We and many commentators lament the USD dominance that allows it to conduct its global financial wars, and leverage this power to impose a global FATCA dragnet via sanctions. While this is the reality of the world today, how did this come to be?  It wasn’t by accident.  The history of how this came about is a fascinating one with an ironic twist.

Thought I would share this recent NPR @planetmoney podcast called….

The Dollar At The Center Of The World

John Maynard Keynes vs the almost unknown Treasury official, Harry Dexter White

As World War 2 was ending, world leaders realized they had a problem. Countries no longer knew how to trade with each other. Their economies were devastated. So representatives from 44 nations gathered in the small town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to come up with the solution.

It came down to two different plans put forward by two very different men. One was the most famous economist in the world. A British aristocrat. The other was an American that no one remembers. But it was the American that won the day and put the U.S. dollar right in the middle of world trade.

Today on the show, how the US won. The story involves a carefully laid trap, late night dancing and copious amounts of alcohol.