Steve the KOL 💵

Dear Melania, thank you for your attention to this matter.

This is gobsmacking. Not only did Melania Trump suddenly decide to give a televised address about Jeffrey Epstein, she's calling on Congress to "act," because Epstein was "not alone." So she just threw a giant stick of political dynamite on the issue her husband despises!

🚨 BREAKING: 🇮🇷 Iran demands $1 per barrel on all oil transiting the Strait of Hormuz, with payment required in cryptocurrency. Source: FT

Bloomberg acknowledges that the US war on Iran is backfiring, undermining the petrodollar system that gives the US empire so much power. Gulf regimes are exporting significantly less oil, and they're not reinvesting those petrodollars in US assets. Meanwhile, many foreign central banks have been selling US Treasury securities (US government debt) to prevent their currencies from depreciating, leading to US bond yields rising markedly -- not falling, as they typically did in past crises, when investors engaged in a "flight to safety". The US financial sector is losing its perception of having "safe haven" status. This means that both key aspects of the petrodollar system are breaking: there are fewer oil exports in dollars (Iran wants oil to be traded in Chinese yuan), and there are fewer petrodollars recycled into US financial assets.