Opposition in the United States to a central bank empowered to issue currency is not new. Twice before in the nation’s comparatively short history it was created and abolished. Presidents and thinkers, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Otto von Bismarck, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, … Continue reading
Category Archives: The Dollar
Status of the Dollar
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the U.S. dollar share of global foreign exchange reserves declined from roughly 73% in 2000 to about 56% in 2020 despite the dollar’s continued appreciation during that period. Particularly noteworthy is the slope of the decline beginning in 2014, the year of the … Continue reading
Declining U.S. Dollar Share of FX Reserves
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the U.S. dollar share of global foreign exchange reserves declined from roughly 73% in 2000 to about 56% in 2022 despite the dollar’s continued appreciation during that period. Particularly noteworthy is the slope of the decline beginning in 2014, the year of the … Continue reading
Water, Hydrogen, Real Estate & the Dollar
Background It is indeed remarkable the propensity of our esteemed decision makers to ignore scientists’ warnings. Case in point, the March 1912 issue of Popular Mechanics correctly predicted that coal burning would accumulate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and cause a greenhouse effect. Did the industrialized countries heed? The answer … Continue reading
Historical Record
Breton Woods Roots In 1944, with the approaching defeat of Germany all but certain, representatives of forty-four nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to create a new international monetary system. This Bretton Woods System, which became fully operational in 1958, was essentially a mechanism to settle international accounts in … Continue reading
Defending the Dollar
Largely ignored by mainstream media, the dollar’s monopoly on global oil transactions is coming to an end. On March 26, 2018 the Shanghai Futures Exchange began trading oil in yuan (or renminbi), China’s currency. The ramifications of this event cannot be overstated. Some keen observers, as in this article, have eloquently analyzed … Continue reading
Hydrogen Exports as a Specific Special Drawing Rights (SDR) Criterion
January 29, 2019 Western Reserve Currencies and the Quest for Dominance Historically, shifts in reserve currencies have brought pivotal changes in the global balance of power. Beginning with the 15th Century, which marked Western Europe’s global ascendancy, the currencies of the empires of Portugal (1450-1530), Spain (1530-1640), the Netherlands (1640-1720), … Continue reading
Dollar Graphs -2015
Dollar vs. gold & oil Dollar vs. yuan Dollar vs. euro