That's the opposite of how things really work. If you run a strong currency in an export economy, you will get sick, because your trade partners will no longer be able to afford your exports.
That's how it works for Germany for decades.
No one outside Germany cares what a Mercedes S-Class costs. They are buying them independent of the price.
> because your trade partners will no longer be able to afford your exports.
Tell that the Chinese...
This statement contradicts the entire theory of supply and demand. Also, my family owned a Mercedes once, and those things break down too damn often.
>Tell that the Chinese...
The Chinese are running a weak-currency policy.
It doesn't. If it would, the theory would be wrong. Cars like the Mercedes S-Class are not sold based on price - it's a luxury good. Advanced machines for factories are not bought primarily on price - otherwise Germany would have lost these markets long to cheaper competition.
> The United States is a net importer,
Because of massive overconsumption, not a particular 'strong economy'. This is a country of consumers.
> if it quit trading with the world tomorrow American employment would go up.
Good luck trying that.
> Moreover, Germany's trade surplus is substantially the result of trade with Eurozone basket case countries whose trade imbalances are not sustainable.
Germany trades world wide. It has for example a trade SURPLUS with China. Because it is able to compete on the world-market.
> You also conflate the strength of the Mark with the strength of the German economy. The Mark was a strong currency in the postwar era because the Bundesbank tended to pursue "strong Mark" policies,
That Mark was strong, because Germany had the strongest economy in Europe and thus could run a strong currency policy.
> often to the detriment of the German economy. As recently as 1990 Germany was considered the "sick man of Europe".
'the sick man of Europe' was a propaganda term by the UK/US press to claim the superiority of their 'service economy'. Actually what happened between 1989 and 2000 was that Germany absorbed the reunification with a collapsed East Germany. Suddenly millions of people from a formerly 'socialist' country were joining West Germany. This was hugely expensive and the problems are still visible for another two decades.
Yeah, a bit of history gives the context.