Trust in a digital economy
The Beauty Of Nature Photography
Nature is all around us, and its beauties are unlimited. In this fast-paced world of .....
Gaining trust is one thing, retaining it is even harder. HistoryNature is all around us, and its beauties are unlimited. In this fast-paced world of .....
teaches us that once trust is lost, fortunes usually disappear
shortly thereafter. We may be at such a crossroads now with the
most popular man-made currency ever. As Margaret Thatcher was
once purported to have remarked, When you have to remind
someone that you are a lady, youre not, which brings us to the
fate of the U.S. Dollar
Trust a winner who believes in a higher power. The world was
very different in 1944 than it is now. The United States of
America was The Arsenal of Democracy. God fearing Americans
were leading the free world in the triumph over the evils of
Fascism demonstrating a noble, yet friendly sense of humility
and service. It probably seemed easy to trust a country made up
of such down to earth citizen soldiers as David Ambrose once
called us. On the front of every Silver Certificate and sliver
coin in circulation at the time were the words In God We
Trust. Being the land of the free it certainly didnt seem to
matter which god in particular you trusted while spending those
dollars. It was more of a reminder, even to those of us that had
not been in combat, that there was more to our multifaceted and
colourful lives than that which passed in front of our noses.
Up to then Americans had been used to a strong vision usually
backed by strong, believable leadership. Slogans like Manifest
destiny had been replaced by making the world safe for
Democracy yet we still acted liked we believed them deep in our
souls. We had always been a spiritual country with God on our
side and now we had proof; we won The War!
With this as a backdrop, the famous Bretton Woods agreement
was signed in 1944 effectively substituting the U.S. Dollar for
gold as the de facto reserve currency of the world. The United
States didnt need much marketing and spin to sell the Dollar at
Bretton Woods as everyone clamoured to be on our team. By the
way, can you remember or more importantly, do you care who the
chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank was during this glorious
time?
With all these factors supporting it, the world was now invited
to buy U.S. Dollars. Since they were trusted to be as good as
gold, the rest of the world began buying them, with vigor.
The Digital Age. Not long after the Bretton Woods agreement; the
first Sperry Univac computer was invented. With the invention of
the Univac Computer, the digital age was born. It wasnt too
long before someone figured out that you could make money with
computers. It wasnt too long after that that the financial
community realized that you could create electronic money with
computers too!
What Inflation and Deterioration have in common: There seems to
be, or at least feel like there is a strong correlation between
the explosive creation of electronic money and the deterioration
of our unified trust in our leaders vision and spirit. Indeed,
inflation seems to affect more than our money! Many old-timers
will tell you that during the depths of the depression in the
1930s it was very rare that anyone locked their doors, as the
thought of getting robbed was probably as foreign to them as an
average house costing $250,000.00!
Everyone was in it together. There was a golden sense of
family and community that the United States of America radiated
HDSL (High Bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line) - Description
HDSL is a type of broadband
technology that allows for digital data to be sent at high
speeds along .....
out to the rest of the world and everyone else desperatelyHDSL is a type of broadband
technology that allows for digital data to be sent at high
speeds along .....
wanted to be part of that club. From Bretton Woods onward, the
price of membership was now in Dollars.
Pretty soon digital currencies were born and of course, the
daddy of them all was the Almighty Dollar. If you are reading
this article you have no doubt an understanding of what the
monetary inflation curve has looked like since Bretton Woods
and its parabolic rise since the subsequent invention of the PC
How To Buy A Digital Camera
Are you buying your first digital camera? Well, you must be confused by the bewildering range of models out there. How do you know .....
and the Internet. But have we lost something less measurableAre you buying your first digital camera? Well, you must be confused by the bewildering range of models out there. How do you know .....
yet, possibly more valuable on the way?
How we measure a loss of spirit or a loss of Trust The answer is
that you dont, but it is fairly easy to sense or read about in
the papers. One just has to look around to observe that the USA
of 2004 is not the USA of 1944. For example, according to one
study at the time, biggest problem facing public high school in
the 1940s was the chewing of gum during class. The vision of
Making the world safe for Democracy, for those who still care,
seems to have been replaced with either The Worlds Police
Force or closer to home, Shop till you drop. Does Shop till
you drop touch your soul like Manifest Destiny? Have you had
the pleasure of going through an airport in The land of the
Free recently?
Non- Americans are smart and getting smarter: From a rest of
the world perspective, it is now beginning to be rather evident
that through its mixed messages, American Leadership along with
our collective consumer behaviour are squandering the trust
other fellow humans bestowed upon it in those heady days after
World War II. We have created, borrowed and spent more fiat
money since than probably existed since the beginning of
civilization. The Dollar, whether in paper or electronic form,
is a mere shell of its former self. According to the Federal
Reserve itself, ironically entrusted to maintain the value of
it, the dollar has lost over 95% of its value since the Fed came
into being. The mantra of a sound Dollar has been replaced by
no money down and 0% financing and people in the rest of the
world are beginning to wake up to its ramifications.
More importantly, the spirit backing the greenback, regardless
from which God it came, seems to have been replaced by needs of
self serving politicians, finance people and the Federal Reserve
itself. It is becoming blatantly obvious to at least many well
educated non-Americans that politics and greed seem to have once
again replaced down-home human spirit and values. There are more
and more well educated and well travelled non-Americans. It is
interesting to note that in Europe over the last 10 years,
questions about the best sights to see and the best places to
shop have been replaced by American political and monetary
inquiries. Also, at least in Europe, more of them are expressing
an open disinterest in visiting the United States.
"Maggie" in a new context: Remembering Maggie Thatcher, we see
that despite all the spin by politicians and even Sir Alan
Greenspan himself, or maybe because of it, Europeans have
created the Euro, Arab nations are both contemplating buying oil
in Euros and creating a gold Dinar and the Chinese have opened a
gold exchange. Now possibly even the Bank of Japan itself is
exploring ways to lessen their dependency on the U.S. Dollar.
Abroad, blind trust is giving way to a cover your ass-etts
awakening. What happens when fewer and fewer people want more
and more Dollars?
Looking at its steady price rise, one of the avenues being
explored by all is gold. Luckily, pure gold is still one form of
money no government or bank has ever been able to manipulate.
Even after more than 5000 years of use as money, gold still
doesnt need the reminder of In God We Trust to help retain
its value.
Nowhere on a piece of gold will you find the words promissory
note. Even though some might also add that it is also the only
form of money created by God, one thing most of us can agree
upon is this; Gold and its sister Silver are the only assets
used as money that are not backed by a liability. It might be
time to once again remind ourselves of that all-too-human slogan
about promises are made to be broken.
So until personal integrity and earning trust become not only
leadership issues but leadership requirements it would seem to
be prudent to save some gold. It would also be worthwhile to
compare what is being stated by our leaders to the responses
generated in subsequent world events. Its all about
relationships!
Question Authority: The more we question authority, the more we
coach our leaders and ourselves to be truthful, the more we
retain and exercise our freedom of choice. With our help, our
leaders can again become personally accountable to serving We
the people instead of just enjoying their elite status. Then
the rest of the world may again be inspired to look up to us who
are blessed to be citizens of the land of the free.
About the author:
Living ex-pat for over 15 years and travelling to 30 countries
gives you an wider perspective on both the world and how we
relate to it. Kurt enjoys writing and coaching to expand our
understanding" on issues of health, prosperity and
relationships.