As far as it goes that picture of the world is obviously accurate. Where it is left broken is that it does not take into account the advent of a nationless, non-regulated, debt backed currency that has been issued and debauched by the banks.

I think this changes everything.

I agree there is still a core and periphery and they are tied together by currency but not the old currency. They are tied by debt export and debt and this, I believe has a quite different logic to that of the old currency pegs.

Thank you for bringing this up. I am thinking more about it now you have raised it.

"Dooley, Folkerts-Landau and Garber have referred to the monetary system of today as Bretton Woods II. They argue that today, like 40 years ago, the international system is composed of a core issuing the dominant international currency, and a periphery. The periphery is committed to export-led growth based on the maintenance of an undervalued exchange rate. In the 1960s, the core was the United States and the periphery was Europe and Japan. This old periphery has since 'graduated', and the new periphery is Asia. The core remains the same, the United States. The argument is that a system of pegged currencies, in which the periphery export capital to the core that provides a financial intermediary role is both stable and desirable"