It's a Good Time to Invest in U.S. Dollar

There has been some confusion among those interested in the U.S. monetary policy and why the U.S. dollar has remained strong even as the Federal Reserve created enormous amounts of money out of thin air. Under normal conditions that would have put downward pressure on the value of the greenback.

Since economics are no longer operating under normal conditions, neither will the usual performance of the U.S. dollar; and it hasn't.

When the Federal Reserve launched its money-creation spree, it changed the currency and economic dynamic around the world, as other central banks were forced to enter a currency war if their particular economy relied heavily on exports.

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Asian Currencies and the Export Wars

There are a number of reason Asian currencies have been falling recently, with the most obvious being expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the latter part of 2015.

Other factors attributed to weaker Asian currencies include pressure from local businesses, demand for electronics gadgets fell, MERS, funds pulling money from emerging markets, Japanese yen, and a potential Greek default. I'll break down how these are having an effect country-by-country in a moment.

What's important is with the backdrop of rising interest rates in the U.S., Asia has several other factors to look at to get a view of the macro and micro elements causing the drop in currency value.

Combined they represent a trend that is likely to continue, unless the Federal Reserve surprises most and decides to hold off on raising interest rates.

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Some Strategies for Cashless Economy

I've been somewhat surprised at the relatively low level of resistance to the proclivity of governments and the banking system to move rapidly toward a cashless society.

When looking through comment sections of blogs and news sites, one of the major responses to the concerns is people from the U.S. will allude to the words on our currency that says it's a "legal tender," as if that will stop the forward motion of what has become a global initiative in many nations.

Immediately below is a list of the reasons I have been able to find as to why we should move towards a cashless society. They are from a variety of nations, and not all are given as reasons from any one country.
Stated reasons:

    Fight terrorism

    Tax evasion

    Black market

    Costs of currency production

    Improve credit rating of country (Uruguay)

    Encourages underground economy

    Money laundering

    Reductions in armed robbery

    Counterfeiting


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