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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clappy who wrote (3652)	2/14/2006 11:21:08 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24210

February 10, 2006 A Note On The Iranian Oil Bourse By Paul Craig Roberts Readers keep asking if Bush is attacking Iran because it plans to open an oil bourse that would permit oil to trade in Euros. A number of readers mistakenly believe that this would wreck the dollar’s value. The answer is no. The neocons’ plans for the Middle East predate any notion of an Iranian oil bourse. Will an Iranian oil bourse hurt the dollar? Not really. The dollar’s value depends on the world’s willingness to hold dollar denominated assets, not on the currency used to pay oil bills. If payments were not made in dollars, there could be a slight negative impact on the dollar from countries reducing their dollar cash balances and from the psychological shock of pricing oil in Euros (or some other currency). However, what really counts is what do the oil producers, for example, do with the currency that they are paid. If they are paid in dollars, but exchange the dollars for Euros or Yen and purchase equities or bonds or real estate in Europe and Japan, it doesn’t help that oil is billed in dollars. Or if they are paid in Euros but exchange the Euros for dollars and purchase US assets, it doesn’t hurt that the oil is billed in Euros. vdare.com The negative impact on the dollar will be far greater from the additional red ink necessary to finance an attack on Iran than from an oil bourse. Today, US war making capability is dependent on the rest of the world to finance it. Oil is billed in dollars because the dollar is the world reserve currency. The dollar is not the reserve currency because oil is billed in dollars. The US is abusing the dollar’s role as reserve currency. When a trusted alternative appears, the dollar is likely to lose its reserve currency role. Iran, however, cannot cause that transition. COPYRIGHT CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Paul Craig Roberts [email him] is the author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s Forbes Magazine interview with Roberts about the recent epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct.

To: Clappy who wrote (3652)	2/14/2006 11:26:19 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24210

at Home Photovoltaics can create independence By Ken Sheinkopf Knight Ridder Newspapers Tucson, Arizona \| Published: 02.12.2006 Q OK, I've had enough. I know solar electric systems don't make much economic sense for most homeowners today, but I want to try something. Maybe I can't make my house totally independent of the electric company, but I'd like to start on that path. What are some things a homeowner can do? A Actually, if someone gave you a dollar for every time I've been asked a question similar to this, you could probably afford a complete system for your home by now. The dream of cutting the power line to the electric company and living in a home totally powered by the sun (or by wind energy or other forms of renewable power) is a great one. There are probably 20,000 or more people in the United States today who live in homes totally powered by photovoltaics (solar cells, usually just called PV). They're enjoying all the amenities you have in your home, too, only the sun doesn't send them a bill every month. Sure, they paid thousands of dollars for these systems, and at today's prices, they probably won't save enough over their lifetimes to offset the equipment cost. However, they are enjoying the reliability and performance of these systems, as well as the satisfaction of knowing they are helping the environment by not having a utility company burn fossil fuels for their power. You can start on this path in a number of small ways. I think the easiest and cheapest is to get solar lights for your sidewalk, garden or other outdoor area that needs illumination. These lights have improved tremendously in recent years and give off plenty of light, are easily installed, and require no electrical connections. Most building supply and hardware stores carry a selection of them. Do you have a solar water heater on your roof? A small PV panel can be used there as the controller to keep the system operating. Worried about blackouts after hurricanes, snowstorms or other natural disasters, or maybe just sick of summertime power interruptions during heavy rainstorms? Talk to a solar contractor (you can find one near you at www.findsolar.com) and ask him to fix you up with a small PV system. It'll be enough power for critical items in your home when electricity is not available, including your phone, radio and TV, a few lights and even a small refrigerator. The system will be easy to hook up, won't need any fuel, and you can even move it around in the trunk of your car to take with you. It'll cost somewhere around $2,500 to $5,000, depending on the size system you want, but it'll give you emergency power for an extended time until the grid comes back on. There are a number of products available that use PV to power them, too, from attic vent fans that will help keep your house cooler in hot weather to water pumps and battery chargers. Starting small isn't a bad idea, but the goal of using renewable energy to meet all of your power needs is clearly reachable. It's getting easier to do, too. BP Solar recently announced that it is offering complete, installed PV systems in 65 Home Depot stores in New Jersey, a state with great state incentives along with the new federal tax incentives, bringing the system costs down significantly. You can expect to see more solar companies making their systems easier to buy and install as their popularity grows. azstarnet.com