Having the reserve currency has given our government the privilege of issuing unlimited amounts of debt in US dollars. Two of our largest creditors, China and Russia, have made it clear that they want to move the world away from using the dollar as the reserve currency. Importantly, the dollar is the currency in which petroleum transactions have been denominated. A number of petroleum exporting states have indicated a similar desire. If the world shifts away from the dollar, the world's most indebted entity will find it more difficult to issue unlimited debt and have to pay more to borrow. It will not be the end of the world, but even a hundred basis points on $17 trillion (and growing) is a lot of money. Compound interest is, as Einstein noted, one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It's a wonder when it's working for you; a disaster when you're trying to work against it.

This isn't a surprise, but get ready. As Glenn Beck would say, it's going to be a sick, twisted ride.

A contract between a state-owned enterprise in Russia and a state-owned enterprise in China is to be settled in yuan or rubles and you surprised?? These posts sound more and more like Chicken Little: every market event, every change in price, is the death-knell of civilization as we know it. The world has maybe five major currencies and five minor currencies at the global level. That is not a lot. I once heard Alan Greenspan say that the Fed knows 15 kinds of money, tracks 6, and tries to control 3. That just shows that Greenspan knew his Hayek ("The Denationalisation of Money"). We do not need one currency for everyone for everything. If the US Dollar were miraculously the one only true universal currency, it would be bizarre - and bad for the US. Our government depends on the money instruments of other governments. We all do. You can't buy FIFA swag unless someone in the chain has Brazilian reals.