In 1816, the gold standard, an economic unit of account based on a fixed quantity of gold, was officially adopted, and the world reserve currency became the British pound sterling.
In 1914, after World War I, nations attempted to revive the gold standard, but it collapsed during the Great Depression.
Also in 1914, the Federal Reserve Bank, a private company, was born.
After Britain was devastated by World War II, they were no longer a superpower, and so the global reserve currency needed to be reset.
In 1944, at the Bretton Woods Conference, the U.S. dollar became the new global reserve currency.
This established America as the dominant power in the world economy, giving America the sole ability to print dollars.
The rest of the world would need to trade their own currency against the U.S. dollar in order to balance exchange rates, keeping the international economy vibrant and fluid.
But by the 1960s, the United States had printed more USD than their gold reserves could cover.
And by 1970, a growing American trade deficit was undermining the value of the dollar.
On August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon brought an end to the gold standard.
Federal Reserve Notes, a fiat currency backed by debt rather than gold, became the new standard.
This is basically no different than an IOU.
As one would expect, right after President Nixon gave his speech, inflation began to rise and America's biggest export became debt.
The creation of the petrodollar gave the U.S. even more sway over world economies, and today, the international debt has become untenable.
And many are saying another global currency reset is needed.
Historically, the gold standard has been the most stable economy we have known, but gold can be manipulated and disruptive as well.
Some are suggesting that cryptocurrency could be the solution.
Crypto is run by an algorithm and can be designed to meet specific needs.
The global currency needs to have fluid supply, and the limited gold supply failed to keep up with economic growth.
A sovereign-free, algorithm-based alternative could potentially be more stable.
China is almost ready to launch their own cryptocurrency, DCEP, short for digital currency electronic payments.
DCEP is government-controlled and fully centralized.
So far, it appears to be a digital version of fiat paper money.
The Federal Reserve Bank is developing their own crypto called FedCoin.
The coronavirus pandemic seems to be the perfect storm for a global currency reset.
The amount of money printing involved in holding up failing economies as quarantines and shutdowns take place will be unprecedented.
And all this does is weaken the U.S. dollar even more.
And when the U.S. dollar falls, it will be replaced by something.
The question is, which way will it go?
This is Greg Reese for InfoWars.com.
Tomorrow's news today.
Nobody said this life would be easy.
And we are truly alive in extraordinary times.
If someday in the future we are ever asked, what did you do during this time?
How will you answer?
Will we be alive to answer?
For years, I thought we needed to wake others up in order to stop what's coming.
And that may be true.
But perhaps the reason we are alive and awake is so that we can prepare for it, so that we have time to survive it, and so that we have the time and energy to help others survive it.
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