Book Review: The Biography of a Dollar by Craig Karmin

Filed in archive Book Reviews on March 18, 2008

Biography of the Dollar is a much more entertaining book than it deserves to be. I mean, it's a book about the world's monetary system and how our dollar fuels it, and the threats to the dollar's dominance. Does that sound exciting? Not to me, either. But I couldn't put it down.

The reason I couldn't put it down is because, though the topic appears dry, author Craig Karmin makes it less about the money and more about the people - the people who trade the dollar, the people who print the dollar, the people who counterfeit the dollar, and the people who resent the dollar and are rooting against it (or at least rooting for a little competition). It's a series of stories that gives you a better understanding of how currencies gain and lose value, how the U.S. runs a huge budget deficit without crumbling, and why the dollar's best days are behind it. All this while being very entertaining.

Karmin takes you inside FX Concepts, one of the largest money-traders in the world, to understand the big bets CEO John Taylor, Jr. makes for and against the dollar and other currencies each day, then to the Bureau of Engraving & Printing, where the printing office attempts to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters while also ensuring there are no "inside jobs" by tempted employees who are surrounded by billions of dollars each day, then to a history of our dollar since richard nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard in 1971. If you're not old enough to remember that far back, it's a fascinating look at how this decision helped plunge the U.S into some very rough economic years in the 1970s and early 1980s, yet paved the way for an eventually huge economic expansion both in the United States and throughout the world.

Did you know the U.S. dollar is the official currency of Ecuador? They dropped their own sucre and now only use dollars. With out-of-control inflation, they felt it was the only move that could make them legitimate as traders in the international markets. As you might imagine, this decision in the year 2000 still arouses both happiness and resentment among Ecuadorans - their economy has improved, but having no national currency of their own is a blow to their pride. (Plus, some feel that the economic upswing was despite the change to the dollar, not because of it.)

Being the currency that every other country bases its transactions on and perhaps judges itself against has been a great thing for the United States, as the U.S. has continued to print money and send it all over the world as billions and billions of IOUs. But, as more and more governments abroad hold huge reserves of our cash, it gives them the power to shake our markets if they so choose. Karmin shows that while this may not be in their own self interest, it is still a reality that demonstrates our vulnerability in being a massive debtor nation.

Karmin sums up the book by giving us the bad news that, while the dollar is still #1 in the world, our days of unrivaled dominance are ending. With the strength of the euro and its expanding use, or the Chinese yuan in that exploding economy, the world no longer sees the dollar as the only standard for trading, or the only money to hoard under their pillows should times get tough. Should we be worried? Not really. It's a sign of the times - the world is flat if you haven't heard.

If you want to learn more about how the money system works around the world, Biography of the Dollar is a good way to do so without being bored stiff.