Something is afoot as de-dollarization escalates around the world. With CNY/RUB trading volumes up a stunning 400% year-over-year to record highs, and hot on the heels of China's (and much of EM Asia) dumping dollar assets, Russian President Vladimir Putin has just unleashed a new bill aiming to completely eliminate the US dollar from the trade of goods [14].
As Putin explained last year... trade in Rubles and Yuan will weaken the dollar's influence...
And it appears to be happening....
CNY/RUB volume rose 4 times y/y to 18.4b yuan (193.3b rubles), highest since trading started at end-2010, Moscow Exchange says in statement on website.
Record daily trading was on Aug. 24 at 1.95b yuan
As SHTFPlan.com's Mac Slavo details [15], last year Russia began unloading massive amounts [16] of their US dollar reserves. In the month of December 2014 alone Putin sold some 20% of the country’s U.S. Treasurys, a move that further increased tensions surrounding what can only be described as economic warfare between East and West.
Then, as if part of a coordinated effort, this summer it was revealed that China had implemented a similar strategy, dumping half a trillion [17] in dollar denominated assets.
But that’s just the beginning of the end for the US dollar. Amid a major meltdown in Chinese stock markets the People’s Republic sold off billions in dollar assets last week in what was reported to be an effort to stabilize their collapsing financial markets.
And now, as Russia’s economy collapses under the weight of American and European sanctions, including what many believe to be widespread downward manipulation of oil prices, Vladimir Putin is sending a clear signal to the central bank of the world’s reserve currency.
A new bill drafted by the President [14] of the Russian Federation aims to completely eliminate the US dollar from the trade of goods:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has drafted a bill that aims to eliminate the US dollar and the euro from trade between CIS countries.This means the creation of a single financial market between Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other countries of the former Soviet Union.
“This would help expand the use of national currencies in foreign trade payments and financial services and thus create preconditions for greater liquidity of domestic currency markets”, said a statement from Kremlin.
The bill would also help to facilitate trade in the region and help to achieve macro-economic stability.
Source: RT [14]
The implications for such a move, though not necessarily immediate, are serious over the long-term. That China and Russia are now overtly divesting themselves of U.S. dollar assets signals a significant paradigm shift in global trade.
The dollar may be strong today as panicked global investors rush to the perceived safety of the US Treasury assets. But as the Federal Reserve is left with no choice but to print trillions more to keep financial markets from ruin, the creditors who usually buy those assets are drying up.
There will come a breaking point in the near future, and when that day comes we will see the largest monetary collapse in the history of the world [18].
When the collapse of the dollar occurs, it will literally and figuratively come like a thief in the night, and I do mean overnight!
We are all familiar with the concept of inflation, which is the intentional byproduct of the Federal Reserve. But I am not just talking inflation, I’m speaking about hyperinflation which is caused by the collapse of the value of the currency resulting in runaway prices. Here are three examples of how quickly a currency collapse can occur when a nation’s money when its money no longer holds it value:
1. In Weimar Germany, from 1922 – 1923, prices doubled every three days.
2. In the modern era, in Yugoslavia from 1992-94, witnessed prices doubling every 34 hours.
3. In Zimbabwe, in the two year period from 2007 – 2008, prices doubled every 25 hours.
History is replete with examples of currency collapses and they typically follow very predictable patterns in which a nation unravels and social chaos, and many times, widespread violence and even genocide becomes part of the national landscape.
Source: What will happen when the dollar collapses? [18]
And though such things could never happen in the “developed” world, we urge our readers to consider the reality of a scenario that involves a break down of the US dollar. We direct your attention to Venezuela, where we can see what a total system collapse looks like in real-time [19]:
With 30% of Venzuelans eating two or fewer meals per day, social unrest is mounting rapidly in President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist utopia. As WSJ reports,soldiers have now been deployed to stem rampant food smuggling and price speculation, which Maduro blames for triple-digit inflation and scarcity. “Due to the shortage of food… the desperation is enormous,” local opposition politician Andres Camejo said, and nowhere is that more evident than the trampling death of an 80-year-old woman outside a state-subsidized supermarket.
In such a scenario we can fully expect that our regular systems of commerce will break down [20] to the point that essential goods like food, gas and other critical supplies become unattainable to the masses at almost any price.
Tess Pennington, author of The Prepper’s Blueprint [21], explains what happens within three to five days of the reality of the monetary disaster setting in:
Have you ever heard the saying, “We’re three days away from anarchy?” In the wake of a disaster, that’s all you have is three days to turn the crazy train around before crime, looting and chaos ensue. In reports during the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, residents from Staten Island were pleading for help from elected officials, begging for gasoline, food and clothing.
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Multiple factors contribute to societal breakdowns including failure of adequate government response, population density, citizens taking advantage of the grid being down [22] and overwhelmed emergency response teams.
The 3-5 days following a disaster is the bewitching hour. During this short amount of time, the population slowly becomes a powder keg full of angry, desperate citizens. A good example is the chaos that ensued in New Orleans following the absence of action from the local government or a timely effective federal response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In such troubled times, people were forced to fend for themselves and their families, by any means necessary. This timeline [23] of Hurricane Katrina effectively illustrates “the breakdown,” and within three days, the citizens of New Orleans descended into anarchy, looting and murder .
Source: Anatomy of a Breakdown [24]
It’s difficult to imagine a sustained breakdown across America. But make no mistake, should the US dollar every come under attack, and it appears that the opening salvos have already been fired by Russia and China, then life as we have come to know it in America will come to a drastic and near immediate halt.
