Business: Uncle Sam, Spendthrift Banker

Uncle Sam, Spensthrift Banker

A SPENDTHRIFT banker is a threat to the financial stability of his community—especially when his community is the whole non-Communist world. In many respects, the U.S. has adopted the role of global banker: it issues the currency (dollars) that other nations use to pay their bills and store up their savings (in the form of official reserves). Unfortunately, however, the U.S. has developed persistently profligate habits, pouring out more currency than its clients need or want. Some 43.3 billion U.S. dollars are now, in the words of one Congressman, "sloshing around the world."

The dollars have been pumped out...

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