Those darn Asians are saving so much money - someone has to borrow it.

Thank God for Americans! Without our willingness to consume more than we produce, the whole planet might go into recession.

That, dear reader is Ben Bernanke's idea of the real problem in the world - a 'global savings glut.'

He is right...in a way.

One could, after all, describe the Battle of the Little Big Horn as 'General Custer's men helping the Sioux recycle their surplus arrows.'

But, there would be more to the story. And there is more to this.

One part of the story Ben Bernanke fails to tell is that of the rising role the oil exporters play. As the price of oil rises, so do cash surpluses in the hands of oil producers - such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. This year, the total amount of net oil exports are expected to rise to over $800 billion - about the same amount as America's current account deficit. Last year, Asia's current account surplus came to $263 billion, while the oil exporters brought in $242 billion. And this year, the oil exporters should enjoy a current account surplus greater than Asia - around $311 billion.

And so we have to ask - what do they do with all this money? Truth is, nobody quite knows. Some of it, of course, is traceable. While China now has $1 trillion in official dollar reserves, so do the oil exporters. Hundreds of billions more are unaccounted for.

But here's a thought. If the fundamentals are as weak as we say they are, why are the Dow and the dollar so strong?

Ergo, much of it must be finding its way into the world's leading brand-name investments - namely dollar-based assets, including U.S. stocks.

A recent report from UBS Investment Research helps explain it. "Sustained high oil and gas prices are giving oil exporters a financial status previously reserved for Asian central banks. Their reserves, however measured, are growing rapidly and their influence over the [United States] and other capital markets has grown in tandem."

Imagine you are controlling a huge pile of money for Nigeria or Norway or any other oil producer. Are you going to invest in start-up car wash franchises? Or strip malls on the outskirts of Omaha? No sir. You're going to buy T-bonds...and the Dow!

That's why George W. Bush can go on TV and tell the rubes that the economy is doing great. Just look at the Dow! Look at long-dated Treasuries! Look at the dollar! Yes, look. But then look again. People are not really getting richer when foreigners lend them money or buy up their factories and businesses. While Asians have been able to pay for higher priced oil with their own exports of manufactured goods, and Europe, too, has been unhurt since it exports luxury goods while limiting its consumption of oil, the biggest loser from the trend is the United States, says the UBS study.

But as oil exporters' assets rise, so does America's current account deficit. Oil costs money, and the United States - with no way to pay for it - sells off its assets and borrows money. The U.S. current account position, at minus $800 billion, tells us in bright, shining red letters, how fast Americans are going broke; it almost doesn't matter what the level of the dollar or the Dow is.

Think about it. The global money system is now supposed to be a gleaming, state-of-the-art machine - with so many hedge-funds...so many derivatives...so many investors and so many investment opportunities - all now shock-proofed against the accidents that damaged them a few years ago.

But all the different people in all different places with their fingers wrapped around so many different instruments, still all read the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. And they all attend the same conferences...and all think much the same things. On top of that, the decisions that really affect world markets are made by very few people...and we know who they are: they control Asian and oil exporters' surpluses.

So it boils down to this. It will only take those few people, in deciding to dump the dollar or to change the whole picture...overnight.

Bill Bonner is the President of Agora Publishing.  For more on Bill Bonner, visit The Daily Reckoning.