[ballarak]

There's the possibility that the USG believes the dollar's primacy is going to come to an end in the relatively near future. There are other factors at play that could weaken the dollar's status that matter more than sanctions, including:

(1) The geopolitical shift away from a unipolar world, with the rise of states such as China.

(2) The upcoming end of the petrodollar, as nations shift to renewable energy.

If you believe the reign of the dollar will come to an end anyways, you might as well use its power while you have it and throw sanctions around to weaken your rivals.

[erikpukinskis]

This possibility comes along with the rise of a new political brand for the Republicans: “We do whatever we have to to get ours”. In the early stages under GW Bush/Rumsfeld this was the lighter “We do whatever we have to to advance American interests throughout the world” but under Trump/Murdoch it is now “advance the interests of those who are loyal to me”.

That will play well in an economic crisis. I don’t think the brandmakers for liberalism in America are prepared for that fight. Right now the brand on the left is something like “we can and should demand a better wage and better benefits from Daddy!” but that falls flat in a crisis.

That all said, we’re not in that crisis yet. So perhaps it’s fine to focus on the present, where we certainly have the money to increase workers benefits.