Lonestar1

It's Good to Be the World's Reserve Currency

There will be increasing pressure to put $ under international supervision if US wants to continue to enjoy the reserve currency status. It is unlikely US would budge to such pressure unless all countries on the Eurasia continent speaks with one voice. The US strategy, of course, is to prevent such possibility. US presence in central Asia; insistence on deploying missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, are all for this purpose. The result of this crisis can not be pretty. It may result in a collapse of global trading system and rise of protectionism. The sharp decline of trading volume + an uneasy gyration about the $ are pointing to that direction

Is the U.K. 'Finished'?

If any one of the G7 go down the same path as Island, that will be UK. The country has a bigger housing bubble than US. At least US still produces many real products while UK produces nothing except for a more bloated financial services industry.