How cryptocurrencies are solving Americas stocks and bonds problem

The Trump administration is pressuring trading partners to Buy American — American energy, defense and agricultural products, that is, and as The Wall Street Journal reports, many anxious global leaders, eager to placate the commander in chief and avoid a prolonged trade war, have voiced support for the idea.However, just as foreign leaders are saying they’ll buy American goods and services, foreign investors, from Japanese pensioners to European mutual funds to state actors are Selling American — specifically American stocks, corporate debt and, worryingly, the treasury bonds America relies on to finance trillions in government spending.Ross Perot gained political fame (or infamy, depending on who you ask) in the 1990s by arguing that the flow of factory jobs from the Midwest to Mexico from NAFTA would cause a “giant sucking sound going south.” We’re hearing a new sucking sound, but this time it’s capital, rather than jobs, that’s whooshing out of our national doors.Since the beginning of the year, the US dollar has weakened against nearly every major currency, falling more than 10% against the Euro and Japanese Yen, and more than 8% against the British pound.And while US stock markets are reeling under pressure from Trump’s tariffs, European and British markets are up. Some fear the damage from tariffs to American business, US financial markets and even the dollar itself could be long lasting.

“Global trust and reliance on the dollar was built up over a half century or more,” says Barry Eichengreen, an economist and professor at the University of Berkeley, adding “But it can be lost in the blink of an eye.”Predictions that current policy will lead America down the road to ruin are probably overblown.But this dollar angst raises a pressing and real concern that the US could run out of buyers for its government debt as traditional investors shun treasuries along with other US assets.In a worst case scenario, China may even dump US debt i...