So why is America an economic 'Empire'?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I've always liked the Jefferson Memorial. And yes, all of the momuments and main government buildings are done in a classical style on purpose (though I believe they were thinking more Athenian Democracy and Roman Senate at the time).

[Dinner]

I believe it is called neo-classicalism but, yes, as everyone has said neo-classicalism draws on classicalism designs thus the name. I guess it was just all the rage in the late 18th century though when the city got built.

[BeBMan]

True. It goes well into the 19th cent, the centre of Berlin is full of such buildings.

[KrazyHorse]

I'm aware of the style, but it seems to be more Roman in DC than in other cities in which I've encountered it. The enormous expanse of the Mall, for example.

[OzzyKP]

Large open spaces means we want to be an empire?

[Wezil]

I just had a scary image of GWB celebrating a Roman Triumph with Saddam in chains being paraded through Washington.

[DanS]

The mall is on a much smaller scale than its antecedent, reflecting the modest perceptions of the country by the folks of the day.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I assume part of that is a result of D.C. being an entirely planned city, rather than the neo-classical buildings having to fit into an organic city.

[DinoDoc]

I just had a scary image of GWB celebrating a Roman Triumph with Saddam in chains being paraded through Washington.

His second term election results would never had been as close as they were had he been able to do that with OBL.

[KrazyHorse]

Large open spaces means we want to be an empire?

[KrazyHorse]

The mall is on a much smaller scale than its antecedent, reflecting the modest perceptions of the country by the folks of the day.

What's the antecedent that you're thinking of?

[DanS]

The mall is mostly a small-scale Versaille.

[Aeson]

b) The amount of currency required to be held in order to process oil transactions is ridiculously low. Even if you needed to hold dollars for a full day before using them to purchase oil the total excess demand for US currency would be less than 80 million barrels * 70 dollars per barrel =5.6 billion dollars.

Is that assuming that after the buyer exchanges for dollars the seller (OPEC) then converts to other currency once they receive the money? Or is there something I'm missing about commodities transactions? It seems at first glance that if instead the seller (OPEC) retains the dollars rather than converts them, the extra demand for the dollars (inasmuch as they are retained) is aggregate.

In regards to the hypothetical where all commodities required dollars to be purchased, but also in smaller extent to a single commodity like oil... There are costs involved in exchanging currency, so wouldn't there be some impetus to hold dollars instead of exchange dollars received then exchange back for them when you need a commodity? Even if the spreads are minimal, as long as there are spreads it's a losing proposition to convert twice.

[KrazyHorse]

Is that assuming that after the buyer exchanges for dollars the seller (OPEC) then converts to other currency once they receive the money? Or is there something I'm missing about commodities transactions? It seems at first glance that if instead the seller (OPEC) retains the dollars rather than converts them, the extra demand for the dollars (inasmuch as they are retained) is aggregate.

The fact that they would choose to do so is completely independent of what currency the original transaction was in.

[KrazyHorse]

There are costs involved in exchanging currency, so wouldn't there be some impetus to hold dollars instead of exchange dollars received then exchange back for them when you need a commodity? Even if the spreads are minimal, as long as there are spreads it's a losing proposition to convert twice.

There are minor transactions costs, but I think you are probably overstating them in your own mind. People who do actual bulk purchasing of oil on the international market have access to the best financial services available, meaning that the bid ask spread for them is negligible on fx transactions involving any of the world's top 10 currencies. On the order of 0.02%.