(U.S. Dollar/ Creative Commons)

The financial crisis five years ago ignited a global recession and many foreign leaders fear that a U.S. default will cause a similar crisis. 

From The Los Angeles Times: 

"As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world," China's official state-run news agency, Xinhua, said in an English-language commentary Sunday.

There is no viable alternative to the dollar as the centerpiece of the global financial system, and there probably won't be for the foreseeable future, experts said.

But Washington's debt limit standoff — coming on the heels of similar brinkmanship in 2011 — could accelerate efforts to find an alternative. 

Read the full story here. 

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