Re: CAT CEO says strong dollar bad for US economy
Here come US exporters, right on schedule, complaining that a strong national currency is bad for them and for the US economy. Not so. When a nation debases its currency in order to make its exports cheaper to foreigners, the result is not an increase in wealth but a transfer of wealth within a monopolized currency area. In the short run exporters are able to secure resources at current prices; however, the necessary increase in the nation’s money supply causes prices to rise. Eventually the exporters’ international market advantage vanishes, creating calls for another round of currency debasement. This is a sure path to capital destruction and overall impoverishment. No nation can make others subsidize its economy and increase its wealth by debasing its own currency.
Patrick Barron
