"Seriously, no doubt the euro is going to be important, but unless the Europeans become more internationalist than they have been, the euro mya just go the route of the yen. It will tie its value to the dollar instead of setting a separate currency standard. At the end of the day, all wealth will still be counted in dollars. This is the reason why the US is arguing against the need for a new international financial architecture."
Henry, I've been thinking about your point, and I realize that it highlights an aspect of this matter that I hadn't considered. But, still I wonder. Nixon was forced to decouple gold and the dollar because America had printed too many dollars for the war in Vietnam. (I mean, BASICALLY, that's what happened, n'est-ce pas?) Were there other currencies then that could rival the dollar? Yet, it happened. Why couldn't it happen again? If anything, there is a better alternative now than in 1971, isn't there? In fact, haven't there been some other pretty steep declines in the dollar, nearing panic, since then?
Quincy