Look at continuous manoeuvres to undermine Venezuela's democratically elected president Hugo Chavez

One of the most significant trends in the global economy in recent years has been the decline of the US dollar. It is a trend that has far reaching consequences for all the inhabitants of this planet. It is partly because the US dollar has declined so much in value since 2003 that the price of oil --- a lot of the oil trade is denominated in the dollar--- has shot up. According to an analyst, 'against a basket of currencies, the dollar has fallen by 25 percent since 2003, and considerably more since its peak in 2001.' What this means is that the dollar value of a barrel of oil today is much more than it was 5 years ago. Of course, there are other reasons why the price of oil is escalating. Since oil is the lifeblood of contemporary civilization, the steep price hike has impacted upon all areas of life. With the higher cost of living, not only the poor but even those who are at the lower echelons of the middle class are struggling to make ends meet. The increase in food prices on a global scale, for instance, is linked to oil. The rising costs of both food and oil--- it has to be reiterated--- are directly connected to the decline of the dollar. The adverse consequences of the declining dollar go beyond oil and food. Since the US runs huge trade deficits with countries like China and Japan, the declining dollar will not be in the interest of the latter. Neither will it be in the interest of countries which hold most of their foreign exchange reserves in the dollar. A number of them are already feeling the effects of the diminishing value of their reserves.