Discussing the future of the dollar is a recurrent exercise in times of crisis, especially when the US’s national interest and domestic policies seem to conflict with international monetary stability.
However, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of the dollar has been greatly exaggerated. 1 In 2011, days after the Obama adminis- tration narrowly averted a default, credit ratings firm Standard & Poor’s took the unprecedented decision to downgrade the US from “AAA” to “AA-plus” because political polarisation was undermin- ing progress to rein in public spending and “stabilize the govern- ment’s medium-term debt dynamics.”