Deutsche Welle reported the following:
Germany undeterred by global turmoil — Scholz
The common currency took a battering in 2022, falling below parity with the US dollar as an energy crisis gripped Europe. The euro has now bounced back, …
31 December 2023
In his New Year’s message, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz acknowledged the tough global landscape but expressed confidence that “Germany will get through it.”
“So much suffering; so much bloodshed. Our world has become a more unsettled and harsher place. It’s changing at an almost breathtaking speed,” Scholz said, according to the text of his speech released by his office ahead of the broadcast on New Year’s Eve.
“The result is that we, too, are having to change. This is a worrying thing for many of us. In some, it is also causing discontent. I do take that to heart.”
The German leader, however, struck an optimistic note and highlighted the obstacles the country successfully overcame in 2023, both domestically and internationally.
“Our strength resides in our readiness to compromise – in the efforts we put in for one another,” Scholz asserted.
US election could have ‘far-reaching consequences’
With many key general elections to be held worldwide in 2024, most notably in the United States, United Kingdom, India and the European Parliament, Scholz reiterated the importance of these elections — particularly in the US — with wars still raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The chancellor emphasized that Germany’s strength resides in the European Union.
“It’s so important for Europe to emerge unified and strengthened from the European elections in the coming year,” he said.
“After all, Russia’s war in the east of our continent is not over. Nor is the armed conflict in the Middle East. The year ahead will also bring presidential elections in the United States, which may have far-reaching consequences — including for us here in Europe.”
‘We held back economic downturn’
With inflation having sunk from an average of 7.9% in 2022 to 3.2% in November 2023, the lowest level in two years, Scholz spoke of a much brighter economic outlook than a year ago — even if Germany’s rate of inflation is still some way higher than the Eurozone average of 2.4%.
He also referenced Germany’s replenished gas supplies, which he described as “filled to the brim” and said the country avoided an economic downturn. …
Scholz believed that every person in Germany plays a vital role, and with mutual respect, “we need to have no fear about the future.”
“Then the year 2024 will be a good year for our country even if some things do turn out differently from the way we imagine them today, on the eve of that New Year.” https://www.dw.com/en/germany-undeterred-by-global-turmoil-scholz/a-67860274
Notice that Europe, not the USA, is where Germany’s strength is according to the above report.
And, without naming names, he and others in Europe are concerned that Donald Trump may once again become President of the United States.
That said, notice also the following about Germany:
Germany’s government clinched a last-minute deal on its 2024 budget on Wednesday that will see Berlin return to its self-imposed limits on new debt despite warnings this could hamper growth in Europe’s top economy and its green transition.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition was faced with either suspending what is known as the debt brake or finding some 17 billion euros ($18.3 billion) in savings and tax hikes after a Nov. 15 constitutional court ruling threw its plans into disarray. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/german-government-agrees-2024-budget-government-sources-2023-12-13/
Debt limits are good for many reasons, but they also can cause problems in the short run.
Europe will one day have various crises, and at risk of repeat, the late Pastor General of the old Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong, had a view about banking matters and European unity. Here is something he said in a sermon on July 7, 1984:
And I can see now, the event that is going to trigger the formation of the reunification in Europe; the resurrection of the medieval Holy Roman Empire that we’ve been looking forward to that is prophesied to come…
But I believe that some event is going to happen suddenly just like out a blue sky that is going to shock the whole world and is going to cause the nations in Europe to realize they must unite! … Well now I think I can see what may be the very event that is going to trigger…that is the economic situation in the world…
The whole banking structure in the United States is a network all jointed together. But not only that, one nation has to deal with other nations and imports and exports. And so they have to have a means of transforming money from one nation to another. And so the banking structure is international and interwoven…
Now when the financial structure breaks down, all civilization is going to break down…
So, an economic or banking crisis is what Herbert W. Armstrong concluded would drive Europe to unite.
Notice something somewhat consistent with that from earlier this year:
February 9, 2023
What amazes me is how obtuse the elites in Europe are. None seem to be able to envision a future where a declining U.S. economic empire drags Europeans down. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-02-09/great-game-divisiveness-draws-nearer-end
We are not to that point yet that enough in Europe will more clearly see. Yet, various crises will arise in Europe and it will change (cf. Revelation 17:12-13). And Europe will blame the USA for various real and perceived harms.
The time will come when a different reserve currency will replace the USA dollar.
Some believe it will be from the BRICS alliance of nations.
Some others think that the new reserve currency will be the Euro.
Could the Euro surpass the US dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency?
Some suspect it might:
The Euro is 25. It isn’t perfect, but it has prospered
31 December 2023
Germany has dominated too much … I was there when the EU decided to have a baby currency all its own. https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-euro-is-25-it-isnt-perfect-but-it-has-prospered/
Euro Challenges USDollar As Global Currency
January 15, 2022
Goldman Sachs this week predicted that the Eurozone would grow at a faster pace than the U.S. in 2022, projecting a growth rate of 4.4 percent for EU and only 3.5 percent for U.S. GDP. The latest World Bank forecast, also from January, still sees the U.S. ahead, if only by a paper-thin margin of 0.1 percent, while the new IMF outlook is yet to be released.
While the jury is still out … Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes that there are other indicators that already show the Eurozone’s growing economic prowess and international importance. The value of global payment transactions in Euro has been inching up to that of the U.S. dollar, data from the Swift international payment network shows, hinting at increased activity around the currency. In October 2020, Euro transaction value even slid ahead of the U.S. dollar, and while that didn’t last long, the gap between the two currencies on the world stage has become considerable smaller since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Potential reasons for this include the EU’s coordinated efforts to prop up its economy in the current crisis and its continued zero-interest fiscal policy. Faith in the U.S. economy and its growth is meanwhile shaky, according to CNBC, as uncertainty around President Joe Biden’s “Built Back Better” economic package continues. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/euro-challenges-usdollar-global-currency
Proportionally, the world still primarily uses the US dollar as its primary reserve currency.
But, because of US sanctions, increasing US debt and money supply increases, and the general strength of the European economy, more are looking towards the Euro as the US dollar replacement. Consider also the following:
U.S. Dollar ‘Demise
The U.S. dollar is set to end 2023 with its first yearly loss since 2020 thanks to the Federal Reserve’s dovish pivot … https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/12/30/us-dollar-demise-iran-and-russia-suddenly-abandon-the-dollar-as-it-charts-worst-year-since-2020-amid-a-16-trillion-bitcoin-and-crypto-price-boom/?sh=2c52d1ac3b97
As we head into 2024, the dynamics of geopolitics are at the core of global markets.
So far, America has imposed sanctions against countries to cut them off from the global payment systems and dollars.
Many countries, including Russia, are looking at alternatives to the dollar.
For a very long time, the US dollar has dominated international markets. It still does so, although, during the past 20 years, the US economy has produced a decreasing percentage of the world’s production.
Central banks are no longer keeping as much of the US dollar in reserves as they formerly did …Dollar demand waning?
The latest International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) data shows a decline in the dollar’s share in global central banks’ foreign currency reserves. …The dollar has been the preferred reserve currency for most of the world’s central banks.
However, the dollar has progressively lost dominance since 2000, when its share was above 70%.
The US currency’s share is down to 59.2% in the September quarter, marking the lowest since it fell below 60% last year. …Most countries are slowly but surely moving away from dollar-denominated trade. … the shift away is clear and noticeable.
Dollar lacks competition
Despite a two-decade drop in its proportion of global foreign currency reserves, the US dollar is still utilised more than all other currencies combined. …So, it will take a long time for other currencies to be able to overshadow the greenback. 12/24/23 https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/is-the-dollars-status-as-a-global-reserve-currency-at-risk-673035
The USA has been gambling with its currency for many years.
Its leaders basically think that they can continue to get away with it.
But, while they will for a while longer (Habakkuk 2:2-3), one day the USA will not make it because of its debt (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8).
What about Europe?
Now, while it is true that Europe is reeling from many issues, Europe has NOT produced as many trillions of Euros of debt that the USA has with its dollar. Plus, several of the nations there have been accumulating and/or repatriating gold.
Understand that the Bible shows that the time will come when Europe will prosper mightily and be involved with gold (cf. Revelation 18).
Now, consider a story, I have reported here before:
There once was a movie that had two men camping outdoors. Suddenly, one man yells, “Run, a bear!” The other man yells back, “You can’t outrun a bear.” The first man responded with, “True, but all I have to do is to outrun you.”
The implication is that the first man only needed to be better runner than the second man, which presumably the bear would consider to be weaker, and then catch and destroy. This would, supposedly, allow the first man to survive.
From an economic perspective, the story basically is that the debt and economic situation in Europe does not need to be perfect, only perceived to better (or at least similar) than that of the USA to someday surpass it.
While the Bible shows that gold and silver will one day be considered worse than useless (cf. Ezekiel 7: 19), it also shows that it will have value after the USA is defeated (cf. Daniel 11:39-43).
That being said, yes the USA dollar will collapse one day–and some type of European-backed currency, possibly the Euro or perhaps some type of international basket of currencies will replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
Here is something from my book Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction:
Since many are now questioning the role of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, more are looking into other currencies as well as gold. Gold will set records in US dollar terms. In 2017, I also published that in my book related to Donald Trump, and it did in July and August in 2020. [i]
It has been proposed that various nations around the world are already in the process of accumulating gold to one day overthrow the U.S. dollar—and that the “U.S. is unprepared for this strategic alternative to dollar dominance.”[ii]
When the U.S. dollar totally collapses people all around the world will consider that even if the Euro (or something similar) is strong, having a more gold-backed currency would be safer.
The collapse of the U.S.A. dollar will shake a lot of the world’s confidence in non-gold backed currencies.
The Europeans do not have to have a perfect currency, only one that is perceived to be in better shape than the U.S.A. dollar.
Having the European power acquiring more gold to back the Euro or possibly another future European currency (that might potentially replace the Euro or even a basket of currencies) may greatly increase European credibility, prosperity, and influence around the globe, even if the backing is only implied.
The debt accumulation policies of the Obama-Biden and the Trump-Pence Administrations, which were a massive acceleration of the previous policies of the Bush Administration, look like they will be continued by a Biden-Harris Administration.
The increases in America’s debt are heading the world into the time when something other than the U.S. dollar will be valued as its reserve currency.
A Biden-Harris Administration would need to make massive changes to possibly prevent this.
The U.S.A. and its dollar are at serious risk.
[i] Gold hits new record, posts best month since 2016 CNBC, July 30, 2020; Woodall T. Gold surges to new highs as US dollar weakens despite growing macro risks. S&P Global, August 10, 2020
[ii] Rickards J. Axis of Gold. The Daily Reckoning, December 20, 2016
The US dollar will one day be worth no more than its scrap or burning value, other than perhaps as a collector’s novelty.
As far as gold as a partial replacement for the US dollar, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:
12:30
Gold Backed Currency to Replace the US Dollar?
China introduced something that was called the gold-petro-yuan back in 2018. Since then, the global share of US-dollar-dominated exchange reserves have dropped to 59.0%. In April 2021, China became the first major economy to unleash a Central Bank Digital Currency. China also has given its banks permission to import large amounts of gold. Is China preparing for a gold-backed yuan to push aside the US dollar or to help it survive a US dollar cataclysm? Are other nations preparing to push the US dollar aside? Do Europeans seem to have the most gold? Are Europeans prophesied to gain more gold? Is the US debt trajectory sustainable per Fed Chairman Jerome Powell? Does the Bible warn of the end coming to the highly indebted in Habakkuk 2:6-8? Why does it looked like a gold-backed currency will replace the US dollar? Will the US dollar, ultimately, become essentially worthless? Dr Thiel addresses these issues and more.
Here is a link to our video: Gold Backed Currency to Replace the US Dollar?
The US dollar will collapse a few years before the end of that 6,000 years and Jesus returns.
This would suggest perhaps in 2028 or perhaps as late as 2031.
A collapse of US dollar is coming. Europe is moving further away from the USA–and one day will turn against and conquer it per Daniel 11:39.
The diminishing dominance of the USA dollar was number 12 of my list of 24 items to prophetically watch in 2024. It is also discussed in the sermon I gave yesterday:
1:13:05
24 Items to Prophetically Watch in 2024
In Mark 13:37, Jesus tells His followers to watch world events that will precede His coming. In this sermon, Dr. Thiel goes over 24 items to watch in 2024 and points out events that were related to several of them in 2023: 1. Scoffing in the Last Days 2. Immorality Prophecies Being Fulfilled 3. Media, Internet, and Other Censorship 4. Weather Sorrows and Troubles 5. Earthquakes and Volcanoes 6. The White Horse of the Apocalypse 7. Strife and the Red Horse of War 8. Trade Issues 9. The Deal of Daniel 9:27 10. Knowledge Increasing 11. Debt 12. US Dollar Dominance will Decrease 13. CBDC and 666 14. Gold 15. Unrest, Terror, and the Dividing of the USA 16. Europe Will Work to Reorganize 17. Europe Will Have a Great Army and Many Ships 18. Steps Towards the Formation of the King of the South 19. The Time of the Gentiles will Lead to Armageddon 20. Jews Readying to Sacrifice 21. Inventions of evil things 22. Totalitarian Steps 23. Preparation for the Short Work 24. Fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 and 28:19-20. Dr. Thiel goes over prophetic scriptures (in 2 Timothy, Habakkuk, Amos, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Romans, Revelation, Isaiah, 2 Corinthians, Psalms), including those that must be fulfilled before the start of the Great Tribulation as well as others that also need to be fulfilled before Jesus returns. When are some prophetic events expected and not expected to be fulfilled? Could we see events in 2024 in the Middle East involving Israel that would lead to the Great Tribulation starting in 3 1/2 years and Jesus returning in 2031? Dr. Thiel goes over many biblical items and ties them in with world events that happened and are in the process of happening.
Here is a link to our video: 24 Items to Prophetically Watch in 2024.
If you think that the USA and its dollar will continue to be number 1 and claim to believe the Bible, please consider biblical prophecies such as Daniel 11:39; Habakkuk 2:6-8; Isaiah 10:5-11 (see also USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses and/or watch Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?).
Hopefully, you are taking the proper spiritual steps now, whether or not you might be American.
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