Is the Dollar about to Be Dethroned as the World’s Reserve Currency?
The dollar has been the world’s reserve currency since the U.S. and its allies agreed at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference. According to the International Monetary Fund, the dollar’s share of global reserves stands at 59%, far above the euro at 20.5%. After the euro, there’s a steep drop to the No. 3 slot, which is occupied by Japan’s yen at 5.83%.
What really cements the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is an agreement reached with Saudi Arabia. The U.S. promised to protect Saudi Arabia if it would require that all oil sales be made in dollars. If a nation wants oil from the kingdom, they would have to go to the F.X. market and buy dollars. The majority of global oil sales—around 80%—are done in dollars.
As the world’s primary reserve currency, the U.S. enjoys the “exorbitant privilege” that goes along with that, such as interest rates that are lower than they might otherwise be and the government being able to fund budget deficits in perpetuity.
The U.S. has a massive shortfall in trading with the rest of the world. The U.S. goods trade deficit reached a record $1.09 trillion in 2021—an increase of $168.7 billion (18.3%) from the 2020 trade deficit—according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. In 1991 our trade deficit was only $28 billion. There is very little concern about the deficit because we can simply print the money to pay for our imports.
We do export a lot of goods and services to our trading partners. In December of 2001, the value of our exports was $228.1 Billion, but we imported $308 Billion worth of stuff, leaving us with a deficit of $80 Billion.
Over the years, the quantity of dollars has built to a huge amount. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, foreign countries held a total of $8 trillion dollars. It would be very natural to assume that the $1 dollar bill has the highest quantity in circulation. There are actually more $100 bills in circulation than $1 bills.
The dollar has been slowly losing its status as the reserve currency. After peaking at 73% of all currency transactions in 2001, the dollar has been in constant decline. The one thing that is preventing a collapse in the dollar is that no other currency is set to capture the world’s reserve currency title.
One of the greatest dangers to the dollar is inflation. High levels of inflation are eating away at the purchasing power of the dollar. Once people realize what is happening, they will use their dollars to buy hard assets like gold, silver or real estate.
Another reason for nations to back away from the dollar is sanctions. The U.S. has frequently used the dollar to punish rogue nations. Over the years, the White House has increasingly turned to economic sanctions to punish other nations. In the 90s, there were about 20 sanctions issued every year. In 2021 there were over 100 sanctions issued. One explanation for the massive increase in the number of sanctions is the start of issuing them against individuals.
Russia is currently the top target because of its invasion of Ukraine. Putin has been very crafty at avoiding sanctions. He sold off all of Russia’s holdings of U.S. bonds and purchased large quantities of gold, which has no financial loyalty to any nation.
The latest move by Putin is to require all purchases of Russian commodities to be made in rubles. This is very clever because many nations need Russian natural gas, oil, and fertilizer. By forcing them to buy rubles, Putin will gain access to foreign currency.
China is making moves that may harm the dollar. It is in active talks with Saudi Arabia to price some of its oil purchases in yuan. This move would dent the U.S. dollar’s dominance of the global petroleum market.
Because America is not mentioned in Bible prophecy, it is very likely that the U.S. is going to suffer a financial meltdown or some other calamity. If the Antichrist is able to control the world’s financial centers, the Mark of the beast will clearly become the world’s reserve currency.
“He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Rev 13:16-17).
–Todd
Messiah Misunderstanding
Fiction is something not many Rapture Ready family members or people who come to my blog Terryjamesprophecyline.com want to entertain. Just the facts—or at least an opinion on the facts, based upon Bible truth, for the most part, are what our fellow believers who come to the websites want.
Fiction is something, however, that sometimes–often, as a matter of fact—inserts itself in a way that doesn’t allow for its dismissal out of hand.
My great friend, Dr. Tim LaHaye, used to say with a laugh that many detractors charged that everything he wrote was fiction. These, of course, were planting their invective based upon his being part of the Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins writing team that produced the phenomenal-selling fiction series Left Behind. Anyone who knew Tim’s tremendous volume of writing work knew that was as far from truth, as some fiction can be from fact.
His nonfiction writing on themes directly from the Bible that formed the basis for many Christians, and even non-Christians, to understand God’s truth is legendary. And his participation in the fiction involved in the Left Behind series thrust forward God’s message to an audience of millions across the world in ways that continue to reverberate in results for the great cause of Christ today. It was fiction with a Heaven-sent core of truth.
Again, Left Behind was steeped in absolute truth. There is coming a removal of believers in Christ from this fallen planet, and then all hell will break loose. This will be followed by Christ’s return at Armageddon to put an end to all of the wicked one’s death and carnage inflicted upon mankind. Christ will then rule and reign over a restored, pristine planet for a thousand years.
This Tim LaHaye, with the tremendous novel-writing skills of his friend, Jerry B. Jenkins, portrayed all of the above in ways that couldn’t be done through nonfiction books.
It is with that as preface that I mention again a fiction series for which I’m currently writing the third book. It is entitled MESSIAH: The Prince That Shall Come.
As the prophecy student that is up to understanding the facts about what Bible prophecy has to say on this topic, the title is an oxymoron of sorts. The Messiah is the Lord Jesus Christ, while “the prince that shall come” is to be Antichrist—as found in Daniel 9:27.
And it is a melding of fiction and fact about which I write at present. My fictional account will be meant to portray that the world is looking for a Savior, as are the Jewish people of Israel who are religious–still within Judaism. They are looking for, praying for, their Mashiach to appear to them and vanquish all enemies. He, they believe, will then set up his kingly rule, where Israel will live and prosper in peace, free from any enemy threats.
There has developed in these last days both fact and fiction involving Israel’s Mashiach–Messiah. The intrigue interwoven within the reports on the matters involved is great fodder for the novelist. I’m thinking hard on how it might be used in MESSIAH: The Prince That Shall Come.
Be that as it may, there continues to be profound misunderstanding about Israel’s Messiah, and it’s not something to be dismissed as unimportant. Within its intrigues loom world war and peace and resides the very truth about God’s salvation message to all of mankind.
Here are excerpts from the item that tripped my fascination.
Israel is among the most vaccinated countries against Covid. Many people don’t know that Israel is also among the countries that check for Covid the most.
According to one famous rabbi, there is a far more sinister agenda behind the tests. In a recent lecture, Kabbalistic Rabbi Alon Anava asserted that the Vatican is examining all nasal swab tests for Covid-19 to determine whose DNA the tests accumulated matches King David’s.
According to Rabbi Anava, who was at one point in his life pronounced clinically dead and then came back to life, the Vatican excavated underneath King David’s tomb on Mount Zion to collect his DNA. He added that the Vatican knows that the Messiah will come from the lineage of King David, and so they are trying to see who is alive today that is a match with the Biblical king. He added that they are doing this to preemptively kill the Messiah or messianic candidates before they redeem the world.
There is some legitimacy to his claim on the Vatican tomb raiding the grave of King David.
In March 2021, Israel365 News reported on a motion filed against the Jerusalem Municipality for turning a blind eye to a massive illegal digging project under the Tomb of King David in Jerusalem’s Mount Zion. According to the case brought by the Israeli NGO Regavim, the Jerusalem Municipality has been concealing the existence of an underground tunnel dug by the Church of the Dormition, one of the largest and most recognizable Catholic churches in Jerusalem….
This section of Mount Zion includes the subterranean area believed to be King David’s tomb, the Hasmonean-era city walls, and the First Temple-era city wall. (“Covid tests are checked by Vatican to determine who Messiah will be, rabbi says,” David Sidman, Mar 3, 2022 | Biblical News)
If there is truth to be found within this story, it just confirms that a powerful fiction still tortures the minds of those within both Judaism and in Catholicism. They, if the account is even partially true, still hold that the coming Messiah prophesied in God’s Word is something other than God Himself. In this belief–either system—lies eternal doom, not salvation.
Let us pray that that those within both systems will look for the return of the true Messiah. One that cannot be destroyed, and who will make all things right on this fallen planet full of anti-God rebels.
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22: 20)
—Terry