Wake Up And Look At What’s Going On With Our Economy And Our Future. Are You Ready?

We are living through a structural shift in the entire system...the global economy.

Not a news-cycle shift. Not a temporary slowdown. Not just a rate hike cycle or an election year narrative. A structural shift of the world and our financial system. The kind of shift that only becomes obvious 10–15 years after it is over — when people look back and say, “That’s when everything started changing.” The truth is, it started changing decades ago, but in 2020, the real operation to shift our economy and money system began. You could call it the final phase.

Our money is changing. Our work is changing. The markets are stretched, and central banks are repositioning. Technology is accelerating faster than society can emotionally process, and AI is shifting everything.

Let’s take a look at all of these changes piece by piece. The truth will shock you.

1. The Dollar’s Dominance Is Being Challenged — Not Collapsing, But Changing into something else

Since the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the U.S. dollar has functioned as the world’s reserve currency. Everyone agreed to use the dollar. After the gold window closed in 1971 thanks to President Richard Nixon, the dollar became fully fiat...fake money — backed not by gold, but by confidence and U.S. economic strength.

Today, roughly 58–60% of global foreign exchange reserves are still held in dollars (IMF data). That’s down from over 70% in the early 2000s. That decline isn’t dramatic — but it is directional and very telling of the overall slipping influence that the US has on the world stage.

In recent years:

• The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa + Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates) have discussed alternative trade settlement systems.

• China has expanded yuan-based energy trade agreements.

• Central banks globally have accelerated development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

• Crypto infrastructure continues maturing, led by assets like Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, and others.

Bitcoin’s total market cap has, at times, rivaled major global banks. More importantly, institutional adoption has moved from fringe to mainstream conversation, with ETFs, custody solutions, and public companies holding digital assets on balance sheets.

This does not mean the dollar is disappearing, but we should all be paying attention to the trends. The U.S. still has the deepest capital markets, strongest military backing, and the most liquid treasury system on earth. But monopoly status is different from dominant status.

The world appears to be slowly moving toward a multi-polar monetary system — one where digital assets, regional currencies, and commodity-backed strategies compete alongside the dollar. All of this means a weaker US economy and weaker US presence on the world stage. Historically, reserve currency transitions are gradual… until they’re not.

And let's not forget Cryptocurrency

In 2009, Bitcoin was launched in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Its founding block famously referenced bank bailouts — signaling distrust in centralized monetary systems.

Bitcoin introduced three disruptive ideas:

1. Fixed supply (21 million coins)

2. Decentralized validation (no central authority)

3. Borderless transferability

Unlike fiat currency, which expands through policy decisions, Bitcoin’s supply schedule is algorithmically constrained. That design feature alone reframed a global conversation:What if money could not be printed?

Since then, 1,000s of cryptocurrencies have been released and begun transforming the financial system. XRP, Ethereum, Solana, Doge are just a few of the leading cryptocurrencies.

Major asset managers (Blackrock, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) now offer crypto exposure. Public companies hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Governments are developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

Crypto is no longer fringe speculation. It is a serious financial transformation to the system.

2. AI Is Repricing Human Labor in Real Time

The Industrial Revolution replaced muscle and simplified manual labor. It gave us rapid manufacturing. Artificial Intelligence is replacing our cognitive routines. Platforms like ChatGPT and enterprise AI systems have demonstrated that large portions of knowledge work can be automated, accelerated, or augmented. Workloads can be streamlined. What took five to ten people to do can now be done with one.

According to multiple consulting forecasts (McKinsey, Goldman Sachs), AI could impact hundreds of millions of jobs globally over the next decade — not necessarily eliminating them all, but significantly reshaping task structures. Somewhere between 50 to 90% of jobs are at risk in our current job market.

What’s different about this wave?

• It affects white-collar workers, not just manufacturing.

• It scales globally instantly.

• It improves exponentially with data.

Entry-level analysts, paralegals, basic accountants, customer support roles, content writers — these are no longer protected by education alone.

But here’s the deeper issue: AI doesn’t just replace jobs. It compresses wages for average output. If a company can produce the same work with half the staff and AI augmentation, labor pricing changes.

The future increasingly favors:

• Strategic thinkers

• Owners

• Capital allocators

• Brand builders

• Relationship-driven leaders

We are entering the leverage era. If you rely solely on earned income without ownership or asset exposure, you are economically vulnerable in ways prior generations were not.

3. The Stock Market is at All-Time Highs — What History Suggests is a market correction. how much?

The S&P 500 has pushed into record territory multiple times recently. Market capitalization relative to GDP (often called the Buffett Indicator) has been elevated compared to long-term averages. Valuations don’t predict immediate crashes, but they do, however, influence forward returns and what's to come.

Historically:

• After periods of extreme valuation expansion (1929, 2000, 2007), markets experienced significant corrections.

• Average market corrections of 10–20% occur regularly.

• Bear markets of 30%+ occur roughly once per decade or so.

• And in extremes, corrections as much as 89% and 75% occurred in 1929-1931 and in the 1970s.

Corrections are not abnormal. They are part of the cycle.

The concern today isn’t simply high prices. It’s the combination of:

• Elevated equity valuations

• High consumer and corporate debt levels

• Federal deficits exceeding $1 trillion annually

• Geopolitical instability

• Rapid technological disruption

So what does all this mean? It's a formula for a big downturn in the markets. Jim Richards even brings up a possible great depression 2.0 in his book The New Great Depression.

4. Central Banks Are Buying Gold at Record Levels

Here’s one of the most underreported trends of the past few years: Central banks have been purchasing gold at the fastest pace in decades. According to World Gold Council data, global central bank gold purchases in 2022 and 2023 were among the highest levels recorded in modern history!

Why would central banks accumulate gold while publicly supporting fiat systems?

Because gold:

• Is real money and real wealth. It always has value.

• Carries no counterparty risk.

• Is not someone else’s liability.

• Functions outside digital networks.

• Has survived every monetary reset in recorded history.

At the same time, silver demand has grown due to industrial usage — particularly in solar panels, electronics, and EV infrastructure.

When institutions diversify into tangible stores of value, it signals hedging behavior — not panic, but protection.

Gold has historically performed well during:

• Inflationary cycles

• Currency debasement periods

• Geopolitical stress

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5. The Debt Question No One Can Ignore

U.S. federal debt has surpassed levels previously seen only during major wars or crisis periods. Interest payments on that debt are now among the largest line items in the federal budget.

When debt grows faster than GDP for sustained periods, governments face limited choices:

1. Raise taxes

2. Cut spending

3. Inflate the currency

4. Financial repression (keeping rates artificially low relative to inflation)

Historically, inflation has been the most politically manageable solution.

Currency dilution doesn’t feel dramatic day-to-day. It feels like:

• Groceries rising gradually

• Housing becoming less affordable

• Insurance premiums climbing

• Healthcare costs expanding

Over decades, it compounds. The purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has declined dramatically since 1971. In fact, the dollar has lost over 85-90% of its purchasing power since the 1970. That’s not ideology. That’s arithmetic.

6. The Bigger Pattern: We Are Entering a Transition Decade

Put these trends together:

• Reserve currency competition

• AI-driven labor disruption

• Elevated asset valuations

• Accelerated central bank gold accumulation

• High sovereign debt

This doesn’t equal collapse. It equals a major transition.

Every major transition period in history created:

• Massive wealth for early adopters

• Losses for those who resisted structural change

• New industries

• New dominant players

The 1970s inflation era created commodity fortunes.The 1990s tech revolution created digital empires.The post-2008 monetary expansion created asset inflation and startup billionaires.

The next decade will likely reward:

• Asset ownership over wage dependence

• Diversification across monetary systems

• Technological literacy

• Strategic positioning over passive hope

So What Should You Be Thinking About?

This is not about panic. It’s about posture and positioning your mind and your money.

Ask yourself:

• Are you building assets that appreciate (increase in value)?

• Are you overexposed to one monetary system (too heavy in stocks for your retirement)?

• Are you increasing your value in ways AI cannot easily replicate (develop new skills and position your assets)?

• Are you positioned for volatility — or assuming stability?

Economic shifts don’t send invitations. They reward those who are prepared.

Most people will look back and say, “I didn’t realize what was happening at the time.”

You don’t have to be most people. The future isn’t something that happens to you. It’s something you position for and take advantage of the situation.

— Tony Bradshaw