It is already virtually guaranteed that whenever Donald Trump’s current and last presidency ends, the U.S. will be poorer, not necessarily wiser, and most likely no longer the world’s number one economy. Again, as mentioned in an earlier column here, Trump is far from a genius or even a very smart capitalist. What he is good at is extracting other people’s money to enrich himself and his family. As POTUS, he is now also selling Trump-branded perfumes. To truly understand his habits of financial stewardship, as mentioned in an earlier column, we should all study his 6 straight bankruptcies of the gambling casinos he bought. (He couldn’t make a success of even one of them, though he could always talk banks into loaning him more money). Bankrupting a whole country, then, shouldn’t be too hard for him and his team. Game knows game.
To begin with, according to most economic analysts in the country, the U.S . dollar had its worst yearly first half in more than 50 (some even say 73) years mainly because of Trump’s quixotic tariff policies. One popular analyst was explicit: “Donald Trump’s trade policies and rising debt levels have sparked the decline of the dollar’s value of more than 10 percent in the first half of 2025.” In financial circles, that’s warp speed, straight off the cliff, stuff.
There has been a steady and continuing dollar-currency sell-off due to concerns in the market over Trump’s economic policies threatening the safe-haven role usually expected of US dollar-denominated assets. In other words the stability usually expected in money market circles is no longer there. The phrase, ‘it’s a toxic jungle out there,’ has become more incisive and has been raised in status as a daily concern in American money markets, though the dollar’s status as the world’s dominant currency (also called its sovereign currency) is not yet in serious danger. ( China, though, is waiting and watching for the slightest advantage to move the American dollar aside and replace it with the Chinese yuan as the world’s sovereign currency, and Trump’s monetary policies are helping to hasten China’s opportunity.)
It is a fact that worry lines have started to increase on many more faces, too, as storm clouds have appeared on the dollars’ money markets horizon. There’s a lot more ‘wait and see’ action currently than let’s just keep eating as much as we can as quickly as we can at the currency table. Capitalists hedging their bets? Hmmmm. A communist country’s central currency becoming the world’s sovereign currency? With Trump, this indeed could happen, and in a relatively short time. We better stay tuned.
By the way, if the U.S. Senate and the House finally pass some version of the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” for Trump to sign (we’re close to that now, but there will be more fireworks, first), we should all take it at face value that the end of dollar capitalism will be very near ! Bankruptcy number 7, anyone?
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
