If the Ships Don’t Come Back, Neither Does the Dollar

May 05, 2025

The headlines are calling it a logistics problem.

A supply chain slowdown. A labor hiccup.

But spend five minutes at the Port of Los Angeles and the story looks very different…

Container traffic is down. Ships are being rerouted. Warehouses are half full.

And most dangerous of all — no one seems in a hurry to fix it.

Here’s what they’re not telling you:

The fewer ships that arrive… the fewer dollars the world needs.

And when demand for dollars drops — so does everything built on it.

This Isn’t Just About Imports

For decades, the U.S. dollar ruled global trade.

Countries didn’t just trade with the U.S. — they settled deals in dollars, financed shipments in dollars, and bought Treasuries with the profits.

But that system only works if the ships keep coming.

Now, they’re not.

  • Trump’s new tariff wave (some over 100%) has made U.S. ports economically toxic.

  • Global exporters are finding better trade partners — and ditching the dollar in the process.

  • BRICS nations are building alternative payment systems, sidestepping the dollar entirely.

The empire isn’t falling. It’s being quietly bypassed.

Here’s What Most Americans Miss

Trade isn’t just about stuff.

It’s about currency circulation — the invisible lifeblood of dollar dominance.

When that flow stops?

  • Foreign central banks stop stacking dollars.

  • Treasury demand weakens.

  • The Fed has to print more to compensate.

  • Inflation may “cool” short-term… but at the price of long-term credibility collapse.

And you won’t see it on a balance sheet — you’ll feel it in your savings, your costs, your future.

What To Do When the Ships Don’t Come Back

  1. Don’t assume inflation falling = recovery. It could mean something far worse: a dollar no one wants to spend.

  2. Watch the ports, not the Fed. Trade volume is now a better indicator of dollar strength than interest rates.

  3. Own real assets. Commodities. Cash-flow investments. Durable stores of value outside the dollar game.

Because in every empire's final chapters, the signals are visible — but only to those who know where to look.

When ships stop arriving, it’s not just goods that go missing.

It’s confidence. It’s trust. It’s the very demand for the dollar itself.

The headlines may not say it yet.

But history will.

Until next time,
Death of the Dollar