The long-run value of all paper currencies is zero. That is a fond saying of Bill Bonner, goldbug and publisher of the Daily Reckoning, a contrarian financial newsletter. So why should the dollar be any different? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president seems to think the long run is now: two weeks ago he decried the dollar as a “worthless piece of paper”. And Jim Rogers, a famously shrewd investor, asks why anyone would buy dollars according to the Economist.

America’s currency has been infected by the sense of crisis that bedevils its economy and financial markets. Speculative selling of the dollar is close to an all-time high, reckons Stephen Jen at Morgan Stanley. Many believe—and some evidently hope—that the greenback might be on its way out as an international currency. Worrying parallels are seen between the dollar’s recent fall and the decline of sterling as a reserve currency half a century ago.

The dollar’s value against the basket of leading currencies tracked by America’s Federal Reserve has recently been at an all-time low. Against a broader range of currencies, the dollar has lost a quarter of its value in the past five years. Its decline has been especially marked against the Euro. At one point in 2002 the Euro was worth 86 cents; today it buys $1.48.

Read it here:  The Falling Dollar: Losing faith in the greenback