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USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

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Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#11
post #4

I'm not an economist so someone please correct me / expand on this; I'm guessing this is kind of a "It's not a problem until it's a crisis" situation? So far other central banks haven't begun selling treasuries, they've just stopped buying them. But once one starts selling it could become self reinforcing? What could replace it? There doesn't seem to be any new hegemonic power on the same level. Could we enter a worl…

This is more of a go out with a whimper rather than a bang type thing. Being the world reserve currency (as well as the largest consumer market in the world) previously enabled the US to do things like relatively easily export inflation in spite of relatively reckless monetary policy. Now that inflation is sticking around far more persistently, even long term bonds have gone from 1-2% to 4%+, and so on. Stagflation is a conceivable longer term outcome.

The replacement will probably be a multinational currency with strictly controlled quantity tied to some sort of physical asset(s). Basically Bretton Woods 2.0, except with the learned experience of not just granting a single country immense power and having them pinky swear not to default on their obligations and then abuse that granted power. China's probably betting that that asset will be gold.

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#12

Highly unpopular opinion here and I'm going to get downvoted into the ground (who cares), but ... this has been a very long time coming and has very much been a self-inflicted change. My bet is that it will end up being a very good thing for the world at large. China has recently started to buy Arabian oil and paying with yuan. Major countries (India, China) are starting to buy Russian raw materials and paying direct…

[flagged]

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#13
post #7

Insane this administration wants pimp the US out to the highest bidder and let the crypto weirdos run the world. If we ever lost the reserve currency peg treasury bills will spike and it’ll be impossible to fund the government. We spend 7T every year and take in 5T in taxes. This admin is gutting the IRS and banking on tarrifs which are just taxes. So … without the ability to keep interest rates very low because ever…

Are you trying to project this unto Trump when the Fed is doing everything it can to oppose his measures? I'm only the crypto weirdo guy asking.

So gutting public institutions and the tarifs do not work as trump intended because the fed opposed it? What did they do achieve that? (Sorry if i come across as trump deranged.)

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#14
post #4

I'm not an economist so someone please correct me / expand on this; I'm guessing this is kind of a "It's not a problem until it's a crisis" situation? So far other central banks haven't begun selling treasuries, they've just stopped buying them. But once one starts selling it could become self reinforcing? What could replace it? There doesn't seem to be any new hegemonic power on the same level. Could we enter a worl…

This is more of a go out with a whimper rather than a bang type thing. Being the world reserve currency (as well as the largest consumer market in the world) previously enabled the US to do things like relatively easily export inflation in spite of relatively reckless monetary policy. Now that inflation is sticking around far more persistently, even long term bonds have gone from 1-2% to 4%+, and so on. Stagflation i…

With highly liquid capital markets, why wouldn't the dynamics be more like a bank run?

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#15
post #7

Insane this administration wants pimp the US out to the highest bidder and let the crypto weirdos run the world. If we ever lost the reserve currency peg treasury bills will spike and it’ll be impossible to fund the government. We spend 7T every year and take in 5T in taxes. This admin is gutting the IRS and banking on tarrifs which are just taxes. So … without the ability to keep interest rates very low because ever…

Are you trying to project this unto Trump when the Fed is doing everything it can to oppose his measures? I'm only the crypto weirdo guy asking.

Have you ever thought it doesn't matter what the fed does to try to minimize the damage.

Trust needs to come from the top, and there is none there right now.

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#16
post #4

I'm not an economist so someone please correct me / expand on this; I'm guessing this is kind of a "It's not a problem until it's a crisis" situation? So far other central banks haven't begun selling treasuries, they've just stopped buying them. But once one starts selling it could become self reinforcing? What could replace it? There doesn't seem to be any new hegemonic power on the same level. Could we enter a worl…

US Treasuries have terms, if you aren’t refreshing your treasury buys, it is the same as selling them. US treasuries and by extension USD was useful because it could soak up billions of dollars of savings (debt for America) without taking a huge inflation hit (treasury rates were often less than inflation, so you still take some hit). As for where that money is going now? Other currencies and saving instruments proba…

[deleted]

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#17

Highly unpopular opinion here and I'm going to get downvoted into the ground (who cares), but ... this has been a very long time coming and has very much been a self-inflicted change. My bet is that it will end up being a very good thing for the world at large. China has recently started to buy Arabian oil and paying with yuan. Major countries (India, China) are starting to buy Russian raw materials and paying direct…

Every time I hear people claiming India and China now not using dollar and the end of dollar’s dominance, I feel it’s coming from mostly clickbait headlines, not data. From a global payments share, dollar is still the single largest currency from a percentage standpoint, and is at historically highest share of global trade. Any changes to currency share are coming from lower volume from the Euro. On top of that, if you look at foreign reserves, yes there has been a recent selloff from the peak, but we are still at 60% of global reserves and its still kind of around the same historical average for the last 30+ years.

Edit: I also want to add, that while having the international trade entirely in dollar sounds very appealing, it can actually destroy US exports and damage the trade balance. This can have massive impact on domestic as well as global economies. What you want is a strong enough dollar.

https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/the-...

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#18
post #4

I'm not an economist so someone please correct me / expand on this; I'm guessing this is kind of a "It's not a problem until it's a crisis" situation? So far other central banks haven't begun selling treasuries, they've just stopped buying them. But once one starts selling it could become self reinforcing? What could replace it? There doesn't seem to be any new hegemonic power on the same level. Could we enter a worl…

The British pound was displaced by the US dollar. Currently, the US dollar just doesn't have a proper rival. The euro, yuan and rupee are considered politically suspect (each for its own unique reasons); the pound and yen have too small a base. Without further transformation of the global financial system, the only alternative is for banks to hold a basket of currencies, and in such a basket the dollar would likely still play a significant, if reduced, role. This is a slow process because it means changing the nature of currency reserves from a single safe haven to a "nest". What this means for USG spending power is not immediately clear.

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#19
post #12

Highly unpopular opinion here and I'm going to get downvoted into the ground (who cares), but ... this has been a very long time coming and has very much been a self-inflicted change. My bet is that it will end up being a very good thing for the world at large. China has recently started to buy Arabian oil and paying with yuan. Major countries (India, China) are starting to buy Russian raw materials and paying direct…

[flagged]

Ooooh that must've struck a nerve. Seems we can't post that here without massive loss of reputation. Progressivism != liberalism. That stuff just doesn't fare well, even as sarcasm.

Re: USD share as global reserve currency drops to lowest since 1994

#20
post #4

I'm not an economist so someone please correct me / expand on this; I'm guessing this is kind of a "It's not a problem until it's a crisis" situation? So far other central banks haven't begun selling treasuries, they've just stopped buying them. But once one starts selling it could become self reinforcing? What could replace it? There doesn't seem to be any new hegemonic power on the same level. Could we enter a worl…

There’s nothing fundamentally stopping all currencies from floating against gold and gold being the base asset
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