When you think of money, a list forms: the rent, the groceries, the gas bill, the power bill, the Wi-Fi bill, the cell phone bill, the water bill, and so on. The list can, in some people’s circumstances, become endless. There are daily financial stressors that can have a trickling effect on your life. The way a stream has water trickling down to the river, you have daily stressors that all trickle down into one thing. If your power bill and grocery bill were to go up three hundred dollars each, per month, you would have to produce six hundred extra dollars per month out of nowhere out of thin air. The reason your grocery bill is so high has to do with world trade. The global economy and trading system affects everything.

In the year 1913, the United States was 137 years old and printed the first United States dollar, creating the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve notes that in 1933, “President Roosevelt issued a proclamation that formally suspended the gold standard. The proclamation prohibited exports of gold and prohibited the Treasury and financial institutions from converting currency and deposits into gold coins and ingots.” President Richard Roosevelt helped create the pathway for what was to come for the United States future in the Gold Standard. 

In August of 1971, President Richard Nixon changed the United States trade in the world trade market from the gold standard to the US dollar. Forcing any trade amongst other countries who want to cooperate with the US, be forced into only trade using the US dollar going forward from Nixon’s demands. This action forced many countries to also trade with the United States using the value of the United States dollar, not the value of gold as the world had traded prior (gold has long been a popular currency, as it is one of the only elements a magnet cannot destroy and shred through, nor attract). This was influenced by the many issues arising since the Great Depression, such as factories shutting down, workers losing their jobs, miles, and mines being abandoned and people growing hungry. The United States wanted to avoid having another depression hit its country. 

There is currently a world alliance that formed in 2009, called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). Many countries, other than the countries in the title, are currently involved, including Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, Argentina, Congo, Cuba, Algeria, Bolivia, and the United Arab Emirates. Their goal is to gear the world trade back to gold and steer away from the current US dollar-dominated trading system (currently ninety percent of global foreign exchange is backed by the US dollar). The amount of debt owed by the United States to China and Russia is a large amount, which most is considered unaccounted for; there is no telling the exact amount due. 

The rising tension toward the US dollar started during the Great Depression and continued into World War I and World War II. The United States began using only the US dollar in world trade to offset the economy in their favor. During World War I, the US only traded gold with other countries for US dollar-backed trade to the countries that helped provide gold as an equal trade for US backed goods and assets. This started the United States gold reservoirs and was able to build the US gold over time. By the end of WWII, the US had 75% of the world’s monetary gold. 

Today, groceries, gas, and bills are at an all-time high. The medical industry is also taking a hit; pharmaceutical products such as ADHD medications, cancer treatments, and diabetic medications have been having supply issues throughout the United States. 

World trade relying on gold instead of the US dollar can make many countries in the world rich. For example, the BRICS alliance brings their combined gold reservoirs at the same amount as the US, making BRICS a global financial competitor with the United States. The United States’ allies in World War I traded weapons and goods with the US in return for the US dollar. By the year 2022, 59 percent of the world's countries were dominated by the US dollar. There are many countries that have been developing new skills, technology and medications and have been wanting to create a healthy, happy environment for their shared allies and other countries they live next to that have been conscientiously trying to move toward the gold standard, such as the BRICS alliance for example. 

Russia, China, and Brazil are claiming this is their way of creating a peace treaty, to have a healthy debt-free world trade system at an equal value, not in the form of future debt left unpaid as the US currently does trade. They want to see the fruits of their labor prosper in real time. Trading in the gold standard can help the world market incorporate the intelligence and efforts of other countries that want the same goals as each other, peace and fair trade. The gold standard helps to avoid inflation and can create a peaceful trade since the gold standard helps create boundaries to help protect the people. The government cannot manipulate the gold standard, such as banks overissuing money for “credit.” 

Jane was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. Jane went to Las Vegas High School, where she loved to rock red lipstick and red hair! She also loved outer space, so much so that she wrote about during her senior year in the yearbook for wanting to go to space! After high school, she went to Paul Mitchell School Las Vegas to earn a cosmetology degree and learn about the color spectrum, and where she found her love for Sir Isaac Newton. She then joined the US Navy and was on active duty for over 6 years. Now she is pursuing her Bachelor's in Public Affairs: Non-Profit Sectors and a Master's in Public Administration. Jane began her research into the Big Dipper after learning that the movie The Wizard of Oz came out during Adolf Hitler’s time in political office. Jane’s current favorite movie is Don’t Look Up. She hopes to help humanity in the future become the best humans they want to be, because in Jane’s eyes, it is a small world (an ode to her favorite ride at Disneyland, It’s a Small World). She hopes to one day work for a non-profit that helps everyone.