I've not been able to figure out the benefits. Stability by increasing the stakeholders in the value of the dollar? It gives people more reason to buy dollars => raises the value of dollars => and makes US exports less competitive => makes the US poorer.
#1 Very nice from the Zanzibar beach I'm sitting on, but I doubt it's a big motivator!
#2 Sounds like something significant. Do you know of a way to quantify it?
#3 As far as I know, the threat is to shut financial institutions out of the US market. I don't think the US government has much control over a dollar once it's leaves the country.
#4 The Chinese have a similar ability to print massive amounts of money without inflation. I wonder if it's a property of sufficiently large economies. The article also mentions a downside that the Fed has had to print money to keep foreign institutions afloat.
A strong dollar means they can import raw materials very cheaply, so that's how they balance out any risk of being "less competitive". And many American products compete on quality and brand recognition (see e.g Apple's iPhone) not on price.
