March 13 2013

Consequently, after the departure from Bretton Woods, countries could afford to be more lax about exchange rate policy. For countries that maintained their peg to the dollar, easy money in the United States meant inflation at home. However, to the degree they were willing to use debt, they could mollify the effects of monetary inflation. Over time, the United States has used easy monetary policy in part to foster economic growth and in part to finance yawning federal budget deficits. The consequence of all this has been an ever-increasing debt load relative to GDP, standing at about 358% total debt to GDP today. Of that, government debt is now greater than GDP at over $16 trillion. https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/inves...ld-fiat-money/