Q: why is it good for us if others use the dollar?

[RightPire]

So i know the price of oil is measured in the dollar, other countries use the dollar.

why is that so good?

i heard saddam hussein was also trying to change oil to be measured in another currency back, one of the times we had to go over there.

 

[DSGE]

Two main reasons:

1) US importers and exporters don't have to incur the costs of changing currencies in the foreign exchange market, meaning slightly cheaper goods for the US.


2) All of those US dollar denominated accounts in banks and central banks around the world don't just sit there doing nothing; banks and central banks purchase US bonds with those US dollars, increasing the supply of loanable funds to the US and making US interest rates slightly lower.

 

[Jos]

People in other countries have to pay for Oil in US $,
therefor they have to swap goods and products to the US for $
which only costs the US paper and ink to print

 

[expat_panama]

...oil is measured in the dollar, other countries use the dollar.
why is that so good? ...

It's good because the dollar is stable and getting rich by doing business requires stable money. When others get rich we're better off.

The dollar is like the English language. Both are used mostly by foreigners internationally. Most speakers of English speak it as a second language in a country where they talk something else, and most dollars are created and banked outside the US.

We really don't have much say in it.