The dollar has been too easy with her favors. And now, her best years are behind her. Her last beau, Alan Greenspan, took a lot out of her - reducing her street value by half. And yesterday, the end of the rate increases signaled the beginning of a new and tawdry chapter in the life of the floozy currency.

For the last two years, the Fed has been raising rates...in tiny, "baby steps" of one-fourth a point each time. And yesterday, the Fed did so again. But this time, let it be known that it had reached the end of the line. From here on out, future rate increases will be "data dependent," meaning the Fed will raise or lower rates depending on which way it thinks the wind is blowing.

It is only these rate increases that have helped the dollar maintain a little dignity. The imperial currency has been getting a little shopworn; she has been showing signs of decay, degeneration, degradation, and corruption. But each quarter point from the pimps at the Fed has checked caddish speculators from dumping the old girl. They figured they'd hang around as long as rates were rising - why not?

Now, the dollar is tumbling. Everyone says so. And everyone approves. It is the only way to restore 'balance' in the world financial system, they say.

Besides, who cares? Neither the president, nor her current protector. Neither of the two seem interested in her anymore.

 The rest of the world shows neither sympathy nor concern. Following yesterday's Fed announcement, the dollar wobbled again - especially against her archrival, gold.

"She brought it on herself," say insensitive investors. "She threw herself at every man who walked down the street, you know, practically giving herself away to anyone who asked. She just didn't know how to say "no." What do you expect?"

Meanwhile, gold hit a quarter-century high, with June contracts selling for $705 an ounce.

The yellow metal, buyers noticed, is everything the dollar is not. While the dollar could never say "no," gold says nothing else: No to debt. No to new spending schemes. No to improving the world. No to re-electing scoundrels. No to bubbles. No to foreign wars. No to trade deficits. No, no, no, no, no.

While the dollar was a good-time girl for everyone, gold barely said a word; she never lost her head, never held a press conference, and never made any promises. Not surprisingly, it was Dame Dollar that crowds called for; it was she whose telephone rang. It was she who got invited out, and she who showed up at every party.

That was then; this is now. Martin Feldstein writes in the Wall Street Journal that the dollar can perfectly well fall down. And why should we care? We'll be better off with a cheaper dollar. Ben Bernanke says he can manage without a strong dollar. And Larry Summers is going around the world telling small nations to get rid of their dollars before it is too late: "Do something with them," he advises.

So now what? The poor dollar is like day-old bread...or yesterday's dog-eared newspaper. Who wants her?

That, dear reader, is what we are about to find out. No longer sustained by rate increases, no longer supported by public officials, no longer in demand from central bankers and speculators - we are about to witness an important event in financial history. The great reserve currency is certainly going down - one way or another. The surprise will be that she won't go down gently...or gracefully. Instead, like a brothel Madame with a good diary, she'll take a lot of people with her.

*** Copper is soaring. "A little noticed fact," explains the Guardian, "is that every 2 pence piece made before 1992 is 97% copper - meaning that each coin contains 6.9g of the metal Collect together 145 of them and you've got kilo's worth of copper. Now, just find another 999kg, a total of 145,000 coins, and you've got a [metric] tonne.

"On their face value, those coins are worth just 2,900 pounds sterling. But taking them to a scrap merchant and selling them on the open market for the metal content will make you a cool 1,500 pounds sterling profit." As it turns out, each two-pence coin is worth about three pence.

What this means in America is that copper pipes must be disappearing from construction sites and low-income housing as fast as value disappears from the dollar.

Bill Bonner is the President of Agora Publishing.  For more on Bill Bonner, visit The Daily Reckoning.