When the dollar dies, and it will at some point, interest rates in the U.S. will skyrocket (we'll be lucky to see 10% to 12% mortgage rates) – crushing the real estate and mortgage industries (which is why it matters so much). This is because the Treasury will be forced to offer much higher yields to attract foreign bond buyers. Because the dollar is the world's reserve currency – used for most international trade and finance – countries are forced to hold dollars and/or Treasury bills and bonds that they can quickly convert to dollars - creating artificial demand that keeps our rates much lower than they would otherwise be, given our drunken-sailor-spending Congress and drunken-sailor deficits (nobody would lend money to drunken sailors unless they were forced to). Social and traditional media accounts are constantly sharing reports about the dollar's impending demise, e.g., that countries are "dumping" U.S. Treasuries, that the BRICS nations are establishing a new reserve currency, and that the dollar's value is collapsing. But none of this is true – at least not yet and not anytime soon.Read More