The Geopolitical Implications of a Too-Strong Dollar, Feat. Brent Johnson

You know the meme: Money printer go brrr. It means inflation right? 

Not necessarily, says Brent Johnson. Since 2016-2017, Johnson has been arguing the big economic issue of our time isn’t inflation of the U.S. dollar due to excess money printing, but the havoc caused by a global system where the dollar keeps getting stronger and sucks up liquidity from the rest of the world. 

As the dollar has strengthened over the COVID-19 crisis, his ideas look more prescient than ever. In this conversation with NLW, Johnson discusses:

• What the “Dollar Milkshake Theory” is 
• Why the implications of the theory stress him out, even though he created it
• Why everything is relative and no asset can be analyzed in a vacuum 
• Why we could see the dollar, bitcoin and gold rise at the same time 
• Why we can’t discuss macroeconomics without discussing geopolitics and even the military