[Reggi55]

It was done for 2 reasons and planned out by Paul Volcker, and there is a speech to go with it if someone can find it.

1) USD reserves allow us to import more value than we export so it offers a better standard of life for the consumer than otherwise.

2) It allows us to have a bigger consumer market than we would otherwise have and incentive for countries to partner with us to sell their stuff to. If you've lived outside the US you know every business wants to sell their stuff here either as #1 or just after their home market.

Under those purposes it seems to have worked very well. Of course theres the risks of crashes along with it too.