The Dollar Throne Is Cracking: From Bretton Woods to BRICS and the Cost to American Households
The dollar did not become king by accident. It was engineered. After World War II, Bretton Woods placed the U.S. dollar at the center of the global monetary system. Other currencies were tied to the dollar. The dollar was tied to gold. America held the industrial base, the military power, the creditor position, and the trust of a shattered world looking for order. That was the first throne. Then came 1971. Nixon closed the gold window. The dollar was no longer redeemable for gold by foreign governments. The old promise was broken, but the dollar did not collapse. It evolved. The second throne was built through oil. The petrodollar architecture kept global demand for dollars alive because energy trade, especially oil, moved heavily through dollar pricing, dollar settlement, and dollar-denominated financial systems. Nations needed dollars to buy energy. Energy exporters recycled dollar surpluses into U.S. assets. Treasury markets deepened. America gained a privilege no ordinary household...