Changes

The U.S. sold dollars needed for international transactions by issuing [[US Treasury]] debt, which is a universally fungible international medium of exchange. Until late 2022<ref>[[Essay: April 2022 was a pivotal moment in world politics for decades to come]]</ref> virtually all transactions for oil globally had been conducted in dollars until Saudi Arabia began accepting [[Chinese]] yuan.  This gave the U.S. an “exorbitant privilege” in that it could issue an unlimited, inflated stream of Treasury debt to the world.  One of the consequences of this arrangement is that it has allowed the U.S. to spend far beyond its means, running up $32 trillion of debt since 1980, when its [[national debt]] stood at a mere $1 trillion.

The U.S. sold dollars needed for international transactions by issuing [[US Treasury]] debt, which is a universally fungible international medium of exchange. Until late 2022<ref>[[Essay: April 2022 was a pivotal moment in world politics for decades to come]]</ref> virtually all transactions for oil globally had been conducted in dollars until Saudi Arabia began accepting [[Chinese]] yuan.  This gave the U.S. an “exorbitant privilege” in that it could issue an unlimited, inflated stream of Treasury debt to the world.  One of the consequences of this arrangement is that it has allowed the U.S. to spend far beyond its means, running up $32 trillion of debt since 1980, when its [[national debt]] stood at a mere $1 trillion.

==Interest rates and capital flight===

===Interest rates and capital flight===

Whenever the [[Federal Reserve]] raised [[interest rate]]s to take care of U.S. needs, it made [[capital flight|capital flow out]] of other countries, and the value of their currencies fall, forcing [[inflation]] on them. Not a single country in the world was left untouched. Many countries did not want to be held hostage to the implicit and explicit negative consequences of dollar [[hegemony]], and wanted to remove the “exorbitant privilege” that they believed the U.S. abused to their individual and collective detriment.  

Whenever the [[Federal Reserve]] raised [[interest rate]]s to take care of U.S. needs, it made [[capital flight|capital flow out]] of other countries, and the value of their currencies fall, forcing [[inflation]] on them. Not a single country in the world was left untouched. Many countries did not want to be held hostage to the implicit and explicit negative consequences of dollar [[hegemony]], and wanted to remove the “exorbitant privilege” that they believed the U.S. abused to their individual and collective detriment.