3 ms·
The critical thing that changed in the 1970s is that USD stopped being convertible against gold. So now the USD is the default reserve of value for countries/ce
by thanatropism 7y ago
The critical thing that changed in the 1970s is that USD stopped being convertible against gold. So now the USD is the default reserve of value for countries/central banks worldwide. Therefore the US has the exorbitant privilege of printing as many greenbacks as you like, restricted only by inflation (and when has inflation been a problem in the last few decades?).
Other countries run into hard foreign accounts restrictions when loosening monetary policy too much (the LOCALMONEY/USD rate shoots up, and with it commodity prices, oil etc.) Bernanke-type QE is something out of Derrida or Baudrillard. Conservative economists have railed against QE thinking of old-school macroeconomics models that only hold for other countries.
I guess there's social and political dysfunction to come from this lack of restrictions. It mirrors the folk sociology of "boomers" e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNKUda-s6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNKUda-s6M