The first half of this paper draws a broad outline of the nature of US economic power since the end of World War Two, the structural changes in the American economy and their symbiotic relationship with the influence exerted over much of the global economy. It also summarises the evolution of the US dollar from being an instrument backed by the largest gold reserves and productive capacity in the world, to one informally supported by a paper denomination of commodity resources, vendor financed consumption, serial financial asset bubbles and the increasing use and threat of military power. The latter half deals with the limitations imposed on large nations trapped in the “money empire” and what steps might be taken to assert economic and monetary sovereignty free from a “credit emperor” that now appears fatally weakened.
