The second factor involves a term that you will read several times throughout this report – fiat currency. The fact that the US has a fiat currency is one of the most important aspects of the upcoming global collapse to understand, simply because fiat currencies die. Since 1971, when Richard Nixon abandoned the Gold Standard, United States currency has transformed into fiat money. Remember the days when we heard and marveled at the stories of the mountains of gold that were locked inside the mythical Fort Knox? Most of us were told that gold was what “backed” the US Dollar.

Beginning in 1971 that became a myth. A fiat currency is one that does not have any precious metals like gold, silver or copper to back it. Instead, a fiat currency is only backed by the public’s perception that it has value. In other words, the only thing that perpetuates the existence of a fiat currency is the public’s “buying in” to its use as an acceptable means of exchange for goods and services. Politicians, who are masters of deception, use the term for this charade called “full faith and credit of the United States,” whatever that means.

Once the Gold Standard was abandoned, the US dollar ceased to have any intrinsic value other than the public’s faith that the dollar possessed some value and they could exchange dollars for goods and services. Well, faith may be a misleading word, since an inscription on United States currency mandates the currency to be the only legal form of tender in the country.

According to Forbes Magazine, the average lifespan for fiat currency barely stretches past 25 years. Guess what: the American dollar has recently passed the 40th year of greasing the economy with invisible money. In terms of the historical lifetime of the world’s fiat currencies (and there have been many), the US Dollar is ancient.