This isn't about the trillions of dollars this new giveaway will be, nor is it about the unfortunate countries who may wind up eating this new batch of free money direct from downtown Fed. It's because this sale is different. No one needs this increase.
What if no one showed up?
It's a given that Bernanke has informed the world that an increase will occur. This is additional debt to burden the dollar with. A dollar that may soon be valid in only a few countries, the US, Ecuador, American Samoa, El Salvador, Guam, Johnston Island, Micronesia, Midway Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau (Now I know why they voted for the US), Puerto Rico, Timor Leste, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Virgin Islands. These are the countries that currently use the US dollar as their national currency.
Those areas are completely pegged to the dollar. They go with the dollar. But they are the only ones who must follow. If one takes a look around the world today, they can see that there is already a glut of US dollars spread to the four corners.
Brazil
Brazil has made vast diplomatic inroads in the past few years. President Lula has made inroads with Iran, China, and Russia. The Times of India has even stated, "In Brazil, his approval ratings are 76 per cent, a record for an outgoing president. His domestic accomplishments are unprecedented: since 2003, he has more than doubled the minimum wage to $300, helped lift 20 million Brazilians out of poverty, and brought public debt down to 35 per cent from 55 per cent of GDP. Last year, Brazil's reais was the fifth best-performing currency, inflation was down to 4 per cent and the country sailed through the economic crisis with hardly a bruise.
"Thanks to Lula's social programmes, growth's biggest beneficiaries have been the poor for whom the president, who grew up polishing shoes and sharing a room with his mother and eight siblings, is a sign of hope. So high is Lula's popularity that he is even credited for the discovery of oil off the Brazilian shore. Brazil may soon become the third-largest producer of petroleum, and Lula has already announced plans to spend the oil income on anti-poverty plans."
It appears that Dilma Rousseff (Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) will succeed Lula as president. She will surely carry on in Lulaesque fashion, but may even take things farther to the left. Brazil is much closer to Venezuela, both in distance and in politics.
Russia
The former Soviet Union was a force to be reckoned with. Once it began to unravel, the force became one-dimensional real fast. A very few gained huge fortunes and the vast majority saw their lifestyles wiped out
Since then, Russia has emerged as a new force to be reckoned with. Not as powerful militarily, but certainly capable technologically and in some cases, better than the US version. Their economy is already on the rebound. They don't need more free money, just more techies to throw at all the projects coming their way.
India
One of the slackers of the group, nevertheless, India is bringing its own technological forces to the table in a big way. Should only a few sections of India lose power simultaneously, the entire world could be thrown into a cybercatastrophe that could start WWIII, or merely cause everyone to lose hordes of data.
India is the sleeping goddess that could mess anyone's plans if they aren't careful. They have coyed with the US up to now, but they are carefully not much entangled with it. They are more worried about the problems next door than Washington's mistakes.
China
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