The US is about to start buying back its own long-term debt while an ally quietly moves its gold out of American vaults — bad news for the dollar and for anyone paying rent and grocery bills.

• The Dutch central bank shipped 86 tons of gold out of the US and Canada to London, saying it can get to the metal faster there in a crisis.
• Washington has threatened to cut countries off from the dollar system if they help Iran, and gold was on the target list — so other governments are quietly moving to protect themselves.
• Starting September 9, the Treasury doubles its bond buybacks, using short-term borrowing to prop up long-term bonds because foreign buyers like China and Japan no longer show up like they used to.
• At the G20, finance ministers backed growing the economy at any cost, with China the lone holdout — and the cost lands on regular people as higher prices.
• Rates are still high enough to hurt: car loan defaults just hit a record, while groceries and electricity keep climbing.

Outlook: Expect a weaker dollar and more money chasing hard assets — gold, silver, and copper have already started moving, and the buyback plan is unlikely to bring long-term borrowing costs down for long.