From Jim Rickards, Editor, Currency Wars Alert:

The U.S. dollar has just been knocked down and forced to serve the interests of the world against the will of the American people. The dollar has been Shanghaied!

The term “Shanghaied” refers to the 19th-century practice of sailors forced to serve against their will on vessels bound for Shanghai and other ports in China. Victims were often from West Coast port cities such as San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Tactics used included kidnapping, beatings and forms of trickery.

In the 19th century, trade between the U.S. and China was booming. But there were persistent shortages of able-bodied seamen to sail the cargo vessels. Each vessel had a boarding officer whose job it was to find the crews.

Boarding officers were paid by the number of bodies they could round up before the vessel set sail. This pay was called “blood money” for…