It’s a 4-year-old publication – but J P Konig worded things better than I can: “What is the U.S.’s greatest export? Banknotes. There is probably no other product for which the balance of trade is so tilted in the U.S.’s favour. No foreign bills circulate in the U.S., but U.S. bills are eagerly used all over the world.
According to the Federal Reserve, there are currently $1.74 trillion paper dollars in circulation. How many of these notes circulate in the U.S. and how many are used overseas?
Because banknotes cannot be tracked, this question is particularly difficult to answer. This blog post explores several approaches for determining the location of notes. These approaches offer a wide range of estimates, from as low as 40% of all currency being held outside of U.S. borders to as high as 72%.”
bullionstar.com
The problem is, Trump ran the printing presses like crazy, and under Biden our government’s fiscal policy seems to have been to show Trump was a piker. Since Nixon did away with the gold standard, the US dollar has been the world’s currency. In South America, I learned to tip in Yankee dollars – they were much more appreciated by the waiters. Not everyone stashes their reserves in Ben Franklins. To the folks at the bottom, that single with a picture of George Washington became an emergency reserve. Panama, Ecuador, and El Salvador are nations that don’t have their own currency – they operate on the US dollar.
“The top 20 currencies in use today are the US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, Chinese Yuan, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar, Swiss Franc, New Zealand Dollar.
The US dollar is the most widely used currency around the world. It is followed by the Euro as well as the British Pound which are also used globally. The Japanese Yen is utilized by a handful of countries including Japan and China. In contrast, the Chinese Yuan is only used in China and Canada. Finally the Swiss Franc can only be used in Switzerland.
What Are Some of the Best Alternatives to the USD The US dollar is at present one of the world reserve currency currency, which is the most used currency in the world.
This position has been contested by nations like China as well as Russia. Both of them have implemented their own currencies to replace the USD.
Russia and China aren’t the only countries that have taken action to take on US dominance over currency. Other countries like Iran, Turkey and Venezuela have also adopted their currency as an alternative to the USD.”
cyber.harvard.edu
I don’t expect all of those C-notes to come home – the other currencies have their own inflationary problems, so aren’t a perfect replacement. But loonies and toonies don’t exchange readily in South Dakota or Nebraska – and Canada is an alternate reserve currency. Here I can spend Canadian currency. I can’t spend yen. Our inflation has been mitigated by the dollars that leave the US – but we really can’t afford having them come home. If 72% of US currency is outside the US borders, and just 28% returns, we’re looking at 100% inflation – inflation we escape when we maintain the greenback as the world’s default currency.
The Daily Hodl has an article titled “New Global Currency Designed to Ditch US Dollar Coming From BRICS Nations: Report.” it starts with this
A group of economically-aligned nations plan to create a new currency that could reduce the world’s dependence on the US dollar and the euro, according to a new report.
The group of emerging economies, known collectively as BRICS, are exploring how such a currency would be structured, reports the Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik.
The new dollar alternative could be backed by gold, additional rare earth metals or something else entirely, says State Duma Deputy Chairman Alexander Babakov.
“The transition to settlements in national currencies is the first step. The next one is to provide the circulation of digital or any other form of a fundamentally new currency in the nearest future.
I think that at the coming BRICS Summit, the readiness to realize this project will be announced. Such works are underway.”
We may look back on the Jimmy Carter years as years of enlightened economic policy.
Trego's Mountain Ear 