Goodbye Dollar!

This significant and provocative title was taken up with varying interpretations by certain websites. Muhammad Nasr of the Arab Center for Studies and Research compares the current situation in the U.S. to that of Great Britain shortly before World War II. At the time it was clear that the sun was about to sink on “the Empire on which the sun never sets.” It is just as clear now that the U.S. and its dollar are approaching a similar period that we could call the “Goodbye Dollar!” period or the era of America’s weakened global role, during which it becomes like Britain: a consequence of a severe economic crisis whose first signs accompanied U.S. expansion of wars in several countries and of a financial crisis in certain European countries.

This has been expressed recently by the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has started affecting U.S. workers’ unions and represents a manifestation of the class struggle. It is also supported by predictions from Gerald Celende, an American scholar who specializes in trend forecasting. He predicts that in the near future, as early as 2012 or 2014, the U.S. will witness a revolution accompanied by widespread riots and protests over taxes, unemployment and hunger. He puts it this way: “For Americans, putting food on the table will be more important than putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” adding that the dollar will lose 90 percent of its value in the near future and retail sales will plummet. In his view, America is on its way to becoming a third world country!

Since nearly the entire world is tied to the dollar, its fall will not only mean the downfall of the American economy but also the fall of other countries’ economies, particularly in the third world.

Some may call it storytelling, but they must think again and choose their steps with care in coming days so as to encourage a smarter economy that will head toward construction and stability. This applies particularly to those countries that have been visited by the revolutionary “springs.” They need to quickly complete peaceful transfers of power in order to devote themselves to economic factors, which are no less important than political factors. Furthermore, no one should be concerned about American pressure when it comes to what goes against strategic interests in Arab and Muslim nations. Rather, they should be frank and deal openly with the U.S., much like the policy of Asian countries, to whose economies President Obama is now trying to tie the U.S. economy. There is nothing wrong with Arab and Islamic nations catering to U.S. interests on the basis of equal-terms relationships and mutual interests. As a result, when making crucial decisions, precedence should not be given to U.S. interests over their own; the lessons of both the past and the present are sufficient. We must also be aware of the rules of the game between different countries; otherwise, we would just be engaging in primitive politics. The motto of these relationships must be that a cactus does not produce apples, and I believe that the past is enough for us to know how bitter the U.S. cactus is.

I hope that the reader will not be surprised to think that the U.S. is going through a transitional phase at the hands of the middle class — just because the recent stories of Arab revolutions are still clear in our minds — especially because the number of poor in America alone is now above 49 million according to official statistics, and the actual number is higher. At a global level, especially in third world countries, the number of poor grows daily, as does the number of rich, causing the gap to widen and heralding the coming of a divine decree that will sooner or later prevail over human decrees and philosophies, whether it be in the economic field or elsewhere.