The American Way of Life

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I think one of the major reasons we invaded Iraq was to protect the petro dollar. I know it's provocative, but I think that it can't last forever. No monetary empire lasts forever. And it's not going to be China. They don't want the trip in dilemma. The situation is normally when you are a country gets into when it becomes the reserve currency and your exports become uncompetitive. So people stop buying them and get weaker. This is like a natural balance in order for things to work out.

On this episode, Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation joins Nate to unpack how monetary policy and debt have increasingly extended the reach of colonial powers over recent decades and how bitcoin offers an alternative to the many people who are under this financial exclusion. How have the IMF and World Bank upheld the power of reserve currency countries in the Global North to exploit and extract resources and labor from the Global South under the guise of aid and development? What is the origin of the ‘petrodollar’ and how has it shaped geopolitical relationships since its creation? What exactly is Bitcoin and how does it provide economic and political freedom? Is Bitcoin compatible with a low energy future?

About Alex Gladstein:

Alex Gladstein is Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation. He has also served as Vice President of Strategy for the Oslo Freedom Forum since its inception in 2009. In his work, Alex has connected hundreds of dissidents and civil society groups with business leaders, technologists, journalists, philanthropists, policymakers, and artists to promote free and open societies. He serves as faculty at Singularity University and as an advisor to Blockchain Capital, a leading venture firm in the fintech industry. He frequently speaks and writes about why Bitcoin matters for freedom, and is the author of Check Your Financial Privilege. His new book, Hidden Repression: How the IMF and World Bank Market Exploitation as Development was just published in May 2023.

For Show Notes and More visit: http://thegreatsimplification.com/episode/72-alex-gladstein

To watch this video episode on Youtube → https://youtu.be/u84tyIokAY8