Here is a Thought Experiment...

that will begin with a resolution, and a whole slew of questions where it is hoped that the simple act of asking not so simple questions reveals useful insights and answers.

Resolved: In part, due to the actions of U.S. monetary authorities, The Dollar is dramatically losing purchasing power against a variety of hard assets, i.e fuel products, agricultural products, and other natural resources such as base and precious metals. Official announcements have come recently, and, not so recently, from abroad, which herald the dollar's planned replacement in trade between foreign nations. Such developments will, by definition, have the effect of eroding The Dollar's already increasingly fragile reserve currency status.

1.) As the single most powerful monetary authority operating in the U.S., is it Chairman of The Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke's actual intention to destroy the dollar's purchasing power?

2.) If so, what is the motivation for such an action, i.e. to A.) reduce the effective debt load of Federal, i.e. public and (some) private entities, or, perhaps, to B.) impoverish, and, therefore, reduce the wherewithal- broadly defined- of a large segment of the U.S. population?

3.) If B, why?

4.) Is it possible that a substantial reduction in the purchasing power of the dollar can be orderly achieved so as not to create widespread social instability, or worse, outright civil tumult as is now occurring all across the Middle East?

5.) Where the actions of The Federal Reserve are concerned (and other major actors in the financial sphere, i.e. The Treasury) can we discern A.) egregious incompetence from B.) systemic rot, from C.) willful criminality?

6.) If B and/or C, can the system be expected to reform from within, or to only, at best, present a simulacrum of reform?

7.) If the answer to question #6 is only a simulacrum, what are our rights and obligations as citizens with regard to achieving necessary justice and reform?