Tune Out OPEC's Bad Boys

OPEC's in-house hooligans Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela made waves at the group's recent summit by recommending that the global oil market relist crude in a currency other than the U.S. dollar.

Their claim is that the dollar's decline has eroded the effective value that oil exporters get for their product. Indeed, the dollar is trading at a record low against numerous currencies.

Europe's common currency has appreciated almost 70% against the dollar since late 2000. As the value of the dollar has fallen, any foreign entity accepting greenbacks has seen the buying power of the currency shrink. ...