There was a time everyone in the Anglophone world studied Shakespeare and read at least a few of the plays. This was useful, providing a common culture for understanding our world, its history, and its values. 
It occurred to me today that FX reserves might trace to the opening act of Henry V - and some monetary lessons follow.

King Hal contemplates seizing church lands and wealth to fund his army, support the poor, and supplement his Treasury (e.g., raise huge redistributive taxes on the concentrated wealthiest oligarchs in the kingdom who held most land and gold). 

Rather than see their wealth dispossessed, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Ely make the young king an offer: They will lend the costs of war against France and he can supplement his wealth, repay the loans, and gain tribute of another kingdom from a victory.

Roughly speaking this is the past 40 years, with Larry Fink and Jamie Dimon in the role of the bishops. Wealth increasingly concentrates in fewer oligarchic hands while the wages of the poor and the infrastructure of the kingdom stagnate. The rich do not want higher taxes, and so lend to finance ever more wars, which somehow aren't as profitable as Henry V's conquest of France.

As wealth flows East and South, and with it sovereignty, the West wants to seize back wealth and control with more wars - or proxy wars anyway. The East and South become unwilling to finance such predation, the vassal West less able. The US share of global FX reserves falls. The value of gold rises.

Bond markets are becoming unstable. Central banks cut policy rates but bond markets seek higher rates to buy new bonds at issue. Primary Dealers choke on the oversupply of debt. There is doubt the wars being waged in Europe (lost to Russia) and West Asia (ultimately unwinnable) will secure tribute for repaying massive debts.

Bond bears are now writing monetary history. 

I don't see a happy or glorious ending.