RE: The Story of Money 4: Markets, Metals, Coins, and Military
Legal tender as a notion inclues enforcement. Without enforcement legal tender has no meaning thus when someone ( an emperor as in the case of Alexander ) sets the medium of settlements/ exchange he also has to enforce that this remains as one.
MhmmmM!!!!! Yeah. That is at the essence of it isn't it. So if legal tender is enforcing that your currency gets used for your own taxes, debts, etc...is there a different word for say, the way that the US dollar is 'strongly encouraged' to be used in global petroleum transactions, and when people have tried to use their own currencies for this, they either end up with some chilling trade sanctions, or perhaps a full own invasion.
What was Eisenhower's warning? I don't think I know it.
Or a war breaks out I'd like to add..
Yeah unfortunately, that seems to be the more common result.
Sorry for taking that long to answer back, I was away at work for over a week and just returned today!
I think it's from his farewell speech when he left the office of president. I recommend watching it all in case you haven't, he raises some pretty interesting and important issues and it's still very very relevant today ( i'd dare to say more than ever )..
You are right about the petro dollar, I pretty much believe that also. If we also consider the overlapping interests between big oil and big arms we can get the whole picture. Just look at Saudi Arabia. They have an abyssmal human rights track record, they are most probably funding extremists and poison minds through their salafi / wahhabi indoctrination but they are considered a ''close'' ally of the US. Doesn't make much sense to me! When you add the $ in the equation though suddenly it does make ''sense''!