The Dollar Fault Line

Every twenty-four hours, more than five trillion dollars in global payments-from oil shipments and commodity trades to sovereign debt coupons-must touch a handful of clearinghouses in lower Manhattan. This invisible plumbing, the legacy of Bretton Woods and the petrodollar accord, is the foundation of the modern world economy. But what appears to be a system of elegant efficiency hides a catastrophic vulnerability: the entire architecture of global commerce flows through a single, narrow America