History Explained

"Let us assume that the international [monetary] authority [currently, the Federal Reserve of the United States] increases the amount of its issuance by a definite sum [of credit or paper money], all of which goes to one country, Ruritania. The final result of this inflationary action will be a rise in prices of commodities and services all over the world. But while this process is going on, the conditions of the citizens of various countries are affected in a different way. The Ruritanians are the first group blessed by the additional manna. They have more money in their pockets while the rest of the world's inhabitants have not yet got a share of the new money. They can bid higher prices, while the others cannot. Therefore the Ruritanians withdraw more goods from the world market than they did before. The non-Ruritanians are forced to restrict their consumption because they cannot compete with the higher prices paid by the Ruritanians. While the process of adjusting prices to the altered money relation is still in progress, the Ruritanians are in an advantageous position against the non-Ruritanians. When the process finally comes to an end, the Ruritanians[Americans, since 1944] have been enriched at the expense of the non-Ruritanians[non-Americans, since 1944]." -Ludwig von Mises (brackets mine)

That's it. The scam in a nutshell. It's about time, and time's relation to matter/energy.
Of course, violence is the iron fist hiding in the background, preventing the rest of the world from simply saying "fuck off" and refusing to take dollars...
And this pattern also applies within the borders as well. The people with the best credit rating are literally stealing (or at least, accepting stolen goods) from everyone else.
Really free trade is only possible in a non-inflating economy.