The US and its beloved Greenback are facing a bleak 2008 and beyond with the writing on the wall for what has long been the global currency of preference.

A meeting in the small Arab emirate of Qatar of the Gulf Co-operation Council this week is likely to add further downward pressure on the dollar and see its five year depreciation continue into 2008.

The pending decision by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman to unwind their peg to the $US combined with suggested moves by the likes of China to hold its huge foreign reserves in a mixture of currencies is going to push more not less dollars into the open market.

A series of highly publicised face slaps for the US dollar have also emerged over the past few months suggests its status as the leading global currency is set to continue sliding towards infamy.

$US notes, along with bikini-clad girls, have long been the props of choice for gangster rappers, so the sight of high profile US rapper Jay-Z cruising around New York in European luxury cars gesticulating with a briefcase crammed with €500 notes rather than dollars is not just a coincidence.

Meanwhile, the Taj Mahal and other top tourist sites in India are now turning away tourists seeking to pay their admission fee in dollars, due largely to the fall of the $US against the economic-driven and rapidly rising Indian Rupee.

Another high profile blow was dealt by Gisele Bündchen, a Brazilian supermodel, with media recently reporting she would only sign contracts paid in euros due to the slide in the Greenback’s value relative to other currencies.

Not a good sign for the currency of a country that prides itself on an outward show of strength and stability.