The point I am trying to make is that it is better to be trusted as the reserve currency, then to have a peg. I'm sorry to say that there is nothing in the near future to change that. The fact that we cite other countries' reserves in USD should be proof enough. One can't have it both ways, to call our currency trash, but then to think that others will be better off with that trash.
Americans love to pooh pooh the country as a national pastime, but when one looks at the facts, the fundamentals of this country are no different than many others. That doesn't mean they are good, it means they are no different.
Look at any metric, but the one I like to look at is default risk. Lower than Japan, lower than almost any other country in the EU, lower than China...
We are resource rich, people rich, homegeonous by language and culture, have a healthy immigration policy, relatively uncorrupt, free, relatively safe from things like Terrorism, and most importantly have very strong legal institutions.
What Western country would elect a Black President? This is not lost by all those who aspire to be "American".
This is not insular Japan nor is it xenophobic Europe and that's a plus.
It doesn't mean that things won't get worse, nor does it mean that this won't be the worst recession since the Depression. But to think that China or the Chinese or for that matter any other country and its citizens will be BETTER off than us under those circumstances is just absurd.
Everybody is screwed, but we are screwed the least. |
