Investment guru Jim Rogers recently told RT that the dollar is just a few short years away from losing its global dominance.
In the next few years, the American dollar is going to lose its position as the world’s reserve currency and the world’s medium of exchange.”
We’ve been reporting on the growing efforts by countries like Russia and China to limit their dependence on the US dollar and set up alternative systems outside of the global dollar system. We’ve even seen American allies looking to de-dollarize the world. Last month, German foreign minister Heiko Maas called for the creation of a new payments system independent of the United States. A number of central banks have been buying gold as a way to diversify their holdings away from the dollar.
Rogers told he still holds dollars, but not because it’s a sound currency. He said many people still see the greenback as a safe haven.
So, you would say why do you own it [dollar] then? I own it because more turmoil is coming, people look for a safe haven in turmoil so they will go to the dollar. It’s not safe but they think it is.”
Rogers said the shift away from the dollar is part of a natural evolution. Currencies rise to prominence, along with powerful countries and then eventually fall away. He offered the British pound, the Spanish peseta, the French franc and the Dutch guilder as examples.
They all had that position at one time or another but then went to excess and are not that sound anymore, they lost their position… People don’t like Washington’s power, so they are moving away and finding ways to get away from the dollar. It has happened throughout history, it happened to the pound sterling, you know the rest of that story.”
Meanwhile, during his last state of the union speech, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he plans to turn the euro into a global reserve currency that could rival the dollar as part of the EU’s drive to reduce its financial dependence on the US.
According to a report in London, Juncker called the fact that the EU paid for more than 80% of its energy imports in dollars even though it only got 2% of that energy from the US an “aberration.”
“We will have to change that. The euro must become the active instrument of a new sovereign Europe.”
According to the FT, the move reflects concerns in Europe about the US “weaponizing” the dollar as “an instrument of foreign policy to punish American rivals.” The report noted that the US has threatened to lock European companies out of the US financial system if they defy sanctions on Iran.
RT’s Max Keiser recently talked about the issue of the US weaponizing its currency with the head of research for GoldMoney.com, Alasdair Macleod. Macleod said he thinks China expects the East to move toward the yuan, but it needs to back their currency with more than the full faith and credit of the Chinese government. He said he thinks this is why China has been accumulating gold.
Rogers also mentioned the yuan, but said the Chinese currency is not quite ready for primetime.
The only one I see on the horizon is China’s renminbi, but not any time soon. The renminbi is not even convertible yet so it is impossible for a while.”
Regardless, it’s clear that there is a growing global movement to dethrone the dollar. As Rogers put it, “Everybody is now trying to get rid of the US dollar.”