2026 will be the year when US dollar dilution—the quiet erosion of its global dominance as countries trade and pay in alternatives—starts to build momentum. The more Washington uses the dollar as a weapon, the more the world builds ways to circumvent it.
America’s share of global trade has fallen from one-third in 2000 to just one-quarter today. As emerging economies trade more with each other, the dollar is less central to the flow of goods. Indian and Russian trade now settles in rupees, dirhams, and yuan. More than half of China’s trade now moves through CIPS, China’s own cross-border payment system, instead of SWIFT—the global messaging network long dominated by Western banks. Other trading partnerships like Brazil-Argentina, UAE-India, and Indonesia-Malaysia are also piloting local currency settlements.
At the same time, central banks around the world are starting to accumulate currencies other than the dollar as reserves. The dollar made up 72 percent of global reserves in 1999. Today, it’s down to 58 percent—and falling. A currency is safe only if it’s perceived to be safe. But perceptions are shifting.
https://archive.ph/Au14h#selection-769.0-799.42
Electricity prices varied widely in the Lower 48 states, from a low of 8 cents a kilowatt-hour in North Dakota to a high of 27 cents a kilowatt-hour in California, in 2024. An average residential customer uses about 900 kilowatt-hours a month.
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/be-prepared-to-keep-paying-more-for-electricity-31462755