> Rakesh, leaving aside the question of why oil is priced in dollars, how
> can any currency become a reserve currency unless the issuing state runs
> up trade deficits? How else can large amounts of it end up in other people's
> hands? Since EU states are oriented to export for dollars, how can the
> Euro hope to compete with the dollar? By merely issuing money?
By issuing credits to semiperipheries, which can be used to purchase goods from the metropole. You don't get rich by distributing currency to other people, you get rich by charging them for the privilege of holding currency, a.k.a. bonds, loans, or other forms of debt. Those EU states are no longer dependent on US dollars, incidentally; 60% of their trade is done internally with other EU countries. The central bankers and industrial-financial constellations behind the euro are cretinous and vile sadomonetarists, but they're not stupid.
-- Dennis