The reality is that China and about 20 other nations are already doing so. By using public capital to purchase huge quantities of United States government securities over the past two decades, they have driven up the value of the dollar to make their own exports supercompetitive.
Capitalists, the world over, are scaredy cats when it comes to turning financial capital into physical capital. We've had 'historically low' real interest rate for about a decade, and they still avoid real investment. 'Gimme Treasuries or give me Debt!'
And, yes, productivity has been going up like a Saturn rocket since the Great Recession. It's just that workers haven't gotten the benefit of that increase. As the op-ed piece makes clear:
Wall Street didn't object to the dollar gaining value. It enabled a flood of cheap imports, and has driven huge profits for the companies that sell them, especially Walmart, Amazon, Nike and Apple. It also led to a reduction in wages for 80 million American workers competing with countries whose labor has been cheapened by these undervalued currencies.
Not to forget: aided by authoritarian governments which grind workers under the heal of bidness. Capital never met a Fascist it didn't love. Not to forget The Manchurian President who adores the beautiful letters he gets from them.
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