[dantheman]

The reason USD is standard is because the US used to be gold backed.

So all the countries in continental europe inflated like crazy and got off the gold standard. That left England and America which became the standard. Then England inflated, so it was down to America. America got off the gold in standard in 1971, but there was no one else to go to. America could then inflate its currency essentially taxing all holders of US Dollars, many of which are over seas.

This is the cause of the current economic problem. By removing all ties to gold the FED was able to inflate the currency causing malinvestment & seeking risky returns to stay ahead. The final play out of this is either a tough recession or hyper-inflation; what's going to happen isn't exactly clear -- it depends on how much money they continue to print.