MCViewPoint

Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘Reserve Currency’

Ron Paul: Will BRICS Smash The Dollar?

Posted by M. C. on September 8, 2023

The US government uses the dollar’s reserve currency position in order to force other countries to comply with US sanctions against the latest “designated Hitler.”

The backlash started last year when the US demanded other countries join in sanctioning Russia, regardless of the effects of those sanctions on their own economies.

Tyler Durden's Photo

by Tyler Durden

Friday, Sep 08, 2023 – 06:30 AM

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute,

Donald Trump’s legal troubles, the possibility that Joe Biden will face an impeachment inquiry, and other stories related to the upcoming presidential election, caused the American media to miss a story of potentially greater significance.

This was the decision of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), who formed their alliance to challenge US political and economic dominance, to induct six new countries into their group: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

One way the BRICS hope to achieve its goals is to undermine the foundation of US power: the dollar’s global reserve currency status. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva called for BRICS nations to create their own currency, while India is pushing to have its trading partners, including Russia, trade in Indian rupees rather than US dollars. China and other BRICS countries have also reportedly taken steps to explore using gold instead of dollars for international trade.

After then-President Richard Nixon severed the link between the dollar and gold in 1971, Henry Kissinger negotiated a deal with Saudi Arabia where, in exchange for US diplomatic and military support, Saudi Arabia would use dollars for its dealings in the international oil market. The “petrodollar” is the backbone of the dollar’s reserve currency status. Early this year, Saudi Arabia signed a deal with Brazil to accept Brazil’s currency instead of dollars for oil purchases. If Saudi Arabia signs similar deals with other BRICS nations it will hasten the end of the dollar’s reign as reserve currency. 

The rejection of the dollar is also being driven in large part by resentment over the “weaponization” of the dollar’s reserve currency status. The US government uses the dollar’s reserve currency position in order to force other countries to comply with US sanctions against the latest “designated Hitler.” Sanctions are an act of war, so by forcing other countries to follow US sanctions the US Government is dragging them into conflicts that are not in their national interests. It was inevitable that the arrogance of our foreign policy elite would eventually cause a backlash. The backlash started last year when the US demanded other countries join in sanctioning Russia, regardless of the effects of those sanctions on their own economies. 

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Gold Standard Is Back: BRICS To Intro Gold-Backed Reserve Currency

Posted by M. C. on July 10, 2023

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/gold-standard-back-brics-intro-gold-backed-reserve-currency

Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

Remember back when the Russia/Ukraine war had just started, and I predicted that Russia and China would launch their own gold backed currency?

At the time, this idea sounded completely foreign, and I was ridiculed for bringing it up. Today, it just become reality. 41+ countries look like they could be returning to a gold standard. 

The images plastered all over RT this weekend had headlines like “New Money, New World” and “Gold Standard Will Be Of Great Benefit To Strengthening New Singly Currency”.

“The official announcement is expected to be made during the BRICS summit in August in South Africa,” Kitco reported over the weekend.

“At first glance, a new transaction unit, backed by gold, sounds like good money – and it could be, first and foremost, a major challenge to the US dollar’s hegemony,” Thorsten Polleit, chief economist at Degussa, said.

He continued:

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

BRICS Announces New World Reserve Currency as America Commits Economic Suicide

Posted by M. C. on July 1, 2022

America is being mass-murdered by our own Federal Government.

And the emerging, new globalized economy will let it happen.

Unless Americans take back control of their own government, America will soon end.

By Alexandra Bruce
Forbidden Knowledge TV

China has recently invited Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Egypt and several other countries to join BRICS, a growing alliance, led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

While some are reporting that BRICS is somehow challenging the Globalists, this is demonstrably false.

The original concept for BRICS was proposed by the chief economist for Goldman-Sachs. BRICS’ new development bank is staffed by known players of the IMF and World Bank.

And BRICS has repeatedly affirmed their commitment t the United Nations’ Agenda 2030.

Aside from Brazil’s President Bolsonaro, all of BRICS’ nation-states have pushed the COVID-19 lockdowns and experimental shots.

And China recently announced five more years of their brutal “Zero-COVID” lockdowns.

BRICS is also pushing a digital currency and has launched a vaccine research and development center for member states.

BRICS is clearly not anti-Globalist.

Even the CCP’s state-run media explains how BRICS now leads the globalization mission.

But they are all turning against the United States and its allies.

Xi Jinping accused the US of weaponizing the financial system with their sanctions against Russia, which has caused the average person to suffer worldwide.

And Vladimir Putin suggested that BRICS could provide a new world reserve currency.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

By Enforcing Sanctions on Russia, SWIFT May Commit Suicide

Posted by M. C. on March 9, 2022

After Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal,  the EU announced the creation of a special payment channel to circumvent U.S. economic sanctions and facilitate trade with Iran. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini made the announcement after a meeting with foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran. She said the new payment channel would allow companies to preserve oil and other business deals with Iran.

This underscores a risk to the U.S. sanction policies could also have long-run consequences, eventually undermining the dollar as the world reserve currency.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/by-enforcing-sanctions-on-russia-swift-may-commit-suicide/

by Michael Maharrey

The government of the United States has intervened militarily in other countries for decades, against the council of founders like George Washington who advised America should “observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.”

But the U.S. doesn’t only project power across the globe through its massive military. It also weaponizes the U.S. dollar, using its economic dominance and its privilege as the issuer of the reserve currency as a carrot-stick tool of foreign policy.

The U.S. government showers billions of dollars in foreign aid to “friends.” On the other hand, “enemies” can find themselves locked out of SWIFT, the global financial system that the U.S. effectively controls using the dollar.

SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. The system enables financial institutions to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized environment. Since the dollar serves as the world reserve currency, SWIFT facilitates the international dollar system.

SWIFT and dollar dominance give the U.S. a great deal of leverage over other countries.

The U.S. has used the system as a stick before. In 2014 and 2015, the Obama administration blocked several Russian banks from SWIFT as relations between the two countries deteriorated. Under Trump, the U.S. threatened to lock China out of the dollar system if it failed to follow U.N. sanctions on North Korea. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin threatened this economic nuclear option during a conference broadcast on CNBC.

“If China doesn’t follow these sanctions, we will put additional sanctions on them and prevent them from accessing the U.S. and international dollar system, and that’s quite meaningful.”

Locking a country completely out of SWIFT would effectively cut it off economically from the world. But there would also be consequences that ripple through other economies. For instance, a member of the Russian parliament warned locking his country completely out of SWIFT would halt the flow of goods into Europe.

If Russia is disconnected from SWIFT, then we will not receive [foreign] currency, but buyers, European countries in the first place, will not receive our goods — oil, gas, metals and other important components.”

Given America’s history of using sanctions as a foreign policy tool, Russia wasn’t unprepared for the move. In fact, A number of countries that know they could easily find themselves in the crosshairs have taken steps to limit their dependence on the dollar and have even been working to establish alternative payment systems. This includes Russia, China and Iran.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Four Unreported Signs Paper Money is Dying

Posted by M. C. on September 7, 2021

By Matthew Piepenburg

Reason 1: The Taper Debate May Not be a Debate at All

Here, we look past the taper headlines and ask a simple question: Would a Fed “tapering” of QE really matter?

As we’ve written elsewhere, the Great Taper Debate is less of a debate than it is a pundit circus, forever fueling now classic yet complimentary debates on inflation vs. deflation, gold vs. the dollar and Fed-speak vs. honesty.

Of course, such topics, including the great “taper,” are all critical issues worthy of opposing views and somber discussions.

The world needs open, transparent and respectful (as opposed to tyrannical) debate, now more than ever.

If the Fed, for example, were to taper money printing, it’s logical to assume (and argue) that this would mean falling bonds, rising rates, deflationary forces, a stronger dollar and massive headwinds for risk assets like stocks and real estate.

But for many who are not otherwise deeply ensconced into the weeds of Wall Street (i.e., normal, smart and conscientious investors), what they may not know is this: The Fed has other tricks up its liquidity sleeve than just “QE.”

Stated otherwise, the taper fears as well as taper debate may not be as central to the central bank debate as one might think.

Why?

Hidden Liquidity Tricks and More Central Bank Fire Hoses

Because hidden within the backwash of the deliberately murky and mysterious (i.e., toxic) love affair between Wall Street and the Fed, lies unmarked little islands of hidden liquidity powers known as the Standard Repo Facility (SRF).

Specifically, we’re referring to the Reverse Repo Program (RRP) for domestic use and the FIMA swap lines (for foreign creditors) which allows the Fed to keep dumping liquidity into the system even during a QE “taper.”

The RRP program, for example, allows the Fed to help commercial banks avoid (i.e., cheat on) those otherwise laudable Basel 3 rules, thereby giving our seemingly immortal banks the hidden power to circumvent Basel 3’s reserve requirements.

Without diving too deep into this intentionally complex arena, RRP programs technically reduce liquidity, but the program’s fine print effectively allows increasingly less “liquid” commercial banks to sidestep Basel 3, which means they are not forced to become “less liquid” in actual practice—just more dangerous.

As we warned months ago, as debt conditions worsen, so too does transparency and truth; far more importantly, centralized control over (and support for) an otherwise grossly distorted banking system (and risk asset bubble) continues to rise behind the headlines.

In short, if investors are wondering why or how markets can and could climb despite “taper” headlines, the answer is hidden in plain yet deliberately complex sight. After all, distortion loves to hide behind complexity.

Like inflation, the real truth behind Basel 3 and the taper-debate is hidden behind deliberate obfuscation and mis-reporting—what normal folks call, well…lies.

This means, taper or no taper, the dollar liquidity will keep pumping within the fantasy islands of the RRP archipelago and hence the liquidity needed to help “inflate away” otherwise unconscionable and mathematically growth-killing sovereign debt will and can continue.

Such liquidity trends, of course, just mean the further debasement of fiat/paper money.

Reason 2: The IMF Signals More Liquidity

But if you think the Fed is the only monetary body growing more desperate and hence liquidity-clever by the day, let’s not forget those Wunderkinder at the IMF nor Forest Gump’s reminder that when it comes to dumping more paper money onto an already unsustainable debt pile, “stupid is as stupid does.”

Just one month ago, the IMF’s board of governors approved an allocation (its first since 2009) of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to the tune of $650B (456B in SDR) in order to stimulate, you guessed it, more global liquidity.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »