The major difference is that the US is a superpower. There is no other like it. Your 3 reasons why all boil down to the US having a monopoly on the reserve currency. A country (like the US) must have interventionist wars, must be very centralized, and most taxes must go to fund war and debt, if they want to continue to be the superpower. If the Swiss Franc (?) was the reserve currency, or any other country had it, it would be the same outcome for them (at some point in time). Political power (any, even a constitution)) is the ring, no one can handle it without succumbing to the darkness.