Michael woolfolk , senior currency strategist at the bank of new york mellon , said the world naturally would become less dependent on the greenback as the global economy becomes less dependent on the u.s. economy .
That development worries some people : since central banks typically buy u.s. dollars to store their foreign exchange reserves , the growing taste for gold can be seen as the latest sign that the greenback 's status as the world 's sole reserve currency is in jeopardy .
It 's an image much beloved of hollywood directors : the head lowered over a mirror , a crisp greenback tightly rolled and inserted in a nostril , then applied at the other end to a line of white powder .
The first was that only the treasury secretary talked at length about the greenback . The second was that he repeated a vacuous mantra about a strong dollar being in america 's interests , even as everyone knew policymakers quietly welcomed its slide .