I wrote a post called “Sad Bastards” a few weeks ago and since then Putin has actually invaded Ukraine, which I will be honest I did not think would happen……….but how did we get here? Well as usual it’s a long road and the events in Ukraine didn’t happen overnight. I was recently doing a speech for the Bremer Forum and the topic was money and I chose to talk about the Petrodollar.

So what is the Petrodollar? Well it was an idea that was conceived by Nixon and Kissinger back in 1973. The US dollar was the world’s reserve currency since 1944 and at that time it was pegged against an ounce of gold at a price of $35. By 1971 America was running out of gold and so it need to find another way of keeping its currency as a reserve currency and so Nixon and Kissinger hatch this scheme which is still in play today.

At this time in the early seventies there was an oil crisis and OPEC increased the price of oil by around 300%, America imported almost 70% of its oil at this time and so it was desperate to secure its future. Kissinger went to Saudi Arabia to secure future oil supplies and in doing so got the Saudi’s to agree to only buy and sell oil in American dollars and in return America will protect Saudi Arabia until the end of time…….the end of time!!

The Petrodollar was born. The American dollar shifted from the gold standard to be aligned with oil.

1. The Saudis agreed to price all of their oil sales in U.S. Dollars only.
2. The Saudis would invest their surplus oil proceeds in U.S. debt securities.
3. The U.S would provide arms and a security guarantee to Saudi Arabia.

Eventually all the major oil producers followed suit and so the American dollar was underpinned because it meant that all other foreign governments had to hold American dollars. In fact there are more $100 notes outside of America than in.

Oil is crucial to the American economy as is war, they go hand in hand. Two events from history will show you what America does when someone threatens to take away their wealth. Lose the Petrodollar status and America will go back to the days of the depression.

In 2003 George Bush sent the troops to Iraq to kill Saddam Hussein under the pretext of him having weapons of mass destruction, the fake news of the day. No weapons were ever found and the story was completely fabricated by the Americans. Why did they invade Iraq? Well Saddam wanted to sell oil in Euros and that would upset the applecart for America.  

In 2011 I was in Thailand and I was watching the BBC news when I saw Gaddafi in the back of a pickup bloodied and battered and shortly afterwards he was dead. It seemed that the people had enough and so they took out their friendly dictator, but maybe there is more to this story.

Gaddafi wanted all the African countries to sell oil and link it with gold, if this was to happen then this would impact America greatly and so he was removed.

America will do anything to protect itself and it does not give a fuck about anyone else. I don’t agree with Putin or what is happening in Ukraine, however he is using the same type of propaganda as the Americans used when invading Iraq, it justifies the actions.

America wants to control the world and it has slowly been promoting its democracy around the world at every opportunity and after the fall of the USSR many countries moved to a democratic way of life and in doing so many of them asked to join NATO which has slowly grown in size and is now knocking on Russia’s door, but this is OK because we can trust America can’t we? I mean all those other countries are the problem because they don’t hold the same values. America can reach Russia and China by having bases in other countries and all the while keeping harm at arm’s length.

I guess Putin is losing the plot and I think he knows that his time is nigh and he has decided to go out with a bang to the detriment of Ukraine. In this world where America believes it has the power to do what it wants and to make countries bend the knee and unfortunately Ukraine is a pawn in the global game of chess.

I hope the war in Ukraine ends soon and Putin is held to account for what he has done and I also hope that the Petrodollar comes to an end, which it might just do. There are many countries that are beginning to get a bit pissed off with the current situation along with the power America gains from such an agreement. Let’s hope that in the near future the Petrodollar will cease to exist and maybe America might not be so bullish.

A few facts,

It should come as no surprise that the United States maintains a major military presence in much of the Persian Gulf region, including the following countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Yemen. It has basis in 80 countries or territories around the world.

The truth is easy to find when you follow the money…

The Petrodollar System Encourages Cheap Exports to the United States

The Primary Benefits of the Petrodollar System

The petrodollar system has proven tremendously beneficial to the U.S. economy. In addition to creating a marketplace for affordable imported goods from countries that need U.S. dollars, there are more specific benefits. In essence, America receives a double loan out of every global oil transaction.

First, oil consumers are required to purchase oil in U.S. dollars.

Second, the excess profits of the oil-producing nations are then placed into U.S. government debt securities held in Western banks.

The petrodollar system provides at least three immediate benefits to the United States.

It increases global demand for U.S. dollars

It increases global demand for U.S. debt securities

It gives the United States the ability to buy oil with a currency it can print at will

Oil Production by country

As you know I do not like America, it has exported its paranoia and corrupt methods around the world for years and I think it is only right and fair that it will finally get its comeuppance.

Its April, I’m not sure where the time has gone. I’ve been getting a few more driving shifts so that’s been good, well it keeps the finances a bit more stable. Still haven’t won Lotto so I will have to continue on this path for a bit, maybe two or three more months and then I might go full time to squirrel some cash away.

The sun has shone for nearly two weeks which has been great after all the rain; however the humidity has been high. Last night however the rains have returned but I don’t think it will be a problem here, but it does remind everyone just how vulnerable they are if you happen to live in an area which is prone to flooding. Problem is you can’t just pack up and move because you might not get a buyer or the price you get is not enough to buy another property on higher ground and so for many, me included, I have no choice for the moment at least to stay put. I spoke to Mick yesterday and we were saying it’s like having PTSD about the floods, every time we here this torrential rain we get worried.

Last Saturday I finally tracked down a pair of painters trestles which are about 3.6 m high which should be enough for me to be able to reach the high points of the house when I paint it later in the year. When I arrived at the seller’s house they were on the front lawn waiting for me. I got the surprise of my life at the weight of them, you know that feeling you get when you go to pick up something and it just doesn’t move? I found the balancing point and carefully lifted them up and shuffled towards the trailer, they would have to be around the 40 kg mark or more. They are timber trestles and this is the downside of them, however if I were to hire some aluminium ones then the $160 I paid for these would be eaten up very quickly. I’ll get a set of wheels to rest them on when I’m dragging them about the place or I’ll just have to work out a bit more.

A few days later…….

It’s now Sunday the 3^rd of April and I finally got back to working on the house, I have done nothing since the floods came. It all seemed a bit too much really, I mean what’s the point of fixing things up when the rain can come and take it all away. This is the PTSD talking of course, you just need to get back in the correct frame of mind and get on with it.

I haven’t unpacked many of the boxes from the shed since I returned nearly two years ago and so I think it’s time. I’ll work my way through and maybe try to sell a few things along the way although I’ll no doubt give most of it away. I have stacks of E-waste that I will get rid of too. I have so many framed pictures that are still wrapped up which I removed from the shed when the flooding began; I think I will hang a few up around the place once more as I won’t be going anywhere for the rest of the year and it will allow me to enjoy them once more.

I feel that I have moved forward slightly this weekend. The world is a dangerous place right now and the Covid restrictions don’t make travel easy. With the house, well what will be will be. If a disaster is imminent then I may as well cross that bridge when it comes rather than get worked up about it. The house is still insured and as long as that is viable I will stay put. But I think I need to get rid of some of the many items that are stored in boxes……..after all if they have been there for nearly two years then I don’t really need them do I?

Books I have read and recommend……….

I left the house on Saturday night after spending the whole day relocating the contents of the shed to higher ground. I wore wellies and an old weatherproof jacket that I once used to use on the boat, bright yellow so it would be easy to find me if I had collapsed anywhere. Mick (neighbour) was extremely stressed but for myself I was just tired and seemed to be taking things in my stride but it was when I finally got to relax that the gravity of the situation began to set in.

I never emptied the shed when I returned to the house after my travels and so I moved everything to the deck on the back of the house. Everything downstairs including blinds and curtains were taken down and moved upstairs in the off chance that the predicted flood levels might not happen. So many amendments to the anticipated levels, so no one really knew what was going to happen. The rain had been relentless over the past week and as much as 700 mm had been recorded in places near home. The dam levels went from 56% to 162% in just a few days, so it was very worrying.

On the Sunday I went back to see what the damage was and I was very calm and my frame of mind was “what will be, will be.” The rain had stopped of course and the humidity was through the roof. I picked up a Vietnamese Baguette and headed for home. There was still water over the road but it was quite far from the house and so as I turned into the driveway I was pleasantly surprised to see that instead of utter devastation, instead I had a very large water feature on the back lawn……….however there was about 400 mm of water up the side of the shed.

Debris littered the park behind the shed and there were lots of passion fruit bobbing around in the water in the garden, I even saw some small fish that must have thought it was great to get out of the confines of their creek. But all in all I had escaped the heartache and cleanup that I was half expecting to come home too. Mick’s house had water go underneath up to about 1200 mm and he lost tables and chairs, but he was also very relieved to see that the water had not reached the second floor because he has no insurance and he would not find it easy to recover as he is 74 years old. I was very glad for him because he was so worried when we left here the previous evening.

Of course there was no power, it had been cut as a safety precaution……….water and electricity don’t mix. The power was off until Friday afternoon and so I stayed with Peter and Cheryl, but I commuted each day back to the house which was a round trip of over 100 km and the wee car got quite the workout and was not happy.

I came home on the Friday evening and I must admit it was great to get back into my own bed and have a good night’s sleep although I wasn’t looking forward to the week ahead trying to put everything back where it should be. I’m getting too old for this shit. Both Mick and myself were saying that we don’t ever want to go through this again and so it might be a case of selling up and moving to higher ground. I’m over 10 years younger than Mick and I am absolutely knackered, not sure how he is holding it together.

The rain had been constant for days, torrential with very few lulls. As much as 700 mm fell in some places due to a storm system that was static for the days and the result of this is major flooding once more.

Memories of 2011 haunted me and sleep eluded me too. The water came up to the second storey of the house and after listening to the media it seemed we were in for a repeat. Two days it took to get the shed emptied of valuables and raised up to the house deck. Everything from the new renovation downstairs had to be brought up to the second floor. I raised everything as high as I could and then packed the car with clothes, computers, tools and as much as I could get in.

Peter and Cheryl were kind enough to give me a bed, however they live about an hour away and as I left the house with the trailer on the back the rain was like a waterfall battering down on the car.

Getting out of Ipswich was a problem as most of the roads were cut off. Once I made it to the motorway anything over 80 kph was scary, so much water falling and also lying on the road, aquaplaning was the norm.

When I finally arrived I could hardly keep my eyes open or walk up the steps for that matter, I was knackered.

It’s been raining for days and the rivers are rising quickly and it ignites the memories of eleven years ago when I got flooded and had to leave my home for ten days, I really hope I don’t have to go through that trauma once again.

Since I returned to the house in July 2020 I have slowly renovated the house which in some parts is reaching completion and to have it all damaged would be heart breaking to say the least. I’ve spent so much time and effort and money to get it this far.

Last week as I drove to the shops the wee car just died and I coasted to the side of the road. Lights were on, ignition turned on, fuel ok and yet she wouldn’t start. No spark apparently. I called the road side assist crowd, the RACQ, who arrived after about 30 mins or so and after about 10 minutes told me that the distributor had no doubt shit itself as there was no spark being produced. He ordered a tow truck.

It arrived after a further 30 minutes or so had passed and the driver was very friendly although the facial tattoos made him look more like a mugger than helper, but he was polite and efficient and soon the old Ford was on the back of the truck being whisked off to the garage.

I had no choice but to drop the car at the service centre and then return in the morning to see if they could fix her for me. I was not very keen in leaving the car overnight outside the garage but alas I had really no choice.

To much relief, she was still there in the morning and even better she was in one piece, which made me feel very happy. Corry, the service manager eyed me up as he drove passed me, no doubt thinking to himself, “Why has this old bastard parked his car there?”

I explained to him the circumstances and he seemed to lighten up a bit but he told me that it might be a few days before I would get the car back as they were extremely busy…….this was fine with me.

The following day late in the afternoon I got a call to tell me that it was indeed the distributor that had died and it was going to cost $700 to repair………………..Fuck……………..but I have no choice because if I attempt the repair the car would either be off the road for weeks or more possibly, never fixed.

I also got a new fuel filter fitted and when I got the car back it feels as if there is way more power, she is more nimble and it feels as if she can breathe better which I am very pleased about. This problem with the distributor has been in the background for some time I think. I can remember before I left in 2016 going to work one morning and the car cut out for a few seconds when I was on the motorway and it scared the shit out of me because I was in the outside lane. Last year there were four occasions when she wouldn’t start and so I am thinking that I am lucky to have gotten this far with the old distributor because I can’t recall changing it before in the car and it has done around 450,000 KM.

What a sad country America is, no pathetic I think may be a better word because after everything it has done in Afghanistan it is now using some of their money to give to the families of the 911 event that took place, an event that America brought upon itself by invading umpteen countries and starting proxy wars all in the name of democracy. The people of Afghanistan have nothing and they are starving and dying of cold.

It’s no sooner left one war and it is now gearing up for another which might unfortunately involve the rest of the world and as usual the fight is never on American shores, always at arm’s length so that they can sell their propaganda to the sheep that blindly believe that America is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The amount of money that America made from that one event is staggering. The amount of death and destruction that America unleashed is incalculable. In their own minds they had carte blanche to do and go wherever they wanted feeding the war machine, if only they had spent a fraction of the defence budget on education and the poor then maybe America might be in a better place. The country is falling to bits and the debt ceiling rises every year and the only way they can escape it so they think is through the war machine…….fuckin’ nutters!!!

The war economy has once more found a foe to focus on and as we all know the west is always right and the east is just always wrong. Nothing changes. I would say that America is the greatest threat to the world order at the moment and it will do everything in its power to prove that it is still number one and I think that unfortunately for it, it ain’t. I thought Trump was mad but Biden is just as bad………

How can anyone believe the “Intelligence” coming from America after the deceit of the past, after all it’s not a word that I would associate with America, most Americans I have encountered in my life ain’t that smart and you only have to reminisce over the Trump years to understand what the majority of the country is like, a mixture of Deliverance and Evangelicals that believe in a book of fiction. It’s fuckin’ scary!!

American allies are slowly being drawn into a downward spiral as they are sucked into the scary American paranoia. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t trust Putin as far as I could throw him but you can understand is apprehension in regards to the NATO situation, I’m just glad that some European countries seem to be taking the initiative such as France and Germany. I’m disappointed that the UK is not doing more to try and deescalate the situation and this is no doubt because Boris is trying to take the focus off himself to try and save his job, sending British troops and armaments is not really sending a message of dialogue me thinks.

I obviously know nothing about the inner workings of the world powers but on the surface these disputes are all smoke and mirrors while something else is taking place in the back ground which will no doubt come to light further on down the line unless of course someone pushes the button. Some folk some where are making shit loads of money that will be as usual Tax free.

I once was windswept and interesting………

My hair was long, they called me shaggy,

It was the 70’s and ma jeans were ripped and frayed and oh so baggy,

Ma hair was curly, black and long,

It stuck to ma beard and kept me warm,

Young and naive, the world was my oyster,

A coming of age, no haircut for years,

Still can’t believe all those stupid fears,

The music eclectic,

Zeppelin, Floyd, Grandmaster Funk,

The beginnings of rap and the beginnings of Punk,

Glam rock, Prog rock, folk and disco,

And all the wonderful music coming from Frisco,

Got my first job, got my first car,

Bought my first pint and played pool in the bar,

Smoked my first joint,

Lost my virginity too,

Scary thing is she’ll be a pensioner noo!

Some memories still vivid, and a few regrets,

Can’t believe I was so stupid and yet,

Here I stand.

They still call me shaggy,

Although my hair’s fucked off,

I wus in tatters,

It was traumatic,

No more locks knotted and tangled,

Afro comb in the bin,

Sad and embarrassed,

Confidence shattered,

But why had it mattered?

But now it’s cool,

More so in winter,

No expensive shampoo,

No hair dryer too,

Just a chamois and polish,

Or a beanie or a hat,

And for the most part I think I’m happy with all that.

A few things have happened over the last few weeks, let me see. I got an interview with a local bus company and started with them last Monday learning school runs for the upcoming school year. The amount of paperwork that had to be done and the amount of time focused on procedures that to me seemed obvious, but as we all know these days we have to assume the individual is completely stupid and so tell them every crumb of info and then if they break any of those rules down the track you can penalise them because they signed their life away under pages and pages of fine print. After the first day of training I was ready to leave because something did not sit with me very well and my gut was screaming at me to get out before it was too late. I left this morning after one week.

It was good to get to drive a large bus again and there is a sense of pride and achievement being able to navigate such a big beasty through suburbia consisting of tight turns and narrow roads…..I still have the knack.

From the beginning there seems has been pressure to be at the company’s beck and call, stories from the other drivers telling me how they were always under pressure to get between jobs and in doing so some have incurred speeding fines, this is their problem of course because if you are the driver you are in charge. I don’t want pressure.

The horror stories of certain schools where the children should be put in cages bound and gagged rather giving them a bus with actual seats. And it’s up to the bus driver to keep control and as we all know that in this day and age nothing can be done.

I called another company back that contacted me last week offering me an opportunity and made an appointment with them this week. They have a very different operation and the job would initially be on call rather than definite hours. So money is not guaranteed every week; however it is walking distance from the house, I could jump on the bike and be there in 5 mins.  The buses are smaller; usually 22 seaters and you would have someone on the bus with you to keep an eye on the kids which appeals to me. This takes a bit of pressure away from the driver and I think makes the job more appealing. I don’t have a job with them yet but I will go and see them on Thursday morning for a quick interview and test drive and all going well I’ll start there.

I was worrying about what I would say to the Operations manager this morning because I did not want to burn any bridges just in case I need to go back. I told them that I have a friend in a small construction business that needs help for a few months and so it was with regret that I had to leave, however they did say I was welcome to come back in the future.

A sense of relief as I drove from the depot, feeling as if the shackles had been removed from my gut once more. Maybe I’m just allergic to work!

Other things that have taken place; well I got a mole removed from my neck and got some stitches…….I get them out on Friday.

I found a very large Bunya nut in the back garden; it was the size of a rugby ball and weighed about 5 to 6 kg. The Bunya Pine is in the park at the foot of the garden and has a habit of dropping these rather large “Acorns” and they can kill.

I found a couple of chickens in the yard one day, not sure who owns them but I don’t want anything to do with them. They seem happy to come and go as they please.

The New Year came and went, another day another year treading water hoping that the future may have chance for the world to get back to a semblance of normality. I’m only thinking this for complete and utter selfish reasons; I just want to travel once more because it’s been way too long. I have no real desire to travel within Australia partly because it is too expensive and to be honest I would rather be globetrotting.

In the meantime I have to deal with reality and that means finding a job so I can cover the basic expenses and I am hoping to do this by gaining part time employment. It’s great being off and I could do this for a few more months to come but I am just digging into funds that I would rather put to better use in another country.

I have applied to a few of the local bus companies as they do many school runs and this amounts to about 20 hours a week which will be sufficient to keep the wolves at bay. One application was to a Catholic school and I was quite shocked when they sent me the application form because on the first page I had to sign my life away to some guy called God, apparently he published a book of many rules and according to the school you must follow them to the letter before you can be considered for employment at this school. I have a problem with this…………..how can this school demand that all its employees must believe in god…………this is no different to another employer saying that only fat guys that are not gay can apply for this position. This is discrimination, religious discrimination. How hypocritical of them, which is no surprise really, because I cannot believe for one minute that everyone at this school follows the doctrine outlined in this document and I am sure some of them will be influenced by the other guy known as Satan: who was a marketing ploy set up to encourage parishioners’ to return to the church ‘cause it needed money………..Give us money and God will protect you against Satan………this sounds like the American economic plan which they have used for decades.

It never ceases to amaze me how billions of people around the planet read the same book and believe it’s contents to the letter, and no wonder America is a hotspot for religious nutters when half the population think that Trump was sent by God to save them……..fuckin’ numpties……..

I find the application form absolutely fascinating and ridiculous at the same time. It’s an insight into another world that interests me but have no desire to be part of. All through my life I have had dealings with people of a religious persuasion and I can honestly say most of them will get agitated before me when it comes to a discussion of beliefs. Every religion has its “outs” as it were, the Catholic faith has the ultimate process of wiping the slate clean………..all you have to do is confess your sins and say a few words and then you can go on your merry way and many religions are the same. This was why Catholic girls were so popular when I was at school.

I could ramble on for hours and give examples of my views but life is too short.

So what will 2022 turn out to be like? Will we still be talking Covid or will we have moved on…….I’m going to be pessimistic and say that I feel that I will be sat here in 12 months time and that my passport will still be sitting in the drawer and I will be wondering if I will ever get to use it before it expires in 2026.

In 2022 I want to explore,

In 2022 I want to do more,

This hiatus has been way too long!

So dust off that passport,Live for today,

Pack a big bag and get on your way,

Plan for the future and make a wish,

That 2022 disnae turn oot to be pish