Paper Soldiers

Informationen zum Autor Saleha Mohsin Klappentext From Bloomberg News reporter Saleha Mohsin, the untold story of how one of America's most invincible institutionsthe Treasuryhas used the U.S. dollar to define America's role in the world, and our economic future. In 1995, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin re-defined the next thirty years of currency policy with the mantra, A strong dollar is in America's interest. That mantra held, ushering in exceptional prosperity and cheap foreign goods, but the strong dollar policy also played a role in the devastating hollowing out of America's manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, abroad, the United States increasingly turned to the dollar as a weapon of war. In Paper Soldiers , Saleha Mohsin reveals how the Treasury Department has shaped U.S. policy at home and overseas by wielding the American dollar as a weaponand what that means in a new age of crisis. For decades, America has preferred its currency superpower-strong, the basis of a "strong dollar" policy that attracted foreign investors and pleased consumers. Drawing on Mohsin's unparalleled access to current and former Treasury officials like Robert Rubin, Steven Mnuchin, and Janet Yellen, Paper Soldiers traces that policy's intended and unintended consequences, including the rise of populist sentiment and trade war with Chinaculminating in an unprecedented attack on the dollar's pristine status during the Trump presidencyand connects the dollar's weaponization from 9/11 to the deployment of crippling financial sanctions against Russia. Ultimately, Mohsin argues that, untethered from many of the economic assumptions of the last generation, the power and influence of the American dollar is now at stake. With first-hand reporting and fresh analysis that illustrates the vast, often unappreciated power that the Treasury Department wields at home and abroad, Paper Soldiers tells the inside story of how we really got hereand the future not only of the almighty dollar, but the nation's teetering role as a democratic superpower. Zusammenfassung From Bloomberg News reporter Saleha Mohsin, the untold story of how one of America's most invincible institutionsthe Treasuryhas used the U.S. dollar to define America's role in the world, and our economic future. In 1995, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin re-defined the next thirty years of currency policy with the mantra, A strong dollar is in America's interest. That mantra held, ushering in exceptional prosperity and cheap foreign goods, but the strong dollar policy also played a role in the devastating hollowing out of America's manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, abroad, the United States increasingly turned to the dollar as a weapon of war. In Paper Soldiers , Saleha Mohsin reveals how the Treasury Department has shaped U.S. policy at home and overseas by wielding the American dollar as a weaponand what that means in a new age of crisis. For decades, America has preferred its currency superpower-strong, the basis of a "strong dollar" policy that attracted foreign investors and pleased consumers. Drawing on Mohsin's unparalleled access to current and former Treasury officials like Robert Rubin, Steven Mnuchin, and Janet Yellen, Paper Soldiers traces that policy's intended and unintended consequences, including the rise of populist sentiment and trade war with Chinaculminating in an unprecedented attack on the dollar's pristine status during the Trump presidencyand connects the dollar's weaponization from 9/11 to the deployment of crippling financial sanctions against Russia. Ultimately, Mohsin argues that, untethered from many of the economic assumptions of the last generation, the power and influence of the American dollar is now at stake. With first-hand reporting and fresh analysis that illustrates the vast, often unappreciated power that the Treasury Depa...

Auteur

Saleha Mohsin is the Senior Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg News, covering policy, politics, and power in Washington, D.C. An Ohio native, she previously lived in Oslo, Norway, and in London.

Résumé
From Bloomberg News reporter Saleha Mohsin, the untold story of how one of America’s most invincible institutions—the Treasury—has used the U.S. dollar to define America’s role in the world, and our economic future.

In 1995, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin re-defined the next thirty years of currency policy with the mantra, “A strong dollar is in America’s interest.” That mantra held, ushering in exceptional prosperity and cheap foreign goods, but also playing a role in the devastating hollowing out of America’s manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, abroad, the United States increasingly turned to the dollar as a weapon of war. In Paper Soldiers, Saleha Mohsin reveals how the Treasury Department has shaped U.S. policy at home and overseas by wielding the American dollar as a weapon—and what that means in a new age of crisis.

For decades, America has preferred its currency superpower-strong, the basis of a "strong dollar" policy that attracted foreign investors and pleased consumers. Drawing on Mohsin's unparalleled access to current and former Treasury officials like Robert Rubin, Steven Mnuchin, and Janet Yellen, Paper Soldiers traces that policy's intended and unintended consequences, including the rise of populist sentiment and trade war with China—culminating in an unprecedented attack on the dollar’s pristine status during the Trump presidency—and connects the dollar's weaponization from 9/11 to the deployment of crippling financial sanctions against Russia. Ultimately, Mohsin argues that, untethered from many of the economic assumptions of the last generation, the power and influence of the American dollar is now at stake.

With first-hand reporting and fresh analysis that illustrates the vast, often unappreciated power that the Treasury Department wields at home and abroad, Paper Soldiers tells the inside story of how we really got here—and the future not only of the almighty dollar, but the nation’s teetering role as a democratic superpower.

Échantillon de lecture

Surviving Donald Trump

It was January 24, 2018, and the seventy-seventh United States secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, was in the bucolic resort town of Davos, Switzerland. Hundreds of the alpine city's residents had fled to make room for an exclusive group of self-described thought leaders gathered for the World Economic Forum's annual conference. This year, for a weeklong winter camp dedicated to big problems, lavish parties, and cigar bars, the security bill topped $9 million. In attendance was an incongruous collection of people: 53 heads of state, 116 billionaires, and, for some reason, Elton John.

But before Steven Mnuchin could even begin to hobnob with the global elite gathered, the Treasury chief made a faux paus that put the dollar on an immediate weakening streak and momentarily brought the world to the precipice of a full-blown currency war for the first time in more than three decades.

All because of just seven words: "A weaker dollar is good for us."

While there was more to the statement that Mnuchin made to reporters shortly after breakfast, this was the only part that the world's economic policymakers, business leaders, and investors cared about. To the untrained ear, it was a dull phrase. But for Mnuchin's constituents in economics and finance, it was scary: secretaries aren't supposed to yearn for a weak value for the dollar.

To world leaders like Angela Merkel, the battle-tested German chancellor at the time, Mnuchin had just obliterated a rule that took decades to hone: world leaders do not talk about their currencies. Such chatter amounts to verbal intervention, or "jawboning" in policy parlance, which is intended to hint at a government plan that incl…