. As a matter of fact, some serious under-the-table deals are going on right now. Oil prices have plunged nearly 50% since this June, to around 57 dollars per barrel. Many may believe this is due simple laws of economics in effect, where there is not enough demand and too much supply. But coincidentally, the United State's former Cold War enemy and current threat(at least that's what our government wants us to believe), Russia, is experiencing a free-fall of their currency to an all time low. It is a well known fact that oil and natural gas is the backbone and livelihood of the Russian economy. Another so-called threat is Iran, also having its economy directly tied with oil revenues, is also being targeted. Currently, there are some high profile talks on Russia's intervention in Ukraine and Iran's nuclear program. The big picture is extremely clear now. The US wants to attack its enemies where it hurts the most. What better way to do it than to cut off oil revenue from OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). This is a political move is directly aimed to validating the US as the supreme power. You might be thinking, isn't the US a major exporter of oil? So why would it shoot itself in the foot? And how does being a "superpower" really benefit the US. The answer is simple. Money. To be specific, US currency. The US currency is the worlds default currency, hence lets say China wants to import some maple syrup from Canada. To complete this business deal, they would have to exchange their currency to dollars and the transaction proceeds. Thus giving the US dollar massive artificial value and demand. This is extremely beneficial for America. Not only does this allow us to buy cheap goods from developing countries, but it also establishes "trust" and "reliance" on the US dollar, hence many people think US currency is a "safe" investment. This makes our debt extremely cheap, somewhere close to 0, which in turn fuel our unsustainable standard of living. After the the US dollar rating dropped from AAA rating, our debt has actually gotten cheaper. Because Europe is on the verge o f financial breakdown, the Middle East is in great turmoil, and China's double digit growth figures is running out of steam. One Russian women