Because everywhere else is a little worse. You can loose 2% in the US, but 10% in Italy. So what do you want to do? If this crisis were specific to the US, t

Because everywhere else is a little worse. You can loose 2% in the US, but 10% in Italy. So what do you want to do? If this crisis were specific to the US, things would be different. Also, with seigneurage of the US dollar, it gives a lot of elasticity to the process. Put another way 'The USD is also a big international currency that everyone else depends on somewhat'.