Tune Out OPEC's Bad Boys

If foreign countries with large investments in U.S. securities were to lose faith in the U.S. economy they could dump these securities on the open market. Because there would be less demand to buy U.S. government securities, the price of the dollar would likely deteriorate further, says Ron Simpson, managing director of Action Economics, a provider of commentary on the fixed-income and currency markets.

Second, because the U.S. plays such a critical role on the world economic stage, a drop in confidence in the American economy could have spillover effects to the rest of the globe. Weaker economies usually mean softer demand for oil. And that could ultimately lower global oil prices -- an outcome that Iran and Venezuela may not have counted on when they first stepped on to their pedestals to rant against the U.S. and its currency.

This last aspect could be the reason why the suggestion made by Ahmadinejad and Chavez was met so coldly by their peers in OPEC's summit last weekend. Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal said in a ministerial meeting that merely thinking about redenomination could have a painful effect on the value of the dollar and ultimately the security of oil exports.

All told, with Saudi Arabia being the de-facto leader of the OPEC cartel, it appears that the likelihood of redenominating oil in an alternate currency is minute, at best.