Found a clone of $#* out there in pundit-land. Or maybe Vince Bressler's clone is over here.

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Why the Dollar Is So Strong and Other Mysteries

-- Posted Monday, 16 February 2009 | The USA Empire is the first debt based empire in the history of the world. Previous empires, like the British Empire and the Roman Empire were based on colonization, political and military domination. The unique power of the USA Empire is that once the subordinate power has been ensnared in the US dollar trap, the USA Empire gains immense control over the subordinate without having to resort to military threat. Moreover, no other power in the world is able to usurp the power of the USA Empire in these situations. It does not matter whether the subordinate power owns US dollar denominated debt instruments or has loans outstanding that are denominated in US dollars. Let's look at the current situation with the EU as an example: It has recently come to light that EU banks have many trillions of US dollar denominated toxic assets on their books. These are (fraudulently originated) structured finance products from New York and London. Of course the US banking system is full of these toxic assets as well. The key here is that since the toxin is dollar denominated, only dollars can fix the problem and only the USA Empire can create dollars for no cost. The solution to this problem has been for the USA Empire to create dollars and for the EU to create euros and for the two entities to do a currency swap. Of course the USA Empire can set the conditions on this swap deal, and you may rest assured that those conditions are set so as to uphold the strength of the US dollar. For instance, if the US Empire only creates 90% of the required dollars to fill the toxic hole, then the EU must go out and buy dollars on the open market to fill the rest. Alternatively, the exchange rate between the two currencies may be explicitly controlled by the exchange rate determined as part of the swap agreement (note that the swap occurs at some exchange rate, and there is no reason to believe that the USA Empire needs to abide by the exchange rate set on the FOREX marketplace). After the currency swap is completed, the EU has a revived balance sheet (but no US dollars) and the USA Empire has a boatload of euros, which represent ongoing control over EU affairs. Prior to the last year, the USA Empire controlled subordinate powers by loaning them more dollars than they could ever repay, and then by presiding over the ensuing bankruptcy, claiming natural resources and other goodies. I am giving this mode of debt based empire a name, debt empire via bankruptcy, and it is well described in the following book: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. The scenario described above is a new dynamic, which I will call, debt empire via asset implosion. Frankly, I wonder whether the USA Empire is swapping gold for US dollars in secret with the EU powers right now. There is reason to believe that the USA Empire gold has been encumbered (over the last 15 years) in gold swaps and that the remaining EU gold might in fact be encumbered USA Empire gold. This encumbrance could be reduced or eliminated if US dollars (to keep the EU financial system alive) are being swapped in exchange for gold. Note that the USA Empire has reported constant gold holding for 35 years. Could it be that at the end of this, the USA Empire will have all of its gold and what is left of the EU gold will be gone, swapped for US dollars in a desperate trade? by Vincent Bressler -- Posted Monday, 16 February 2009 ____________________________ A Different View on the US Dollar and Where We Are Headed -- Posted Friday, 20 February 2009 | For several months there has been a tendency by Jim Sinclair and others to dismiss the US dollar rally as technical short covering. Now there is a tendency to dismiss the fall of the Swiss franc as dirty tricks among large hedge funds. These are interpretations that trivialize the reality that is unfolding. What we are witnessing is financial warfare, and the USA Empire has several distinct advantages over every other player: 1) The US dollar is the world reserve currency 2) US debts are denominated in US dollars 3) The US Fed and US Treasury act as one and are part of the USA Empire 5) The US Empire has a lot of experience manipulating markets and the SEC, SPIC, rating agencies and NYMEX/COMEX are members 6) Don't forget about the US military. Back to the war: Over the last several years Switzerland has sold half of its gold reserves. Ask yourself why in the world they would do that. Swiss bank privilege and privacy that have existed for hundreds of years are being dismantled before our eyes. The Swiss franc could have served as a refuge from the US dollar (or an alternative to gold). Now that possibility is being thrown into doubt. The USA Empire could have dismantled Switzerland any time over the last 30 years. This is happening now because 1) the USA Empire can not allow any viable alternatives to the US dollar (or gold) at this time, 2) because the chaos all around us is providing cover. Likewise, the European monetary union is being destroyed. I discussed the dynamics of this in a recent article [Bressler]. Jim Willie notes that Putin struts into Davos and the Chinese delegation follows suit. He notes that Russia and China enter into bilateral trade agreements that bypass New York, same with Russia and Europe, and we are told that a new monetary system is coming to fruition [Willie]. I submit that this is wishful thinking by those who have their own agenda. Clearly the USA Empire does not want there to be any viable fiat currency alternative to the US dollar (or gold). There will be no escape, save one, and that will be gold. Just look at the gold holdings for various central banks [Russell]. What this tells me is that the US dollar will benefit more than any other currency if gold explodes. My contention is that the USA Empire will take away the German gold if they can, and the rest of the Swiss gold a well. Read this article for more details: [Bressler]. The only way out of the unfolding mess is to devalue the dollar against gold, probably by a factor of 10 or more, and then breathe confidence back into the system by linking the dollar to gold. I don't believe that an alliance of other countries can pull this off with the USA Empire fighting to dominate the next world order. Vincent Bressler - February 19, 2009