How far was the end of the Golden Age of the GE due to the relative decline

of the US economy?
The end of the Golden Age of the GE was due to the relative decline of the
US economy. The US could not longer continue to grow the GE through
pumping out dollars. These dollars were instead absorbed by Japan and West
Germany through the vast surpluses they earned and as such, cancelled out
the expansionary effects of the dollar flood. In the 1950s and 1960s, lost
some of its leverage over the GE when the GNP of most European countries
grew at 5-6% a year and that of Japan rose much faster, compared with the
3-4% range of the US. This dollar flood was one of the main causes for the
expansion of the GE from 1945 to the 1960s. The US thus could not continue
to act as the locomotive for the global economy and despite Carter urging
Japan and West Germany to do so in the latter half of the 1970s, the global
economy slowed down due to this.
Furthermore, there was a direct correlation to US economic strength and how
long the golden age lasted. The GA lasted only as long as the US maintained
economic hegemony. The importance of the US in maintaining the BW
system and by extension, the role the BW system played in the Golden Age
can be seen from the fact that the Golden Age did not last much longer after
the BW systems demise in 1971 where at that point in time, the US had a
mere $10b of gold while dollar holdings in other countries amounted to $80b,
showing that the system was unsustainable without the US.