Where is My Father’s Money?

As some of you know, I’ve been working on a book for the last few years. Here is a sneak peak.

Praying for Euro

Panic over the potential break-up of the Euro is at its highest point. People are withdrawing wads of Euro cash from Spanish and Greek banks, hiding it under the mattress and bracing for the fallout. In the Strictly Monetary Series (Part V), I told the story of how an American bank averted crisis during the panic of the Great Depression. It’s a textbook example of how banks can survive the shock of everyone demanding their money at once (bank-run) if they can secure additional cash to appease the frantic public. You don’t beat panic with prayer; you beat it with action.

Can Currency Be Greater Than Country?

2011 was a landmark year. Villains were captured and killed, dictators were overthrown, and the initial step was taken in releasing an HIV vaccine. But the financial story of the year was, and continues to be, Europe’s financial crisis. It is viewed more as an inconvenience than a global cultural change. However, the world may be watching the failure of an extremely bold globalization experiment called the Euro.

Strictly Monetary VI: Dollar Downward Spiral

In January of 2010 I pointed to the decline of the American dollar as being permanent. I spat at the idea that it was simply a slump. When the stock of companies like Apple and Google were at lows, I advised people that while they were good companies, there was no way I was going to hold anything in American dollars. This past week, Standard & Poors rating agency issued American bonds a negative warning, citing that it had serious concerns as to whether or not the American government will get it’s fiscal situation in order, confirming something we’ve known for years. So, what took so long?

Strictly Monetary Part IV: Why Being America is Awesome

This is a short piece to describe why being the world’s reserve currency is awesome. It is a one-of-a-kind system that has done things that had never been done before. This piece will lead us into the history of how America got here in the first place, as well as the extremely controversial workings of the Federal Reserve.

Strictly Monetary Part II: The Mechanics of Money

The global system of money is going through some drastic changes. This piece explains the tools our governments have to control the money supply and the price of money. After this, we’ll be ready to talk intelligently about some of the heavier global issues.

Strictly Monetary Part I: A Primer

The global system of money is going through some drastic changes. It is one of the more complicated economic topics, but it is worth a deeper look as the dynamics of this change will have a tremendous effect on our lives. This is the first piece on the topic of money, covering how the monetary system works. Each piece will build on the knowledge from the previous one.

China

Although China and the United States don’t always agree on everything, their recent dealings have suggested that they were meant to be together. After spending so many years courting China, trying to get the timid nation to open its doors to global trade and business, China eventually came around and the two nations have been riding a honeymoon high ever since.

A Falling Empire

There is nothing more symbolic of America’s economic reign than the US Dollar. You can trace the power of the Dollar back to World War II, where America not only emerged as political and military leaders, but the Dollar supplanted the British Pound as the world’s most reliable currency. Although there were ups and downs before, there is something very significant about the current US Dollar decline we are witnessing.