Iran Sanctions Are Damaging The Dollar

 

Painful sanctions on Iran have demonstrated the long reach of the U.S. Treasury, forcing much of the globe to fall in line and cut oil imports from Iran despite widespread disagreement over the policy. Yet, we are only in the first few chapters of what may ultimately be a long story that ends with the erosion of the power of the U.S. dollar.

The role of the greenback in the international financial system is the reason why the U.S. can prevent much of the world from buying oil from Iran. Oil is traded in dollars, and so much of international commerce is based in dollars. In fact, as much as 88 percent of all foreign exchange trades involve the greenback.

The World Is Ganging up Against the Dollar

Shutterstock

 

The U.S. has been highly successful at pursuing financial warfare, including sanctions. But for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

As the U.S. wields the dollar weapon more frequently, the rest of the world works harder to shun the dollar completely.

I’ve been warning for years about efforts of nations like Russia and China to escape what they call “dollar hegemony” and create a new financial system that does not depend on the dollar and helps them get out from under dollar-based economic sanctions.

These efforts are only increasing.

Prepare for a Chinese Maxi-devaluation

(Shutterstock)

 

The news is being dominated by breathless headlines about the new trade war between the U.S. and China. But this trade war has been brewing for years and came as no surprise to readers of my newsletter, Project Prophesy. In fact, the new trade war is simply a continuation of the currency wars that began in 2010.

I’ve warned for over a year that President Trump’s threats of tariffs should be taken seriously, while most of Wall Street discounted Trump’s talk as mere bluster. Now the trade wars are here as we expected, and they will get much worse before they are resolved.

Currency wars arise in a condition of too much debt and too little growth. Economic powers try to steal growth from their trading partners by devaluing their currencies to promote exports and import inflation.

Russia Is Liquidating Its US Treasury Holdings

The buildings of Moscow City, the Moscow International Business Center (MIBC). © Vladimir Sergeev / Sputnik

 

The share of US sovereign debt bonds under Russian control has dramatically decreased in recent months. In March 2018, Russia held $96.1 billion in US Treasures, which it reduced to $48.7 billion in April.

A treasury bond is a fixed-interest government debt security with a maturity of more than 10 years. Treasury bonds make interest payments twice a year. The gradual sell-off of US sovereign debt started in 2011, and has intensified over recent years amid numerous rounds of sanctions imposed by the White House against Russia.

Russia Finance Minister: We Are Ready To Ditch The Dollar In Favor Of The Euro

In a testament to the success of the latest Trump sanctions against Russia, overnight Russian aluminum giant Rusal announced that its chief executive, Aleksandra Buriko, and half of its managerial board resigned to make sure the firm avoids U.S. sanctions against its founder, billionaire oligarch, Oleg Deripaska. The mass resignations were part of “the efforts that have been made by the management of the group to protect the interests of the company and its shareholders” since the sanctions were imposed last month, Rusal said in a May 24 statement.

U.S. Hints at China Truce as World Warns of Trade-War Threat

Mnuchin speaks during a briefing at the IMF spring meetings April 21. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

 

• Treasury’s Mnuchin considers China trip amid trade dispute
• China’s Commerce Ministry confirms U.S. has requested visit

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he’s considering a trip to China amid a trade dispute with Beijing that finance chiefs warn could derail the global economic upswing.

Mnuchin said he’s “cautiously optimistic” of reaching an agreement with China that bridges their differences over trade.

Report: China’s U.S. Treasuries are ‘Nuclear Option’

 

China’s State-Run Global Times Newspaper Declares Victory In The Trade War.

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Reuters reports any effort to reduce its U.S. Treasury portfolio would “inflict significant harm on U.S. finances and global investors, driving bond yields higher and making it more costly to finance the federal government.” But, the report notes, China’s leverage with treasuries is only good for as long as it holds them—suggesting any threat it poses may be empty.

EU goes Head-to-Head with USA in growing currency war – ‘We are Concerned!’

Washington and Brussels are locking horns in a dispute over currency, tax and trade [Getty]

 

THE EUROPEAN Central Bank has accused the US of manipulating exchange rates as tensions between Brussels and Washington continue to escalate wildly.

The ECB is concerned the US is attempting to exert “political influence” on exchange rates, with the issue set to explode into outright confrontation at an upcoming G20 meeting.

The eurozone bank said it was “certainly concerned” by perceived attempts to influence the exchange rate in favour of the US dollar. 

A “Financial H-Bomb” Has Exploded

 

Somebody exploded an H-bomb last week, and it wasn’t North Korea. It was the U.S.

This was not a kinetic H-bomb, the kind that leaves a mushroom cloud.

It was a financial H-bomb.

Scandinavia – Leader in the War on Cash

The real gem of this article is the last paragraph and its related photo posted below. Espionage, aiding and abetting the enemy by enemies within runs deep in America and has for decades.

The Scandinavian countries Sweden, Denmark and Norway are regarded as a pioneer in the the effort to eliminate money and move totally electronic. Denmark closed its final Mint outsourced the operation to Finland. This means that there is no coinage in the three states struck anymore. In this war on cash, about 20% of all transactions were settled in Denmark last year with cash. In Germany and Austria, cash transactions accounted for 80%. Scandinavia is pushing hard to eliminate all cash completely to enable 100% efficient tax collecting.

Iran reaches deal to purchase 100 Boeing planes

US government still needs to approve $17 billion contract to update Iranian passenger jet fleet

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Sunday it has reached an agreement with American aerospace giant Boeing to purchase 100 aircraft to renew its aging fleet, though the deal must still be approved by the US government.

The Islamic Republic has ordered about 200 planes from three Western manufacturers since mid-January, when economic sanctions were lifted following a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Foreign governments dump U.S. debt at record rate

In a bid to raise cash, foreign central banks and government institutions sold $57.2 billion of U.S. Treasury debt and other notes in January, according to figures released on Tuesday. That is up from $48 billion in December and the highest monthly tally on record going back to 1978.

Deathblow to the Dollar

Lessons from 2015, for today:

 

(Gary Dorning/The Trumpet)

 

 

The world is entering a new economic era—one that won’t be defined by America.

This past March marked a radical turning point for the global economy, particularly the United States’ economic dominance.

China proposed the launch of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (aiib)—a new, Chinese-run international bank specifically designed to challenge U.S. global economic leadership. America tried to convince other nations not to agree to join. But it failed—even with its closest allies.

For the U.S., it was an unmitigated disaster.

The IMF Just Entered The Cold War, Forgives Ukraine’s Debt To Russia

Since 1947 when it really started operations, the World Bank has acted as a branch of the U.S. Defense Department, from its first major chairman John J. McCloy through Robert McNamara to Robert Zoellick and neocon Paul Wolfowitz. From the outset, it has promoted U.S. exports – especially farm exports – by steering Third World countries to produce plantation crops rather than feeding their own populations. (They are to import U.S. grain.) But it has felt obliged to wrap its U.S. export promotion and support for the dollar area in an ostensibly internationalist rhetoric, as if what’s good for the United States is good for the world.

The Clock Is Ticking On The U.S. Dollar As World’s Reserve Currency

The View From Hubbert’s Peak

In 1971, the American President put an end to a 2,500 year trend; the Wall Street Journal called it “Nixon’s Worst Weekend.” Considering the old boy had some really bad ones, this must have been something special. In August of that year (on Friday the 13th) it was decided that the U.S. would no longer pay out gold for its paper dollars. OPEC Ministers took note, and in September they met, deciding it would be necessary to collect more paper dollars, if possible, since gold was no longer on offer and oil was the only asset they had to sell.

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The Wizard of Oz

The ultimate irony for this generation of investors is that, despite the occasional obligatory chant about ‘free markets’ and the wonders of capitalism, most of the day is spent obsessing about what the world’s most important central planner will do next. By Supreme Central Planner, I mean, the Fed.