Nearing Midnight: America's Declining Economic Influence - Todd Strandberg - http://www.raptureready.com/rap16.html
The United States has been the world's largest national economy for over 124 years. Shortly before 1890 we surpassed China, which had been the top economy going all the way back to 1500. To now have China outranking America in the 21st century is essentially the reclaiming of their old title.
However, the wealth of the average Chinese citizen is still greatly lagging. The income of the average person in China is 1/6 of anyone living the U.S., and it will take decades close that gap. Because China has over 1.3 billion people, there are not enough resources on the planet to allow the Chinese to achieve parity.
One key to America's economic might is the dollar's status as the world reserve currency. Since World War II, the greenback has been used as the default currency for the vast majority of global trade. Foreigners love our dollars so much, they hold $10 trillion in notes and bonds.
A great amount of political power comes with the ability to print the world's reserve currency. It allows you to play Santa Claus. America hands out over $200 billion in cash and military aid each year to dozens of nations. Just last week, Congress considered giving $57 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza residents, and $576 million to Israel so they can triple their Iron-Dome defense shield.
In recent years, the love affair with the dollar has started to fade. The massive increase in our nation's debt now stands at $17.60 trillion, and the hollowing out of our industrial base has caused many nations to question the soundness of holding dollars.
The fact that Wall Street sets record highs every few days would argue that all is well, but news from Main Street paints a different picture. In the past week, Microsoft said it would cut 18,000 jobs; Atlantic City's credit rating was reduced to junk status by Moody's; and Flint, Michigan warned it may plunge into bankruptcy unless retirees accept cuts in health benefits.
There is no currency that is ready to take the place of the dollar. The Euro would be the best candidate, but Europe has its own host of problems. China has a huge pile of money, but its own currency, the yuan, does not freely trade; which creates a drawback for liquidity.
The global community is starting to see the problems of having too much trust in the dollar. The Obama Administration has done a huge amount of damage by fostering a culture of authoritarianism in our financial dealings with the rest of the world. We abused our privilege and we've demanded the rest of the world play by our rules to join the dollar club.
The spying revelations made by former NSA agent, Edward Snowden, has resulted in a vast amount of damage to America's standing in the world. The secret rules that require firms to put spyware into their products has destroyed their competitive advantage. Russia and China have dedicated themselves to cutting their dependence on key firms like IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. Another wake-up moment came when a New York court fined French bank BNP Paribas $9 billion for doing business in Sudan, Iran and Cuba. Europeans saw this move as extortion because BNP was not breaking any French laws. It was just Uncle Sam saying, "If you don't pay us the money, we'll tax all your dollar transactions at a 30 percent rate."
The best example that the U.S. is acting like the mafia in financial matters came with the treatment of rating firm Standard and Poor's. When S&P downgraded the U.S. credit ratings in 2011 to from AAA to AA+, the government slammed it with a $5 billion lawsuit; claiming that S&P caused investors to lose billions by inflating ratings on mortgage-backed securities. Nothing has happened to the other two rating firms because they didn't downgrade us.
The imperial measures by Washington has motivated several nations to seek an alternative to the dollar. A couple weeks ago, the leaders of the BRICS - China, India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa - came together to launch a development bank to compete against the US controlled IMF. The BRICS Bank will be based in Shanghai and chaired by Russia. This new bank is untested, but it's one more nail in the dollar's coffin.
I believe that God has used America as a tool for maintaining stability in the world. We still are a restraining force, but our usefulness is fading fast. We are rapidly headed for the day when a financial messiah will come and offer his plan for peace and safety. Only in his case, it will be a proposal that comes with a deadly price.
"And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six" (Revelation 13:16-18).
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