| I know. And the USD is not just backed by the military. War is just diplomacy failed. It's just the most obvious backing. It's enough to send fines, most of the time. Actually just the threat of fines. If foreign then diplomatic carrots and sticks. I'm commenting on the absurd notion that the USD is backed by nothing, commonly said with "but BTC is backed by math". You're right. Mushroom clouds won't help the USD. But the implication of it helps. Actual acts the US does are more subdued. Overthrow democracies and invade smaller countries. But could the US do it if it had no nukes and a military the size of Mexico's? The US even buys support, including keeping USD the medium of exchange (thus creating USD demand, thus giving USD value) including be providing military guarantees. Russia and China have great militaries too, but the US is a league of its own in its ability to apply it anywhere on the globe. Russia does not. The reason the US (and USD) has been winning is, as I'm sure you'd agree, a complex and huge topic full of not just strategy but also history. But it doesn't change the fact that without the US military and its ability to project it worldwide it would be MUCH weaker. Russia lost 50 million people in the war, at a time when the US was sitting as pretty the only major country not blown to bits, and it was holding the IOUs. |