alt Hacker NewsThe thing I don’t get is that IMO Americans have a higher standard of living due to demand for the dollar. Being a net importer means they make less and the countries they’re importing from make more. Money = labor = people working, so people in other countries are working harder than Americans to benefit Americans with a higher standard of living.
It’s like a roofer working for a contractor that’s a millionaire and the contractor is upset because he’s paying the roofer while having a higher standard of living because of the profit made off the roofer’s labor.
No one is working for that rich contractor if his money is worthless. Isn’t a weaker dollar for America a disaster? The world works to serve America right now because of the dollar. Life’s going to be tough when America has to “get a job” and start earning their keep with real productivity contributions, isn’t it?
Maybe I’m just dumb, but all I can see is a massive drop in the average standard of living if the US maintains their current trajectory. It might even be too late already.
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> Isn’t a weaker dollar for America a disaster?
For the majority of average Americans trying to scrape by and save enough for a dignified retirement, yes.
For the ultra wealthy, no. A weak dollar leads to an asset firesale to prop up their wealth even further.
The ultra wealthy have captured the US government completely.
>massive drop in the average standard of living if the US maintains their current trajectory.
Very rich people control the narrative in the US and get poor people to repeat their claims. Hence where we get statements like this from.
>“John Steinbeck once said that socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”
The thing is the billionaires/trillionaires don't care as long as they get more power. They'll eat the goose that lays the golden eggs.
You see a ton of this with Trump voters like my grandma that are getting screwed over with medicare changes and live in some kind of grand delusion that Trump is doing exactly what he said he was going to do in cutting benefits, and yet somehow it's all the democrats fault (???).
You assume that these economic policies are dictated by some sort of common good. The reality is that most policies are dictated by corporations and are designed to benefit their shareholders and not the average american. In addition, the US is now pivoting towards authoritarianism which implies future policies will be determined mainly by a tight group of people who are going to use them as a means of enriching themselves.