How the US Dollar Shortage is Driving Global Instability with Jeff Snider - WBD568

Jeff Snider is co-host of the Eurodollar University podcast and
Head of Global Research at Atlas Financial Advisors. In this
interview, we discuss the crazy possibility that nobody knows
what money is, and as a result, nobody knows how to run or fix
the economy. Central banks and governments are essentially
engaged in a high-risk game of pretend.  


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Every year around 800 million containers (categorised as
Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, TEUs) are handled by ports every
year. This represents around 80% of official global trade.
Harvard has produced an incredible visualization of total
global trade. They have populated the globe with the
origin of exports of every type of product. Each tiny dot
represents $100 million of exports. The globe is covered in a
mass of tiny dots. 


This complex, interconnected and shadowy web of global trade,
where final products, intermediate inputs and raw materials are
exchanged on a massive scale, represents about 50-60% of global
GDP. The rest is made up of all kinds of activities, business
investment, personal consumption and government
expenditure. 


The IMF predicts that the combined GDP of the world economies
will exceed $100 trillion by the end of 2022. However, this is
dwarfed by global wealth, which is estimated to be over $1,500
trillion.  To put these numbers into context, US debt is
currently estimated to be over $31 trillion, whilst global debt
is reckoned to be over $300 trillion. Global finance, which helps
manage and fuel global trade and debt, is expected to be valued
at $25 trillion this year.


These are obvious gigantic numbers. Yet, these figures aren’t the
thing that should give you pause for thought. What should stop
you in your tracks is that nobody really understands the workings
of this complex system, let alone is in control of the resultant
global economy. 


Most of the global trade is conducted in Eurodollars, which is
money generated outside of any control of the US or the nexus of
other countries' Central Banking/Government institutional
structures. Eurodollars are not understood by the major actors
involved in oversight or management roles affecting global
economics. That is why nobody knows how to fix the issues with
the global economy. It’s because nobody knows what money actually
is.