Tag Archives: Fed

How Bad Will the Economy Get?

How Bad Will the Economy Get? This is the title of my article that was recently published on Alternet. It begins with the claim that:

Historically, every financial and economic crisis has been used to further centralize power and concentrate wealth. This one is no different, and in fact the moves being promoted by the Obama administration and the central banks of the Western powers will take the whole world to the pinnacle of financial despotism — unless enough people wake up and claim their own “money power.”

It continues with an outline of recent and historical developments that make the case, but concludes on a hopeful note with my brief description of existing cashless exchange mechanisms that are not dependent upon political money or banks. You can read the complete article here. – t.h.g.

The days of dollar dominance are coming to an end

An article in The Financial Times reports that Brazil and China are working toward an agreement that will enable the use of their own currencies in trade transactions rather than the US dollar. This will be a major step that will encourage other countries to do likewise, thus reducing the longstanding dependence upon the US dollar as the international payment medium. As foreign dollar holdings stop increasing or are reduced, the US government will have a harder time selling its bonds. The buyer of last resort, of course is the Federal Reserve.  As the Fed and the banking system monetize ever greater amounts of US government debt, the purchasing power of the dollar will drop precipitously.

The only thing that has supported the value of the dollar thus far has been the “great recession” in which the business sector is starved for credit and ordinary people are starved for cash; that and the abiding myth that the dollar will always be “as good as gold.” — t.h.g.