Free Republic

Billions in Russian oil sale profits are stuck in Indian banks, marking a blow to President Vladimir Putin's attempts to stop using the U.S. dollar for trade. ... ...accumulation of up to $1 billion each month in rupee assets in Indian banks that cannot be accessed due to restrictions by the Reserve Bank of India, which prevent Russian companies from transferring rupees stored in bank accounts in India to Russia and converting them into rubles, Bloomberg reported. ... "India operates a partially convertible capital account, which entails that the [Indian rupee] can be swapped for foreign currencies and vice-versa for...

Dollar stores are one of the bright spots in America's ailing brick-and-mortar retail industry: These discount retailers will represent one-third of all new store openings in the U.S. this year. Their ubiquity, however, is prompting questions about their low-cost operations, impact on communities and worker safety. The stores, which sell items for $1 each or slightly higher, provide communities with much-needed discount products, ranging from household staples like groceries to Halloween decorations. But workers and labor advocates are increasingly warning that the cheap items come at a price for their communities. Some of these issues were raised after last month's...

The shooter who killed three black people at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, Saturday once worked at a discount retailer — and stopped at a Family Dollar, where a security guard’s presence caused him to leave just before he carried out what police say was a racially motivated attack. Ryan Palmeter, 21, who is white, had worked at a Dollar Tree from October 2021 to July 2022, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Monday. “Based off what we saw: him stopping off at the Family Dollar and working at a Dollar Tree previously and then him going to Dollar General,...

On Monday, Argentina’s central bank raised #interestrates to 118% as Argentina 30-year mortgage is now at a record 82.2%. There is a record 350 Argentine Pesos for each US Dollar. All courtesy of Argentina’ version of Bidenomics … top down direction of spending and regulation and an out of control Central Bank. Don’t cry for Argentina. .They voted for endless Peronist polices (Justicialist Party). Say, are Joe and Jill Biden the new Juan and Eva Peron?

The use of the US dollar as a reserve currency is under threat — and the greenback is headed for a vicious cycle that will further erode its dominance, according to the Australian think tank the Lowy Institute. That's because the declining use of the dollar could lead to hyperinflation, which would, in turn, lead to higher interest rates as central banks combat high prices. And those rate hikes will weigh on asset prices like stocks, researcher Michael Roach said in a recent op-ed for The Interpreter, a publication run by the think tank. This outlook is furthered by speculation...

China's major state-owned banks were seen selling dollars to buy yuan in the offshore spot market in early Asian trades on Thursday, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Such state bank dollar selling was meant to slow the pace of yuan declines, one of the sources said. China's central bank on Thursday also announced a relaxing of a cross-border financing rule, making it easier for domestic firms to raise funds from overseas markets and easing depreciation pressure on the yuan currency. China's offshore yuan strengthened more than 0.7 per cent to a high of 7.1812 per dollar...

Greenback weaponization prompting efforts to likely introduce new currency A potential world-changing financial event is on the horizon next month. The nations that make up the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — reportedly plan to introduce a joint currency backed by gold when they meet for their summit on Aug 22-24 in Johannesburg. The BRICS venture underscores an effort to "de-dollarize" amid concerns over Washington's ability to "weaponize" the greenback through economic sanctions.

The BRICS alliance with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa recently announced that they were planning to float a gold-backed currency to settle international trade payments to challenge the global reserve status of the US dollar. The bloc of the five nations is projected to decide on introducing the new BRICS currency during its next summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August. “A tremendous change is taking place in the international economy,” Rasoul Mousavi, the head of the South Asia Department at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said on Sunday. “The BRICS’s introduction of a gold-backed currency, which is supported by...

Bidenomics relied on massive Federal spending thanks to Covid and massive monetary expansion. This led to the highest inflation in 40 years (Bidenflation). But now The Fed is slowing M2 Money growth into negative territory and hiking their target rate. The result? Bank credit growth has crashed to 0.5% YoY. In other words, banks are no longer expanding credit for the first time since the aftermanth of The Great Recession and Financial Crisis of 2008/2009. Of course, Washington DC bailed out their bestest buddies, the banks, while middle America suffered. As America loses steam under Biden and The Fed, 41+...

In an op-ed posted on The Daily Reckoning on Tuesday, former CIA and Department of Defense advisor and investment banker James Rickards predicted that August 22 will be the day the U.S. dollar’s status, as the world reserve currency and medium for exchange will formally collapse.Many factors are worth considering, including the weaponization of the dollar against Russia’s economy amid the conflict in Ukraine, the U.S.’ own national debt of $31 trillion, and recent talks on the part of the BRICS+ group to create an alternative trade and reserve currency that would rival the dollar.“On August 22, about two-and-a-half months...

You might remember George Soros. He broke the bank of England and made countless pensioners penniless, all in the name of improving the world. I wrote about him back in 2010. He wants to destroy capitalism and 'pop “the bubble of American supremacy.”' All of the worst, crime-loving DA's in the country are bankrolled by Soros. Soros has stated that the happiest days of his life were spent ratting out Jews to the Nazis. Now any criticism of Soros is attacked as anti-Semitic. Soros said a couple of things back then that have always stayed with me. One was “The...

A growing number of countries are coming forward to join BRICS and accept the new currency for global trade. The South African ambassador Anil Sooklal hinted that the alliance could expand this year becoming BRICS+. The move could add pressure on the U.S. dollar as developing nations would end their reliance on the greenback. The global financial order could tilt from the West to the East creating a new multipolar economy. According to the latest report, the BRICS alliance has formally received applications from 25 countries to join the bloc. The 25 nations that expressed their interest to join are...

Speaking today, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that there should be an expectation of a slow decline in the US dollar as a reserve currency. Moreover, the statements arrive amidst international de-dollarization efforts employed by a host of countries, including the BRICS economic bloc. Yellen had previously stated her expectation that the US dollar would remain unchallenged as the global reserve currency. However, it appears as though recent developments have shifted her stance on the matter. The global reserve currency status of the US dollar has been a constant headline over the past several months. Indeed, as international trade...

NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - Investors are bracing for a wave of U.S. government bond issuance as the Treasury plans to refill its depleted coffers quickly after the recent suspension of the debt limit. The Treasury General Account has fallen sharply since January when Treasury hit its limit on borrowing. Cash balance targets indicate it will need to rebuild its account quickly now that the borrowing cap has been lifted.

BRICS is not the only group of countries that are looking to end reliance on the U.S. dollar in 2023. A new bloc of ASEAN countries has come forward and agreed to ditch the dollar for global trade. The ASEAN alliance is looking to promote their native currencies for cross-border transactions by sidelining the USD. The leaders of 10 Southeast nations recently signed a declaration to stop using the U.S. dollar for international trade and aim to promote their local currencies instead ASEAN is a bloc of 10 countries that compromise Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,...

After decades meting out sanctions and financial coercion, the US may soon feel its grip on world trade beginning to loosen...Change is good, but dollars are better, a US author of romance novels once wrote. A similarly light-hearted sentiment often inspires discussions about the future role of the US dollar as the world’s leading currency. The consensus view is that the dollar is safe. I think the consensus is wrong.The dollar is the foundation of US global leadership, and the future of the dollar is therefore intricately linked to the debate about geopolitical fragmentation. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da...

Earlier this month, Larry Kudlow insisted that it is "it's incumbent on the U.S. government, no matter who's in power, to maintain the reserve currency status of the dollar." Kudlow laments that a toppling of the dollar from that perch "seems to be the direction we're going in." Kudlow's remarks came a day after Donald Trump declared that China is trying to displace the U.S. Dollar [sic] as the NUMBER ONE CURRENCY" and that if this occurs, it would be the biggest defeat for our Country [sic] in its history." Neither Trump nor Kudlow actually explain why maintaining reserve currency...

The United States may have a powerful military, but its true strength lies in the value and status of its currency. With the U.S. dollar seen and accepted as the world reserve currency, America has the privilege to control the global financial system, run federal deficits without having to worry about consequences, and literally print trillions of dollars out of thin air. This unique advantage also allows the U.S. to keep interest on its accumulated debt low and provide its citizens a standard of living that would not otherwise be possible. But how long will it last? Since the end...

Economist Stephen Jen, a former Morgan Stanley managing director, expects a shift “from a unipolar reserve currency world to a multipolar world,” with the Chinese yuan, the euro, and the U.S. dollar forming a “tripolar” reserve currency configuration.‘A Multipolar World’Economist Stephen Jen, the CEO of asset management firm Eurizon SLJ, expects multiple currencies will chip away at the U.S. dollar’s dominance. Jen was formerly a managing director at Morgan Stanley in London and a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).After stating that the U.S. dollar is losing its world’s reserve currency status at “an alarming pace,” the former...

Joe Biden expressed hopefulness about the economy following a dismal GDP report on Thursday, but Wall Street executives are preparing for the worst, according to Politico. The U.S. economy’s annual growth rate slowed more than expected to 1.1% in the first quarter of 2023, according to GDP statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday morning. The vast majority of the financial sector agrees the economy will continue facing difficulties this year as over a dozen large banks predicted poor growth or a recession, according to Politico. “The U.S. economy is unwell, and it’s starting to show,”...