The $US is backed by something...military domination. The gold standard existed because the gold industry was dominated by the big players. Military domination was found to be more efficient after WW2 and finally took over from gold in '70s. For the $US to lose its position of wealth exchange unit, it must be challenged militarily and lose; another alternative is that the wealthy people who reside in the US, take up residence elsewhere, and take their wealth with them. Their wealth may well be in manufacturing or real estate. The richest family in the US are the Waltons who are in retailing. Bill Gates is in computer software. Both these enterprises depend on US domestic wealth and its military muscle overseas for foreign income. I think it is more likely that control of the Fed will fall into overseas hands...if not already...and with it American sovereignty. For the rich elite this will not matter because they will have moved much of their wealth offshore by then. We can see it with much manufacturing going to China. In China we will see another rich elite rise up and combine with the US elite. Where this elite store their money and wealth will be interesting. It will have to be in a physical entity, country, that is willing to defend their assets. At the moment the US population is willing to go to war to fight for the rich. How long will this last and who will take on the same job. It is interesting to note that Europes rich moved to the US after WW2. The Saudi oil money is in the US. Where will these funds go to if the US weakens? Not to gold permanently, but possibly temporarily, in order to move it to another host country. Gold is not a permanent store of wealth but can be seen as a zipped version that can be sent, unzipped and installed somewhere else.
