I want to know what smart people think about the global reign of the US dollar in the near and long term. Will it be unchallenged by the Euro? What if OPEC converted to the Euro?

I suspect that global disapproval for American attitudes and policies will be expressed in currency markets and standards.

If OPEC goes Euro, than American government would probably circumvent OPEC by drilling in Alska and import additional oil mainly from iraq?

Why would OPEC join the Euro? America may not be the nicest guys to them but Europe? Didnt they colonize the most of the middle east untill after WWII?

Mostly the Brits did, you can hardly call them European (and they don't want to be called European themselves....) Also The French seem to be good friends with the arab world lately:p

The US dollar has been all powerful for some time simply because the US economy is the largest in the world (c.f. America's GDP with any other country). While some have argued that the Euro will one day challenge the US dollar, I find this difficult to believe because the EU is having trouble holding itself together. Already countries such as Germany (the biggest economy in europe) have been running deficits contrary to the EU monetary agreements. Once one or two countries start to break the rules, it will be fair game for all. Moreover, countries such as France have not kept secret their disdain for surrendering too much economic power and therefore soverignty to Brussels. And the British have not yet signed up - London being the most significant financial centre in Europe for historical reasons.

Granted in recent months, the US dollar has been falling and others such as the Euro have been rising because of the uncertainties leading up to the war and the fallout of the US accounting scandals.

On the matter of OPEC, yes, if OPEC were to base the price of oil on the Euro instead of the US dollar, it would hit the value of the dollar in the short term simply because OPEC countries would dump their reserves of dollars and build up reserves of Euro. This would not be an insignificant effect on the dollar and the US economy in the short term. And if there were to be a run on the dollar (Greed and Fear being the only two motives in the business of speculation), it could be devastating for the US.

But in the end, I think currency speculators care about economic performance. And if there is no real substitute for the US economy and therefore the US dollar, the bulk of money will remain there.

I bet the Europeans hate having to buy dollars to buy petroleum.

Not as much as americans would hate to pay oil in euro...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/euro/story/0,11306,901024,00.html

So the iraqis dared to sell their oil in euros it seems.... No wonder there was a strong need to find WMD there and invade the country (foolish me, thinking it was all linked to the israeli cause)...

Perhaps Al-Qaeda should stop buying weapons and buy euros instead...:p

"Dear Sir,

Kindly list the current OPEC nations and tell me how is it possible for them to be unamerican."

Algeria
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
Libya
Nigeria
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Venezuela

The US has and is fomenting increasing popular resentment in these countries through supporting and manipulating often corrupt and unrepresentative governments/opposition groups. Because of a malevolent reputation, the US has become for many disaffected people a scapegoat. Petroleum wealth in these countries is creating vast socioeconomic tensions, and US intervention is is a focal point of rage.