During the past 6 decades the US-dollar has dominated the course of the world exercising influence which few historic events could equal; Marshall Plan, reconstruction after WWII, economic miracle, lunar program, cold war, Vietnam, Iraq and many things more – e.g. the climate change – would have developed differently had the US-dollar not been the world key currency.

The dollar became world key currency some 65 years ago. To be precise: during the night of July 13th and 14th, 1944.

For it was during that night that the US, and even today this fact is still hardly known, clandestinely changed the wording in the documents of the Bretton Woods conference. When the conference members – stemming from 44 nations – finally signed the Agreement, they had no clue, that the US had amended the word “gold” with “and US-dollar”.

It was in this manner – which the UK later described as “pure deception” – that the US-dollar became the world key currency and the US a superpower. This deception is more than just tragic: for without it the current crisis could not have developed, since the enormous disequilibrium between the US and the rest of the world which has lead into this crisis was only possible due to the special role of the US-dollar.

It is almost painful to envision, what the world could look like today, if only the British proposal for a world financial and economic order had succeeded in 1944. For that proposal was grandiose, visionary and driven by the goals of a just, balanced and sustainable world.

The following three points begin to give a glimpse of the world the way it could have developed:

1. During the last 6 decades, the world economy would have been interest free and thus also liberated from the necessity of an ever increasing economic growth – with all the positive consequences for society and environment.
2. The Third World could have developed, since the banking principle – which allows the deposits of one country to be used as credit by another country – would have been introduced on a global level.
3. The funding for large wars – like Vietnam or Iraq – would have been rendered almost impossible.

Today, it is foreseeable that the US-dollar will lose its role as world key currency. But the real question is: what is to follow?

We should not leave that question to the financial industry or the powerful nations. We, the civil society, have to get involved. For the future financial and economic order will determine, whether we will be able to solve the problems of the future.

We can only join the discussion, if we know.

If you would like to dig deeper into this topic, we would like to recommend to you the United Transnational Republics’ handbook on monetary power:

• CLASH of CURRENCIES (english)
• WELT MACHT GELD (deutsch)