People are now openly speculating what will happen when the US dollar loses its status as the world reserve currency in the near future, which most economists are anticipating will happen, due to a multitude of trends that have been long standing and shows no signs of reversing any time soon.
Americans have gotten accustomed to many advantages and privileges due to this status - many of whom probably aren't ready for what's to happen next because our economy has been operating on "easy mode" for a very long time now.
One side's loss is another side's benefit, however - a weak dollar would be a boon to most of the world because it would allow them to operate globally without the big "tribute" they have to pay for merely using the currency - whether it's in fees - and the idea of being forced to learn English may no longer be an absolute requirement to do global trade.
For the average American out there (80% of whom don't even own stocks), these benefits probably weren't "trickling down" anyway - forward looking folks are recommending Americans to do the following things to increase their chances of survival:
- International markets are likely to experience massive growth in the near future, as the balance of the economy finally starts to tip in their favor in the first time in 80+ years. If you've been thinking of learning a second language or finding work internationally, this may be the time to try it out.
- Warren Buffett and similarly minded investors have been stockpiling cash and buying alternative assets and commodities in record numbers - usually a sign that the markets are about to collapse. If you haven't already, getting out of Wall Street to protect yourself may be a smart thing to do, now.
- This shift will likely expose Americans to competition overseas - which they've largely been shielded from due to protectionist policies due to the dollar's reserve status up to now. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because it significantly weakens the monopolistic grip that big corporations have domestically and will allow even small businesses here to have a fighting chance. (Small biz is the only thing that can save the US, post-crash.)
- Most of the disruption will happen to the "high end" jobs in the economy. There are manufacturing and trade jobs already available here that they are having trouble filling - nursing, trucking, plumbing, electricians - these jobs often pay surprisingly well ($100k+) and tends to be more stable because the demand for it is always there.
Ironically enough, Bitcoin/Ethereum originally started as an "alternative asset/currency", in its aim to become a peer-to-peer payments system. After Wall Street did its hostile takeover (even to the point where some are speculating Epstein was involved in its "corruption"), it started functioning more like a reserve currency - attracting those who were there for the "gas fees", rather than aiming to build novel and useful products as it was originally intended.
There's a weird parallel here that is worth mentioning - that there was a moment somewhere in the mid-2010s where the crypto industry stopped trying to improve the technology itself and started focusing on BTC/ETH "pairings", which lead to the birth of the "memecoin economy" that later became the frenzy of the hype cycle in 2020-21'. Sure, create your own token or coin - but you gotta do it through us - and we will take a cut for everything you do, regardless if you're successful or not.
So the top end of the "Web3" world ended up functioning like a "reserve currency" where the goal was to try to monopolize the markets by forcing people to use certain pairings, regardless if it was doing anything useful or not. But they leaned too hard into that ethos and ended up destroying its own future by relying on fees too much and refusing to compete. Because it's the same type of people and same type of mindset that led to that outcome - when the dollar crashes, these projects are likely to go down with them, too.
At least for the crypto folks who haven't forgotten about the movement's original intentions - the idea that this was supposed to be a technology that helps the "unbanked" and those fighting against the status-quo - there may be an opportunity to bring the industry back to its roots, yet again. The fall of Bitcoin could be a big boon to alts, much in a similar way that the fall of the dollar could be good for international trade, too.
The Bitcoin maxis used to say "Bitcoin is King" precisely because they were trying to push the narrative that everything must go through BTC, similar to how the dollar operates in international trade. But these days, people are not looking for monarchs to run the show - it's a precursor to what's about to come after.
Sometimes things have to get worse before it gets better. But if better is coming, we should be prepared for it - I just hope that enough people out there see it for what it is...