I try not to be an alarmist buying into this 'end of the world' rubbish but it's really difficult to do with this kind of news. What makes it even worse is the lack of broad media reporting on an issue that will affect all of us (unless you hold gold or foreign currency).
According to this excerpt of a report from the craptacular New York Post the IMF is reporting a significant drop in Reserve Currency held in the US Dollar (versus the Euro and the Yen), all emphasis is my own, and it's all highlighted because of the significance of the subject:
Dollar loses reserve status to yen & euro
By PAUL THARP
Last Updated: 3:16 AM, October 13, 2009
Ben Bernanke's dollar crisis went into a wider mode yesterday as the greenback was shockingly upstaged by the euro and yen, both of which can lay claim to the world title as the currency favored by central banks as their reserve currency.
Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen -- not the greenbacks -- a nearly complete reversal of the dollar's onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar's share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 percent -- compared with two-thirds a decade ago.
Currently, dollars account for about 62 percent of the currency reserve at central banks -- the lowest on record, said the International Monetary Fund.
Bernanke could go down in economic history as the man who killed the greenback on the operating table.
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After printing up trillions of new dollars and new bonds to stimulate the US economy, the Federal Reserve chief is now boxed into a corner
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Full article:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/dollar_loses_reserve_status_to_yen_hFyfwvpBW1YYLykSJwTTEL;jsessionid=65E301CF47ED50D15170F8D6530791C5And to make matters worse we have the "Brain Trust" that we call Congress wanting to spend TRILLIONS more for a nationalized healthcare program that we obviously cannot afford.