scoobdog

Because what you're calling "stabilizing" is basically currency manipulation. If your currency has most of its value inside your borders, then of course you can do more things to prop up its value on a temporary basis. If the dollar were to stop being a global currency, then you could do a lot of the same things China does to control its value. In fact, a lot of currencies are manipulated to various degrees for much the same reason that yuan is: it's a way of creating a firewall between the global and national economies. In general currency manipulation is an important tool for smaller nations, and it can be a part of a healthy economy as long as it isn't used, as with the Russian ruble, as an implement to blackmail or coerce foreign investments or obligations. The big reason the US Government can't manipulate the dollar is because the goods and services the dollar buys may never touch American soil. Consider the petroleum market for instance: after WWII, the United States was the country most in position to capitalize on a post war boom, and, consequently, it was the biggest market for petroleum products. Naturally, that meant that the money that for decades paid for that petroleum was the dollar. Once other countries also underwent economic booms, the dollar was still a stable currency that was readily available, so they would also buy and sell oil in dollars. Now, a Spanish oil refiner might still use dollars to purchase crude oil from, say, Venezuela, and representing profits for said refiner and for the Venezuelan oil company. Either country can force them to deal with the local economies in local currency to purchase local supplies, pay local employees, and sell local services, but neither can force their respective companies to exchange the oil in local currencies because there are both other buyers and other producers who will buy and sell in the more stable US dollar. Ultimately the reason the US can't manipulate the dollar is because it has no control of how people outside its borders use that dollar. If you need an example of what happens when you try such a thing, look no further than Russia's failed attempt to force Europeans to purchase gas in Rubles. It's fine to tell people inside your own country what they can use to buy gas, but if you attempt to do so with a foreign buyer you not only lose the possibility of being paid for a product you already spent money to extract from the ground, you also lose future buyers for the product.

The dollar keeps it's position because it's used by the institutions that finance global commerce. Its strength as a currency isn't as important in that respect, though (naturally) a collapse would certainly force a lot of those same institutions out of business.

She kills it every fucking day.

Because our dollar is still worth more than a nickel, and it's a major benchmark currency unlike the otherwise useless ruble.

Abominable is right.

I wish someone else’s cock was big enough so I could send him a titanium ring and Captain Planet reruns.

One of the best collaboration teams in the history of EDM...

It's just a really really disappointing bite when you realize the thing you thought looked like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup tastes like something you scraped off a stick at beach barbecue pit.

Like hell it does.

Shut up Benji

This isn't porn hub?!

Nabs could never tell a story like this.

Lol. "$2.50" gas and "a mean tweet". I'm sure Putin agrees one hundred thousand percent.

lol. I thought you were referring to the fact they were previously part of treaties. So, yes, you’re right.

It wouldn't mean that at all. The existing treaties don't have to mandate military response; they could allow information sharing or joint defense exercises. That being said, joining NATO would mean they're giving up neutrality.

Also, lol at Nabs yelling at people to educate themselves on what genocides are. Yes, he's actually yelling at his computer.

Wow, that was an almost coherent threat...

Lol.

You don't compete with the memory of a former spouse. It sounds cliche to say you need to make your own memories with someone who's lost a loved one, but what it means is that you have to create a unique relationship with that person. She isn't the same person as she was when she was with her late wife, so what she needs out of your relationship is not what she needed then. Focus on what Charlotte needs now, and go from there.

The fact you have young men conscripted in the service being thrust into a human blender just highlights the odd and seemingly incongruous behavior of some of Russia's forces.

Didn’t think so.

Only two boards? Does that even count?

It kills me that the crud is back.

The irony is that they will indeed be abandoned by Russia as soon as the cost of the campaign becomes crippling.