The Petrodollar

Oil priced in dollars, dollars recycled into weapons. The quiet engine of everything.

The 1974 arrangement was elegant: oil in dollars only, surpluses recycled into Treasuries, security guarantees in return. Every barrel on Earth became a forced purchase of American paper. The theory's darker appendix lists what happens to leaders who announce oil sales in other currencies, and notes the dates of their difficulties. Correlation, the economists say. The appendix keeps growing, say the theorists.