GDP is often fake, especially in hyper-financialized economies like the West’s which just move money around a lot without really producing anything, and it’s a poor metric for development anyway even when it is real, but even by the West’s own rigged standards China is beating them handily - and not just China, look who else is at the top of the list.
Yep, getting off the gold standard was a short term decision that really only worked as long as the US has dollar hegemony. When that goes, so does the whole house of cards.
I don’t usually like to mix metaphors, but when the wolf gets to the last house in this fairy tale, the piggy inside is going to be upset when it finds out the builder skimped on the bricks and cement to cut costs and increase profits.