A Quick Stroll Down Memory Lane

Remember when the Soviet Empire was perpetually strapped for what were referred to as "hard currencies?" Remember when "hard currency" prominently meant the U.S. dollar?

Those were the days ...

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Oil prices topped $109 a barrel for the first time Tuesday as investors sought refuge from the anemic dollar.

Speculation that rising prices for oil and other commodities will offset the falling dollar has driven oil up from $87 a barrel in January. Oil's latest rise came as the International Energy Agency said crude prices will likely be underpinned by brisk demand in China and other emerging markets.

Look, I know my fellow Americans don't care much about wogs' lives. When it comes right down to it, my fellow Americans don't care much about their fellow Americans' lives, either, unless they happen to be blood relatives or close friends. But maybe, just maybe, as gas heads for the $4 mark and real incomes continue to drop, Americans might have a passing thought or two about all the dollars -- borrowed from Asian bankers -- that have been flushed down the Empire's murderous overseas ratholes.

Or maybe not. Just as it's treasonous to wonder whether Imperial foreign policy is related to "why they hate us," I'm sure that any possible connection between that policy and "why they're not too crazy about our wastepaper currency, either" will also be quite unthinkable.