Jilted: The Looming Dollar Disaster

Most Americans have no idea what is happening to the economy. Many people think America is emerging from a vicious little recession, and will soon be back on the road to prosperity. America always has, so it always will, is the common reasoning.

Yet this time, things may turn out very different.

On January 8, cnbc reported that the U.S. Federal Reserve purchased an unprecedented 80 percent of all U.S. treasury securities issued in 2009.

This is earth-shaking, game-changing news with possibly lethal repercussions. Here is why.

During 2009, the federal government ran a $1.4 trillion deficit—the largest deficit in the history of both America and the world. It was over three times the size of the previous year’s record-breaking deficit. And if the government has its way, 2010’s deficit may be even greater.

Since Americans save so little money, foreigners have come to provide almost all of the federal government’s borrowing needs in recent years. They accomplish this by purchasing U.S. treasury bonds. This was something foreign nations were happy to do since they earned interest on their money, plus big-spending Americans tended to spend the borrowed money purchasing foreign-made goods. So a good proportion of the money cycled right back to them.

Not wanting to give up their standard of living, Americans too willingly went further into debt, even as American industry and other wealth-producing sectors of the economy were being shut down and shipped overseas.

via Read Full Articel.

China Proposes One Global Currency

China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.

Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing’s fears that actions being taken to save the domestic US economy would have a negative impact on China.

“This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money,” said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC.

Although Mr Zhou did not mention the US dollar, the essay gave a pointed critique of the current dollar-dominated monetary system.

“The outbreak of the [current] crisis and its spillover to the entire world reflected the inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system,” Mr Zhou wrote.

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