{"id":5060,"date":"2024-01-23T02:01:21","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T02:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/currency-mistakes-of-the-past-are-contributing-to-an-ailing-american-economy\/"},"modified":"2024-01-23T02:01:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T02:01:21","slug":"currency-mistakes-of-the-past-are-contributing-to-an-ailing-american-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/currency-mistakes-of-the-past-are-contributing-to-an-ailing-american-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Currency Mistakes of the Past are Contributing to an Ailing American Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div :class=\"{ 'hidden': $store.proContent.showFullPrompt() }\">\n<section class=\"px-4 relative border border-slate-200 mobile-toc lg:hidden\" x-data=\"{open:false}\">\n<button x-on:click=\"open = !open\" class=\"flex items-center gap-4 my-2 border-none w-full\"><br \/>\n<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"h-6 w-6\" fill=\"none\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\"><path stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\" d=\"M4 8h16M4 16h16\"\/><\/svg><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-semibold text-slate-800 text-base m-0 js-toc-ignore\">In this article<\/p>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>It\u2019s been nearly four years since COVID-19 burst onto the global stage. We\u2019ve returned to normal, but \u201cnormal\u201d just doesn\u2019t mean what it used to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Domestically, Americans are feeling worn out. Social tensions are high and have been for a couple of decades. Conservatives and the right wing waste no time in blaming it on the commander-in-chief. Meanwhile, the left repeatedly insists not enough is being done by the government, pointing to healthcare, education, and housing as some of the issues where further intervention is needed.<\/p>\n<p>However, both parties largely fail to grasp the full scope of the issue, including its root cause: money, and specifically, global money. <\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve looked at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/the-fed-looks-like-it-has-control-over-money-but-it-really-does-not\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">money and interest rates<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/money-is-broken-and-no-one-has-control-over-it-anymore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">examined the banking system<\/a> and the ways in which it multiplies or fails to multiply money. Let\u2019s consider monetary history to see if we can avail ourselves of some deeper insights into exactly what\u2019s ailing the American economy.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Last Update<\/h2>\n<p>Like many other facets of society, the contemporary history of money starts with the conclusion of World War II. In the summer of 1944, the Allies were increasingly confident in their eventual victory and held a conference for the purpose of determining how a global monetary system would be organized in a postwar world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For three weeks in July, 730 delegates from 44 countries deliberated in the New Hampshire town of Bretton Woods. The conference would come to be known by this name. These delegates considered the monetary turmoils of the previous two decades in their design of this new system.<\/p>\n<p>In the throes of the Great Depression, many nations, including the great powers of the United Kingdom, the United States, and France, came to break their fidelity to gold. They did this to make their own currencies cheaper, with the hopes of incentivizing spending and thereby spurring growth. Currency devaluation has the added benefit of effectively making a nation\u2019s own exports cheaper, which gives it a competitive edge in international trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When nations devalue their currencies in response to one another, it\u2019s called competitive devaluation. It was a recurring cause of aggravations throughout the 1930s.<\/p>\n<p>The delegates also knew that gold standard money would be too difficult. If every nation used a gold standard for their money, there would be no global currency for trade. This means that if Mexico wanted to trade copper to Norway in exchange for salmon, Mexico would inconveniently need to maintain a reserve of Norwegian kroner, and the Norwegians would need to do the same with Mexican pesos.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And these countries would have to do that for every nation they wanted to trade with. Either that, or they\u2019d have to exchange currencies directly in gold, which is expensive, hazardous, and slow.<\/p>\n<p>So what was the middle ground between a stable-value currency system and an efficient currency system? Legendary British Treasury economist John Maynard Keynes proposed a currency system he called Bancor. Bancor would function as a neutral currency overseen by an international central bank, with nations settling their Bancor balances periodically at a fixed exchange rate. Occasionally, a nation\u2019s exchange rate could be adjusted to reflect changes over time in the value of a nation\u2019s currency. <\/p>\n<p>Bancor is what\u2019s referred to as a \u201cbalance of payments\u201d currency system\u2014one in which the value of a nation\u2019s currency changes in value in accordance with its trade balance.\u00a0 More exports mean the currency appreciates. More imports mean the currency depreciates.<\/p>\n<p>But the American delegation rejected the Bancor system. What was decided on instead was the adoption of the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The arrangement was that individual nations would maintain an exchange rate with the U.S. dollar, and the United States would maintain a gold standard by pledging to redeem U.S. dollars from foreign governments for gold at $35\/ounce. This would seem to have solved the currency reserves problem while still featuring a strong store of value through the inclusion of gold\u2014a seemingly elegant system.<\/p>\n<div class=\"justify-center \" x-data=\"{ IabAdad_block_: popAd(['r720x90'], '1') }\" :class=\"IabAdad_block_.linkURL ? 'flex pt-8' : 'hidden'\">\n<a x-show=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/IabAdad_block_.linkURL\" x-on:click=\"adClicked('https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/currency-mistakes-of-the-past-are-contributing-to-an-ailing-american-economy', IabAdad_block_.sponsor, IabAdad_block_.title, IabAdad_block_.id, 'blockAdClicked', 'blockAd', 'postContent')\" target=\"_blank\" x-init=\"&#10;      analytics.track('blockAdLoaded', {&#10;        referrer: 'https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/currency-mistakes-of-the-past-are-contributing-to-an-ailing-american-economy',&#10;        sponsor: IabAdad_block_.sponsor,&#10;        ad_title: IabAdad_block_.title,&#10;        ad_page_location: 'postContent'&#10;      })&#10;    \" x-intersect:enter.once=\"adViewed('https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/currency-mistakes-of-the-past-are-contributing-to-an-ailing-american-economy', IabAdad_block_.sponsor, IabAdad_block_.title, IabAdad_block_.id, 'blockAdViewed', 'blockAd', 'postContent')\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<div class=\" hidden sm:block\">\n<img class=\"m-0\" :src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/IabAdad_block_.r720x90\" :alt=\"IabAdad_block_.r720x90Alt\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"block sm:hidden\">\n<img class=\"m-0\" :src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/IabAdad_block_.r320x50\" :alt=\"IabAdad_block_.r320x50Alt\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Exorbitant Privilege<\/h2>\n<p>With the U.S. dollar established as the global reserve currency, the United States found itself in an interesting economic position. The Bretton Woods system meant that global nations, banks, and businesses would always be in need of more dollars as their economies grew larger. This need would cause foreign exports to be cheaper in dollar terms.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The dollars were naturally flowing from where they were plentiful to where they were scarce, in the same way gas flows from a high-pressure to a low-pressure environment. And all this was in exchange for foreign goods and services. <\/p>\n<p>This tailwind to the American consumer\u2019s purchasing power would be termed the \u201cexorbitant privilege\u201d: the benefit of foreign producers, all competing to sell their goods for the currency that Americans had in relative abundance. But there was a flaw.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An Incipient Problem<\/h2>\n<p>The Bretton Woods system suffered from a problem that would come to be known as the Triffin dilemma. Named after Robert Triffin, the economist who would present the issue to the U.S. Congress in 1959, the Triffin dilemma described the tension experienced by the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency. <\/p>\n<p>Triffin explained that being the global reserve currency meant that the U.S. dollar had to supply enough of itself to meet the currency demands of global commerce. The global need for dollars meant that U.S. manufacturers would be exposed to foreign competition. The Bretton Woods system was having the effect of urging the U.S. to consume more than it produced, and even to borrow money to finance more consumption. Essentially, the U.S. consumer was \u201cforced\u201d to purchase exports instead of domestically produced goods\u2014all to move dollars around the world to the places where commerce needed them.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Money in the Shadows<\/h2>\n<p>As foreign economies grew larger, they wanted to hold more U.S. dollars.\u00a0Naturally, some foreigners wanted to lend their saved dollars in their own country, where dollar demand was high. Others wanted a way to source dollars without direct transactions with the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If this sounds familiar, it\u2019s because I\u2019m describing banking, but with one important detail: It all took place outside the United States, with dollar deposits held in foreign countries outside the U.S. banking system.<\/p>\n<p>Dollars held in this manner are called Eurodollars. The term doesn\u2019t have anything to do with the euro currency used today. The \u201cEuro-\u201d prefix in the term simply means offshore, or abroad.<\/p>\n<p>Its first usage was describing U.S. dollar deposits held in Europe, but the term can apply to any location. Euroyen are Japanese yen held outside Japan, Eurosterling are British pounds sterling held outside the U.K., and I am happy to share with you that, yes, Euroeuros are European euros held outside the Eurozone.<\/p>\n<p>As all of this Eurodollar finance took place, Triffin observed a burgeoning supply of U.S. dollars held abroad. The Federal Reserve, responsible for keeping track of the size of the global money supply, became increasingly aware of its inability to account for this \u201cshadow money\u201d being lent, spent, and multiplied overseas.<\/p>\n<p>This presented the United States with another problem: The Treasury was still obligated to redeem dollars for gold at a rate of $35\/ounce. However, its gold reserves were dwarfed by the U.S. dollars created by this offshore banking system. As more and more foreign governments came for gold, the U.S. gold reserves were depleted.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Doomed Alliance<\/h2>\n<p>One attempt to answer this problem was the London Gold Pool. It was an agreement formed in 1961 between the U.S. and a group of European nations to contribute to a central supply of gold that would be used to help stabilize the price of gold in the London market. The U.S. was the senior partner in this arrangement, contributing 50% of the pool\u2019s supply. It was essentially an effort on the part of the U.S. and other nations in the global monetary \u201ccore\u201d to put more gold behind the global money supply.<\/p>\n<p>But it wasn\u2019t enough. The participants had originally intended to implement an apparatus through which they could impart stability to the monetary system. But as the global monetary system continued to grow larger, the effects went in reverse.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The apparatus designed to impart stability to the global monetary system began to imperil the actors working to stabilize it. Instead of transmitting stability from the participants through to the global money supply, it was transmitting <em>instability<\/em> from the global money supply through to the participants.<\/p>\n<p>France, aware of the direction things were going, withdrew from the agreement and repatriated much of its gold in the summer of 1967. In the fall, the British pound sterling was swiftly devalued in an episode of speculative attack. The pool collapsed that following March. Its members had neither the will nor the means to continue supporting it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-1.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:481\/max=1000\" alt=\"image showing gold reserves\" class=\"wp-image-165031\" title=\"Currency Mistakes of the Past are Contributing to an Ailing American Economy 2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-1.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:481\/resize=1024\/max=1000 1024w, https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-1.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:481\/resize=300\/max=1000 300w, https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-1.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:481\/resize=768\/max=1000 768w, https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-1.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:481\/resize=1440\/max=1000 1440w, \" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ceicdata.com\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CEICData.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Final Nail<\/h2>\n<p>Most people know what happened next: On Aug. 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer honor its promise to exchange gold for dollars. It was a decision that shocked the world. In the years immediately following, the price of gold increased in value by a factor of almost five.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"699\" src=\"https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-2.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:699\/max=1000\" alt=\"gold price over time\" class=\"wp-image-165032\" title=\"Currency Mistakes of the Past are Contributing to an Ailing American Economy 3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-2.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:699\/resize=1024\/max=1000 1024w, https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-2.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:699\/resize=300\/max=1000 300w, https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-2.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:699\/resize=768\/max=1000 768w, https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/how-money-works-2.png?twic=v1\/cover=1024:699\/resize=1420\/max=1000 1420w, \" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/macrotrends.net\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/macrotrends.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Macrotrends.net<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Most people don\u2019t understand that this decision wasn\u2019t made so that the U.S. could become a profligate, irresponsible spender. As the proliferation of Eurodollars helps us understand, the dollar-gold peg wasn\u2019t simply broken in a day. It was a system that was placed under increasing strain over a long period of time until, finally, it was no longer manageable. In all sensibility, it was unrealistic to expect the U.S. to continue to supply its gold to the international community at the relatively low price of $35\/ounce.<\/p>\n<p>1971 was the year that the U.S. publicly shirked the full responsibility of global money. Little did anybody know that it was ceding control of the global money supply to the invisible hand of the Eurodollar system.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Money<\/h2>\n<p>It didn\u2019t stop with the delinking from gold. Over the decades that followed, the Eurodollar system continued to grow in accordance with global commerce. This was especially in support of the emergent computer and software industry and the foreign mining operations that supplied it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>U.S. foreign policy in the 1980s brought the Arab world deeper into the international banking community. And the development of East Asia, especially Japan and later China, offered new opportunities for Eurodollar expansion as well. <\/p>\n<p>Importantly, the Eurodollar system did not just grow in terms of its nominal size or its prevalence throughout the world. It also grew qualitatively. Whereas earlier-generation Eurodollars may have been certificates of deposit or other more rudimentary assets, the Eurodollar system in the 1980s started making creative use of more sophisticated instruments, such as interest rate swaps, repurchase agreements, mortgage bonds, and forward contracts; instruments less known to the public. These instruments were all used to perform monetary functions without being recognized as money.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The end effect was that banks could become bigger, make more loans into the real economy and support more productivity. Money creation on a tremendous scale enabled by this web of interbank finance.<\/p>\n<p>And how did the Federal Reserve handle this expansion of money? They had some awareness of it. In 1996, sitting Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave his famous \u201cirrational exuberance\u201d speech, in which he insinuated that stock market strength may have partially been attributable to more than just fundamental factors. <\/p>\n<p>He elaborated on this concern in June 2000 with his mention of the \u201cproliferation of products.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>The problem is that we cannot extract from our statistical database what is true money conceptually, either in the transactions mode or the store-of-value mode. One of the reasons, obviously, is that the proliferation of products has been so extraordinary that the true underlying mix of money in our money and near-money data is continuously changing. As a consequence, while of necessity it must be the case at the end of the day that inflation has to be a monetary phenomenon, a decision to base policy on measures of money presupposes that we can locate money. And that has become an increasingly dubious proposition.<\/p>\n<p><cite>Alan Greenspan<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here, Greenspan all but admits to the public that not only can the Federal Reserve not control money, but also that they\u2019re not even able to confidently <em>measure<\/em> it. To the astute observer, this should\u2019ve been quite worrying.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Don\u2019t Look Down<\/h2>\n<p>So what did this mean for the financial system going into the 21st century? It meant that it had organized itself using these Eurodollar instruments to enable money to be moved more quickly to where it could be put to productive use, and that commercial banks used this decentralized matrix of assets to facilitate more lending. <\/p>\n<p>This profusion of credit continued until it finally reached its crescendo in 2007. It was the year when the Eurodollar system started to falter. It then did something it hadn\u2019t done since its creation: It assessed its risk. <\/p>\n<p>And when it assessed its risk, it decided that, not only couldn\u2019t it continue its growth, but also it had grown too big. It wanted to go in reverse. The instruments that had been transmitting liquidity through the system started to transmit risk exposure instead.\u00a0 As efficiently as it used to create money, the Eurodollar system started to create hazards. <\/p>\n<p>We all know this reversal event and its fallout as the Global Financial Crisis. And Eurodollars explain what made it global. It was because American mortgages funded multiple layers of Eurodollar finance\u2014so much so that when they became just a little bit risky, the entire system attached to it began to seize.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not as well known, but the first bank to run into trouble at the time was not Bear Stearns in 2008, but a French bank by the name of BNP Paribas in the summer of 2007. And not in U.S. mortgages or mortgage bonds, but in one of its money market funds, of all things. <\/p>\n<p>The Eurodollar system had gone as far as it dared. Instead of writing new loans, it began calling old loans. Instead of creating monetary assets, it began to hoard them.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Monetary Phenomenon<\/h2>\n<p>Fifteen years later, the global economy limps along from crisis to crisis. Interest rates remain low, reflecting a lack of opportunity in the real economy. Banks are awash with reserves and nobody to lend them to, even as interest rates have been at historic lows. <\/p>\n<p>For 15 years, no government has had a good answer. Central banks have gone full bore on stimulus, but just can\u2019t seem to spur growth. They try the same policies, and we hear the same stories. <\/p>\n<p>But in 2024, nobody thinks to ask: \u201cWhat if the Federal Reserve doesn\u2019t really control money?\u201d What if the Eurodollar system had already created all the money the global economy needed? And what if it\u2019s just been in a slow, painful contraction since 2007? What if we got it wrong?<\/p>\n<p><em>What do you think? I welcome your comments below.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"visibility-group-block_64dd5ab97ed79\" class=\"visibility-group  hidden\">\n<div id=\"hero-block_62df1a82bfc88\" class=\"first:mt-0 hero-block py-4    has-background has-slate-200-background-color has-text-color has-slate-900-color\">\n<div class=\"gap-10 lg:gap-20 flex flex-wrap lg:flex-nowrap max-w-screen-xl mx-auto px-4 relative lg:items-center \">\n<div class=\"relative z-30 lg:w-2\/3 \">\n<main class=\"py-4\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Analyze Deals Like a Pro<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"my-3 md:my-5 lg:my-8 has-slate-900-color has-text-color\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Deal analysis is one of the first and most critical steps of real estate investing. Maximize your confidence in each deal with this first-ever ultimate guide to deal analysis. <em>Real Estate by the Numbers<\/em> makes real estate math easy, and makes real estate success inevitable. <\/p>\n<p><\/main>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lg:w-1\/3 first:mt-0 relative h-full lg:flex lg:items-center\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"object-cover w-full relative z-20 my-0  rounded-md hidden lg:block\" src=\"https:\/\/bpimg.biggerpockets.com\/https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/REBN_cover_mockup_01-e1679000020543.png\" alt=\"real estate by the numbers\" title=\"Currency Mistakes of the Past are Contributing to an Ailing American Economy 4\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<div id=\"visibility-group-block_64dd31c79f00f\" class=\"visibility-group  \">\n<div id=\"hero-block_64dd2875dba9d\" class=\"first:mt-0 hero-block py-4    has-background has-slate-100-background-color has-text-color has-theme-slate-color\">\n<div class=\" flex flex-wrap lg:flex-nowrap max-w-screen-xl mx-auto px-4 relative lg:items-center \">\n<div class=\"relative z-30 w-full \">\n<main class=\"py-4\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"my-3 md:my-5 lg:my-8 has-theme-slate-color has-text-color\" style=\"font-size:16px;font-style:normal;font-weight:400\">Ready to succeed in real estate investing? Create a free BiggerPockets account to learn about investment strategies; ask questions and get answers from our community of +2 million members; connect with investor-friendly agents; and so much more. <\/p>\n<p><\/main>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"italic\"><b>Note By BiggerPockets:<\/b> These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/currency-mistakes-of-the-past-are-contributing-to-an-ailing-american-economy\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this article It\u2019s been nearly four years since COVID-19 burst onto the global stage. We\u2019ve returned to normal, but \u201cnormal\u201d just doesn\u2019t mean what it used to.\u00a0\u00a0 Domestically, Americans are feeling worn out. Social tensions are high and have been for a couple of decades. Conservatives and the right wing waste no time in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankbuysphilly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}