Why Does the World Put Up With the Dollar?

The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World’s Most Powerful Money by Brendan Greeley Buy on BookshopThe dollar has ruled the world for the past 80 years, and in the past 50, it has displaced gold as the anchor of the world economy. In 1971, for instance, President Richard Nixon wished unilaterally to tear up the 1944 Bretton Woods agreement by taking the United States off the gold standard. Treasury Secretary John Connally casually told emissaries from our leading trade partners: “The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem.” It was our trading partners’ problem because their currencies’ value was now pegged to a dollar that was losing value. But did our trade partners uncouple from the United States?