What would happen if a U.S. dollar wouldn’t buy anything?

I know that a dollar isn’t enough to buy a whole gallon of gasoline or milk, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean what would happen if you went to buy something and couldn’t afford it — no matter how many dollars you had.

If our government in Washington, D.C., continues down the same irresponsible path it’s on now, the above scenario might not be too far-fetched. Debt and inflation will destroy our country’s currency.

Because the U.S. dollar is no longer backed by gold, which it hasn’t been in decades, its value is tied mostly to the health of our domestic economy and to how foreign governments perceive our country. If foreign central banks — who own trillions of dollars worth of U.S. government bonds — lose confidence in our government’s ability to repay those bonds, then they won’t buy anymore, and the whole pyramid scheme of our national debt will come tumbling down. The dollar will crash on the foreign exchange markets, and we will enter the worst recession in our history.

For those of us who have all our savings in dollars, or investments denominated in dollars, the result will be disastrous. We may have a stack of paper money, but will be able to purchase little to nothing with it. Our savings, investments and job prospects will be completely wiped out, perhaps for years.

But certainly I must be overreacting and saying the unthinkable. Our economy is doing just fine, right? Wrong.

Major U.S. stock exchanges fell 4.5 percent last week. And the U.S. dollar index hit a multi-year low — again — on news that China was dumping some of its 1.6 trillion dollars into the international market.

Since 2001, the dollar has fallen 40 percent against the Euro and 70 percent compared with gold. This massive decline has real effects on our lives every day. If an American and a Canadian both earned $100,000 in 2001, the Canadian now earns the equivalent of $150,000, even if he or she did not receive a single raise. The falling U.S. dollar has helped send gold to more than $800 an ounce and oil to almost $100 a barrel, both increases of more than 200 percent since 2001.

Despite what many pundits and misinformed economists would have us believe, a weak U.S. dollar is not “good” in any way. It destroys savings and purchasing power and will in time lead to a dramatically lower standard of living for everyone, with the banking cartel and political establishment profiting from the redistribution of wealth brought on by the dollar’s devaluation.

To curb the decline of the U.S. dollar and prevent the looming economic collapse, we must stand up and demand that the government stop abusing the currency and depleting our wealth. It’s time to abolish the Federal Reserve and return to a 100 percent gold standard.

What do you think about the U.S. dollar? Send us your comments to [email protected].