Pax Americana at dusk

As gold breaks above the magic $1,000 level and the US Dollar weakens, more and more headlines are coming across that suggests that the center of gravity is shifting away from the United States.

• The UN wants to replace the US Dollar with a global currency.
• The World Economic Forum's competitive report now shows that Switzerland has moved ahead of the US as the world's most competitive economy.
• Profit generated by China's 500 largest firms outstripped earnings of the 500 biggest companies in the US for the first time.
• Time magazine is asking Is Asia forming a new trade bloc?
• Speaking of China, isn't fascinating that the market now listens and even convulse based on the utterance of leading members of the Chinese Communist Party?
• The blogger Cynicus Economicus posted on the Dire position of the US economy. In addition to all the data points indicating the sad state of the American economy, he shows that foreigners are pulling funds out of the US.
  

I recently became a member of the Board of Advisors to Qwest Investment Management, an investment management firm which specializes in identifying, structuring and managing investment products. The firm is currently focused on investments in the natural resource sector. One of my tasks is to write a monthly newsletter, known as Qwest for Returns. the first edition asks whether the US is becoming Argentina. Here is the synopsis:

In this issue we explore if the U.S. is making the same mistakes as Argentina did a century ago. Will the U.S. see its competitiveness erode, its economy weaken further and the U.S. Dollar continue its decline? A weakening of the U.S. Dollar could be bullish for commodities.

You can see the newsletter here.