The Hangman’s Rope: How the USSR Created the Eurodollar Market that Later Strangled It
Citation APA (7th Edition) Pennings, A.J. (2026, May 17) The Hangman’s Rope: How the USSR Created the Eurodollar Market that Later Strangled It. apennings.com https://apennings.com/dystopian-economies/the-hangmans-rope-how-the-ussr-created-the-eurodollar-market-that-later-strangled-it/ “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.” – Attributed to Vladimir Lenin Introduction The “Third World Debt Crisis” of the 1980s was a decisive […]
Petrodollars, Shock Therapy, and the Emergence of Global Spreadsheet Logic
The 1980s debt crisis was therefore not simply the failure of development economics. It was the birth of global spreadsheet capitalism, a system whose logic continues to structure the world economy today, and whose next phase may culminate in AI-mediated planetary monetary coordination.
Seven Phases of Global US Dollar Transformation: Past and Future
The history of the US Dollar is not a story of static dominance, but of ruthless technological adaptation. The US successfully maintained its hegemony of liquidity by shifting the substrate of its currency from Gold to Information and to Code (Stablecoins/AI).
USD Centrality and Network Effects in the Global Economy
When we say the USD/eurodollar is a cell at the center of the global spreadsheet, we mean every balance sheet in the world, whether in New York, London, Shanghai, or São Paulo, has at least one column denominated in USD. A loan in yen, a bond in euros, or a derivative in pesos ultimately references the USD cell through conversions, swaps, or collateral rules.
Weak Domestic Dollar, Strong Global Dollar
Currently the dollar is weak domestically and strong globally. In this post, I examine the dynamics of the US dollar and why it operates differently within the domestic US and globally.
Russia, the Fall of the USSR, and the Era of Pan-Capitalism
This post briefly discusses the breakup of the USSR and the globalization of digital capitalism.
Origins of Currency Futures and other Digital Derivatives
Thus, it was fitting that Chicago emerged as the Risk Management Capital of the World—particularly since the 1972 introduction of financial futures at the International Monetary Market, the IMM, of the CME. – Leo Melamed to the Council of Foreign Relations, June 2004 International currency exchange rates began to float in the post-Bretton Woods environment […]
Lotus Spreadsheets – The Killer App of the Reagan Revolution – Part 2 – Spreadsheet Capitalism Emerges
In this post I examine the transformation of the 1980s corporate landscape facilitated by PC-based spreadsheet-modeled merger and acquisition (M&A) activities.
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About Me
Professor (full) at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Research Professor for Stony Brook University. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, digital economics, and global political economy
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anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr
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