The Insecure U.S. Dollar

In 1944, the Bretton Woods Agreement established the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. At the time, dollars were still backed by gold. This made international trade very easy while keeping the dollar very strong and stable.

//The petrodollar was born //Not the name of a dinosaur :( In 1971, Richard Nixon did away with the gold standard, effectively killing the agreement. During the remainder of the 70’s, the US government lobbied the largest oil producing countries to only trade oil in US dollars in exchange for military protection and stable oil prices. Particularly in the middle east. Because of this, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which includes many of the world’s largest oil exporters, conducts its oil sales primarily in dollars.

//Unsurprisingly, not everyone was on-board Russia (Soviet Union at the time) didn’t buy into the Bretton Woods Agreement and has continued to produce and sell oil in its native currency. Other notable countries that trade oil in something other than the US dollar include: China, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea. In recent years, those countries have made huge pushes for other countries to begin trading oil in anything other than the US dollar.

No longer backed by gold and becoming less widely-used, the US dollar is losing its worldwide value and stability. Many countries are diversifying their portfolios and reducing their holdings in the US dollar as a stable investment. This has led to increased borrowing costs for the U.S. government and businesses; impacting the national debt and leading to higher interest rates.

December 30, 2025:
//Under the pretense that Venezuela enabled terrorist cartels to traffic narcotics accross U.S. borders At Donald Trump’s direction, the U.S. military is seizing Venezuelan oil tankers and bombing their ports.

January 03, 2026: //Under the pretense of “narcoterrorism” At Donald Trump’s direction, the U.S. military struck and invaded Venezuela, capturing and extrajudicially renditioning Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. The attack, codenamed Absolute Resolve, began around 02:00 local time as explosions were observed.

Hours after the capture, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro and Flores had been indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. Maduro is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan federal court on 5 January 2026.

A few quotes from the U.S. President, Donald Trump:
“The U.S. will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure.”

“We’re going to get the oil flowing the way it should be. We’ll be selling large amounts of oil to other countries, many of whom are using it now, but I would say many more will come”