It prints. The world buys. And somehow, it still works. Until it doesn’t.
In 1971, Richard Nixon closed the gold window. Just like that, the dollar became faith-based. No more gold backing. Just trust. And oddly enough—trust was enough.
Since then, the U.S. has racked up $34 trillion in debt and counting.
It borrows to wage wars, fund social programs, bail out banks, inflate markets, subsidize its own decline.
And the rest of the world?
Still buys its bonds. Still hoards its dollars. Still calls it “safe.”
It’s either genius. Or a long, slow delusion.
The World’s Most Addictive Export
The U.S. doesn’t just export cars or corn or TikTok bans.
It exports the dollar. And people can’t stop using it.
Over 88% of global forex transactions involve the dollar.
More than 50% of international trade is priced in USD—even between countries that aren't American allies.
Central banks worldwide hold U.S. Treasuries like a sacred ritual.
Why? Because the U.S. military is big.
Because Wall Street is deep.
Because everyone else is too scared to leave the party first.
But the real reason?
There’s still no alternative. Not yet.
The Borrower Who Can’t Be Told ‘No’
Imagine you owed your friend $10,000. Then $100,000. Then $1 million.
At some point, your friend stops lending—or at least asks for collateral.
Not America.
America keeps borrowing. And the world keeps lending.
Even after:
The 2008 financial crisis
Trillion-dollar COVID relief
Inflation spikes
Debt ceiling stand-offs
The U.S. just prints more bonds. And investors—China, Japan, pension funds, even struggling Global South economies—line up to buy.
Why?
Because Treasuries still mean something.
Because there’s a myth that Uncle Sam always pays back.
Because if the U.S. defaults, everyone falls.
But What If They Stop Trusting It?
This is the quiet fear in every central bank meeting.
What if one day—just one day—the world looks at America’s books and says:
“Not worth the risk.”
The signs are there:
China is de-dollarizing, slowly but visibly.
BRICS are building alternatives.
Even Saudi Arabia flirted with yuan oil deals.
And the U.S.?
Still behaving like trust is infinite.
But trust erodes quietly—until it doesn’t.
One more shutdown. One more reckless war. One Trump too far.
And markets might blink.
It’s Not the Debt. It’s the Arrogance.
Every empire borrows. Rome debased its coinage. The Ottomans printed worthless paper.
Debt isn’t the disease. Hubris is.
America’s delusion is not that it’s borrowing too much—it’s that it thinks it always can.
That because the dollar was king, it will always be.
That trust can never run dry.
But trust is a fickle currency. And history, if nothing else, likes surprises.
A Final Image
A country borrows from the future, convinced the future will keep lending.
The problem isn’t that it might be wrong.
The problem is it never asks.
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