As sure as you're reading these words, the value/purchasing power of your dollars is in for a big change, a continuing change...a downward one. No one sees the dollars physically shrinking. The shrinkage is seen in how much--or how little--you can buy with the dollar.

There's a lot we aren't being told. Maybe we shouldn't listen to a lot we are told. These days of hyped and hyper-communication either means being confused and uncertain, or it mans homeschooling ourselves on markets and money, economies and investments.

If you've studied how money works you know that the Trade War is a signal that drastic change IS--not will be--taking place. Link that with the President's call for cheaper money--being able to borrow money for next to nothing. The Near-Zero cost of borrowing money tells us that the money isn't worth much, and you can count on it being worth even less.

Workers will be doing the same amount of hard work, but the dollars they're paid will hardly work. It hardly matters how employed you are if your paycheck covers the cost of fewer basic needs.

The Trade War is another form of wealth transfer--nothing more than a tax on everybody--workers, unemployed, students, and retired. That coupled with inflation-- a dollar that's mostly a gesture toward soaring prices--and we begin to notice lifestyle issues.

Then add the recent announcement that soon the government, instead of paying to reduce Trillions of dollars of debt, will only make payment on the interest owed on those Trillions. As a nation, our money has become so weak and our debt has become so strong--so huge--that our dollars are only effective when applied to the interest we owe on the massive debt. And every year Congress spends more imaginary dollars to maintain power, status, and to expand the US empire. The government will take care of the government. It may or may not take care of you.

Okay, the Trade War, Inflation, and Debt are parts of the problem affecting our dollars.  

Another huge problem is that our dollar is "fiat" currency. Fiat means the dollar is used as a medium of exchange only because the federal government says we must...not because it has any worth. It doesn't. The dollar has no value. The bank will only give you another dollar-denominated piece of paper for it. Most cyber currencies I've heard of are much like fiat, having no intrinsic value. I've written how I believe cybercurrencies hold important keys to the global economy, but I'm waiting patiently for the day when the right one comes along. The right one will be one that's backed by something more tangible than faith. Faith is priceless in spiritual matters, but it isn't the guarantee I want in money matters. So, the one I'd like to own will be backed by gold or silver or other tangible asset or assets.

Another problem always develops with fiat currency...and it happened to the dollar since President Nixon stopped the US from settling international debt with payment of gold. That problem is proliferation. Every dollar put into circulation, whether by printing press or electronic keystroke, sucks value out of existing dollars. What we see as higher rising prices on everything we buy is de-valued dollar purchasing power.

What's going to happen...is already happening. No government official...no Federal Reserve official will come out and say, "We're destroying 20 or 30 percent of the dollar." They don't want that kind of attention. Instead, there will simply be an anonymous announcement that QE This or That--or The Fed In Its Wisdom--is increasing the US money supply by x-Trillion dollars. That doesn't sound like dollar debasement, but that's exactly what it is  Flooding the marketplace with 20 or 30 percent more cheap money, automatically cheapens your dollar power by the same percentage.

It's like a homemade sign I saw many years ago when I sat down in a Missouri diner and looked up over the coffee urn. Hand-lettered on a cedar board was the complaint, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get." And that's the way it always goes with fiat currencies. The more (fiat) we make, the less (value) we have.

If you keep track of the markets, you've noticed that the prices of gold and silver have been rising this summer, after been depressed and suppressed since 2011 by those who mind the Federal Fiat Money Store. You have probably also noticed the Ups and Downs of an Equities market that shows the interventions of those same Money Store Managers who want us all to believe that Wall Street is the US economy. Both things you've noticed are the result of the dollar not being worth 100 cents. In the first place dollar weakness has resulted in inflated equity prices, which are hard to justify and harder to make profitable over time.

That's because people who can add 2+2 can't quite trust the dollar's store of value or its measurement of worth. They see a bunch of dollars but not much money and prefer something that packs an honest wallop. So, what do they turn to ... after financialization has taken them about as far as they think possible in this cycle?  Why, gold and silver, of course, because they can see how their debased little paper dollars used to buy gold and silver will benefit them with greater stability and gain than stocks bought at peak prices. That's how bull markets in precious metals are born.

There's one other problem that affects everyone who uses dollars  Everyone is affected by market prices, and most assume that prices, whether futures or retail, are determined by supply and demand. But then, most people don't know that since Congress gave the Federal Reserve power over every phase of the economy--money supply, interest rates, employment, etc., the "free market" has been replaced by a centrally-managed market. You never hear Government or Fed officials boasting how closely their model resembles that of a big Socialist nation that failed in the late 1980s, but it lets them intervene how and when they want, and tailor the markets to their liking. And they aren't likely to propose a return to the fundamentals of a market in which supply and demand create pricing.

More than ever Americans need to become more "sharp-eyed" when it comes to the investment side of making a living. Those who want things to work together for good, better be keeping the best score possible. And that's hard to do when there's too much market trivia flooding the airwaves and not enough market awareness. Too much advice, and not enough judgment. Too many "sure things," and not enough good things. Too much selling, and not enough integrity. Moms and Pops can't change Wall Street which has been quick to serve fools who wish to part with their money. What a boost the US economy would experience if Wall Street changed itself and lost its "Greed is us. Buyer beware," attitude and reputation. A democratic (no political party referenced) Wall Street committing to enriching its customers, as well as itself, would go a long way toward making investing a profitable national fever.

Meantime, watch your dollars with sense.