I understand the United States’ role in the global economy, with the Intranet origin being a US Govt. project. But still, why is this the standard? Is it just culture being the answer?
(100% willing to accept DMs that are not ELI5ed)
In: 3
Two reasons, mainly:
1. The US is big and old and powerful so people are broadly confident that the value of the dollar isn’t going to have wild fluctuations.
2. Petrodollar recycling. When the US buys oil, it pays in dollars, which means that whoever they just bought that oil from now has to buy things from people who take US dollars. This ought to apply to other currencies as well but kinda doesn’t for weird Henry Kissinger-related reasons, so the dollar is what’s getting handled in large quantities even by non-American governments. Who knows, maybe that’ll change as China does more belt and road stuff.
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