At the end of WW2, USA had most of the worlds money and Bretton Woods gave them the responsibility of providing the reserve currency for the world...it was linked to gold as they also had 75% of the available gold. By 1971 the $US had been debased so far by printing, that they stopped exchanging gold for gold[physical]. Gold was allowed to float, and the world commerce expanded hugely, not held back by physical gold. We have now overshot expansion via printing money. The $US is not backed by much these days so needs replacing. A basket of currencies and commodities?
