Speaking of the Weakening Dollar. . .

This is from Newsmax, the go to site for conservatives and right-wing nuts alike (not saying that the two are synonymous, but his does happen to be a huge site for the right).

BIS data reveals that OPEC states have reduced their dollar deposits from 75 per cent in the third quarter of 2001 to 61.5 per cent today - a fall of of some 13 percentage points.

"Since the third quarter of 2001, oil revenue seems to have been channeled increasingly into euro and other currency deposits," the bank said. "This shift out of U.S. dollars probably reflected to some extent the relative change in interest rates in the United States and the euro area since 1998."

The Financial Times also reported Monday that OPEC nations are also moving away from pricing oil in dollars.

The move away from the dollar could prove catastrophic for U.S. economic interests and bring to an end to more than a half century of dollar supremacy around the globe.

The FT suggested the shift by OPEC was due to "private Middle East investors" who are "worried about the prospect of U.S.-held assets being frozen as part of the war on terror, leading to accelerated dollar-selling after the re-election of President George W. Bush."

Hans Redeker, global head of foreign exchange strategy at the French bank BNP Paribas, blamed the U.S. Patriot Act.