by Ron Holland

On December 9, 2009, Congressman Ron Paul introduced the Free Competition in Currency Act before the US House. The need for this legislation is a clear indication of how far our financial rights and freedoms have fallen in the United States as much of the world outside Washington’s financial iron curtain already have free competition in currencies.

Several weeks ago, I was in Turkey, Israel and Egypt; while vendors were still willing to price most goods and services in dollars as has been the case for decades, a big change now is their preferred foreign currency is the Euro. Of course they still accept the local national paper currency when pushed but the dollar has now been relegated down to Egyptian Pound status as I kept hearing, "no Dollars, we want Euros" over and over again. It appears even the hawkers and money changers in the streets of Cairo understand there is no long-term future for the Washington dollar.

It is the same story today in advanced Switzerland where most goods are now of course priced in the official Swiss currency, the Swiss franc but also in the Euro. Buyers have the option to pay in either currency although change is given back in Swiss Francs.

Another scary trend, I noticed a new sign in the Zurich train station Burger King which states "$1 = 1 CHF" for workers behind the counter dealing with international travelers while back in 2001 the Swiss Franc was valued at around 55 cents.

Although the faltering dollar could rebound in the short run, the longer-term prognosis is terminal unless Washington dramatically reduces spending and borrowing. When the global run on treasury debt and the dollar develops, the current relative minor fluctuations in values will be replaced by a virulent death spiral of historic proportions seen few times in world history.

Someday soon the Washington dollar collapse will take its shameful place in history at the pinnacle of fiat currency robberies by politicians and central bankers. We will lead the world in wealth lost and future generations saddled by illegitimate government debts.

This will be followed distantly by the hyperinflation of the Weimer Republic, the fall of Rhodesia, the breadbasket of Africa into the Zimbabwe economic collapse and the Argentina currency crisis.

Still, for most Americans blindly trusting the staged Wall Street/banker party line of Kudlow, Bernanke, and Greenspan, they will discover too late that the value of a sound currency, a reasonable national debt and their wealth are irretrievably linked in good times and bad.

A good example of what can happen to a nation in our situation is shown by the illegitimate debt placed on Germany following World War One by the Treaty of Versailles. Today, almost a century has passed and Germany still owes 56 million Euros but on October 3, 2010, 91 years later, the final payment is due and the German people will finally be free of the war debt of World War One. It makes one wonder how many centuries and future generations of American people will be paying off the Wall Street bailout debts?

Ron Paul’s Free Competition in Currency Act is the beginning of the political and educational solution to allow Americans to get out of the dollar in their financial affairs here in the United States. Still this will be a long process and when the run on the Treasury debt and the dollar happens is more up to our foreign creditors and international events than our Washington politicians.

Americans should in the meantime insulate themselves from the coming dollar and debt debacle by investing in gold bullion stored in the US and outside in secure facilities like "Global Gold" in Switzerland as well as foreign currency diversification with the Euro and Swiss franc. Don’t wait, take action now while you still have the opportunity to protect and preserve your wealth.

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Ron Holland [send him mail] works in Zurich and is a co-editor of the Swiss Mountain Vision Newsletter.

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