At the recent Rick Rule Precious Metals Symposium, experts Matthew Piepenburg, Rick Rule, and Jim Rickards sat down to discuss the future of the USD, the rising BRICS tide, and the Realpolitik of any realistic (i.e., immediate) gold-backed BRICS trade currency.
The conversation revolved around the idea that the dollar has not only been debased but also weaponized, which has led to decreasing trust in the currency as a global reserve.
Rickards noted, “It’s the weaponization of the dollar… you’re not just stealing our money with inflation, you’re actually telling us we can’t get it back,” emphasizing that while the BRICS countries might not fully trust each other, they are more likely to trust a “common trading currency backed by gold.”
Rule described the U.S. dollar’s previous “exorbitant privilege” advantage is coming to an end, thereby making things more expensive for Americans.
“The enemy of the U.S. dollar isn’t in Beijing or Moscow or Riyadh, it’s in Washington.”
For Piepenburg, the end-game is clear.
- Debt drives policy and debt drives current market directions.
- This debt will not and cannot be sustained by GDP growth or tax revenues,…
- …which means ultimately money printers will continue to de-value that world reserve currency,…
- …and hence devalue the once hegemonic respect for the US holder of that currency.
Piepenburg states, “America doesn’t seem to be the America that it was in 1944 or the America that it was under Kissinger in the early 70s,” indicating a significant shift in global economic dynamics.
While all experts seemed to agree that gold could play an increasingly important role, Piepenburg was skeptical that national leaders and central bankers would willingly give up their power to print money at will, dubbing this the “Nietzsche thesis,” questioning why leaders would want to “relinquish that ability to print at will.”
Overall, the panel agreed that the weaponization and debasement of the dollar have diminished its credibility, setting the stage for other forms of currency or assets like gold to gain importance in protecting investors from this increasingly beleaguered, self-destructive, debased and less popular US currency.
Watch the full discussion below:
Article cross-posted from Zero Hedge.
