It’s multifaceted. It’s backed by violence, by oil trade, and US consumption. It’s also backed by trapping countries in debt denominated in US dollars. It’s also backed by US arms and “security” sales in dollars. It’s also backed by the worlds largest banks being based in the US and issuing credit in dollars. It’s also backed by gas, media, and even subsidized ag products like corn. Plus, inertia.
It’s also falling apart because they overused sanctions and created demand for an alternative. They killed the golden goose.
IMO you’re right about most of that but you do realize that most of them distill down to “violence with extra steps”.
There’s some difference between the violence of “pay our debts or we’ll kill you” and “we’ve destabilized your home region; you need to buy our weapons or they’ll kill you” and “the only way you can afford to feed yourselves is if you buy our subsidized food crops.”
It’s all violent, but it’s not always violence inflicted by jets and aircraft carriers like in the picture.
The reason we can get away with non-military violence is because we have ultimate recourse to military violence. Think, how did we destabilize that home region before selling them weapons? How did we deprive an entire region of food to the point that they have to buy it from us? This all ties back to our reliance on overwhelming force.
And the reason we can get away with military violence is because of financialized violence. They’re interconnected.
For instance, we destabilize regions by bombing them, but we also destabilize them by giving financial support (and often also military support) to opposition parties and terrorist groups who then carry out the violence for us. We also destabilize regions by trapping them in debt, and that debt is partially enforced by military violence, but partially enforced by SWIFT banking and NGO aid organizations and IMF loans and the almighty petrodollar that backs it all up.
It’s a snake eating its own ass. Where the financial warfare ends and the literal warfare begins is impossible to distinguish.
snake eating its own ass
I can hear that in Yugopnik’s voice lol
The US dollar is backed by American consumerism. The main reason to keep dollars in reserve is to be able to trade with the US.
The biggest threat to the US dollar is the rapidly expanding wealth gap. If Americans can’t afford to consume, there is no real reason to keep dollars in reserve.
Also, when the US gets openly hostile towards all its trading partners, it kinds of put a dampener on the urge to trade.
No the US dollar is backed by the US sanctioning and murdering those who refuse to use it as reserve currency. https://iai.tv/articles/why-they-killed-gaddafi-auid-1757
Also, Iraq partially sold oil in EUR from 2001 to 2003. In 2003 USA and friends started the second golf war, aka USA invasion of Iraq.
You aren’t wrong about those actions but it overestimates the importance of “might makes right” and seriously underestimates the importance of soft power. The meme you shared commits the same fallacy, as is the current US administration.
The US starts with soft power and sanctions to collectively punish the population. Then if the US backed color revolution fails it resorts to hard power.
I don’t know why you got 3 downdootes for saying the truth.
Might be missclicks. When I browse my own profile to find a post to link I frequently notice I even accidentally downvote my own comments or posts.
👍
Oh okay so if I sell the EU oil in Euros that’s no big deal then? Not gonna come kill me?
These are not mutually exclusive concepts.
Not really, domestic consumerism is significant but it isn’t anywhere near enough to bring US currency to world reserve status. American treasury bonds are the safe and steady investment of choice for institutions and sovereigns all over the world, and they’re safe and steady because the US military will force it’s way through any obstacle to US hegemony. That’s the real dollar engine and it really does come back to violence (Like everything in capitalism).
The number of people who don’t realize that the US dollar is an imperialist currency in 2025 is insane! Do they even know about the CFA Franc?
They did the same to Iran, Iraq, and Lybia for attempting to de-dollarize. Death to Amerikkka!
They downvoted you because you’re right
just ah murder them
So most times when I see this it’s someone censoring the word “ass”, but that doesn’t quite work here. Does he mean “uh” as in a deliberating pause?
Nah m8, ass murder, all the rage in econo-politick these days.
