Well clearly America has decided that costs of the reserve currency outweight\ the benefits conferred. Many other countries after all manage large debts but also confer the advantages of a surplus economy.
>mercy of lenders due to foreign-currency issued debt (i.e., South America and the IMF).
Countries come to the IMF when nobody else want to lend to them. It's that or national insolvency. That obviously means some harsh and politically unpopular reforms need to made with spending if they want to restore confidence with everyone else. The IMF is a useful scapegoat that diverts the heat from government to make the actions it needs to make.
Nobody is forced to go the IMF, yet despite all the critique, people are still going to them today. In fact the alternatives like China are alot harsher now in their debt relief terms when they realised how many of their lending projects were failing. It's a bit ironically actually when they realise themselves why debt to troubled countries tends to come with stipulations.
> clearly America has decided that costs of the reserve currency outweight\ the benefits conferred
The Trump admin has decided this; that's not necessarily the consensus among economists. Bessent seems capable, but otherwise it's not like this admin is staffed with the best and the brightest by any means, given that the number one criteria is abject loyalty to Trump and his agenda.
>mercy of lenders due to foreign-currency issued debt (i.e., South America and the IMF).
Countries come to the IMF when nobody else want to lend to them. It's that or national insolvency. That obviously means some harsh and politically unpopular reforms need to made with spending if they want to restore confidence with everyone else. The IMF is a useful scapegoat that diverts the heat from government to make the actions it needs to make.
Nobody is forced to go the IMF, yet despite all the critique, people are still going to them today. In fact the alternatives like China are alot harsher now in their debt relief terms when they realised how many of their lending projects were failing. It's a bit ironically actually when they realise themselves why debt to troubled countries tends to come with stipulations.