Quote:
Originally Posted by Dondilion
Notice in the Bretton Woods System 1 Troy ounce of gold backed $35. However that system looked to becoming untenable after the massive spending which occurred in the Lyndon B. Johnson era...there were too many dollars out there.
The dollar became a Fiat Currency. To overcome much of the negatives of such a currency Nixon got the Saudis to only accept the dollar for oil payment. This is the genesis of the dollar being a reserve currency.
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At the end of WWII the USA was probably more economically powerful than any other Western Civilization nation every had been. Thanks to Bretton Wood the world's economy floats on our dollar. In addition, he USD has been the world's primary currency since the close of WWII, if not earlier. The US kept Bretton Wood in effect much longer than was originally intended. To our benefit more so than to others'.