In other words: by definition, not everybody can have surpluses. So for countries with surpluses to ask for others to do the same ("be as virtuous") is not only impossible, it is actually self-defeating as it pushes everybody in a vicious circle of lower spending and lower income.
From 1945 to 1975 the US was exporter of last resort and managed to place itself at the center of a monetary system with fixed foreign exchange rates. When it bacame an importer it forced a shift to floating foreign exchange rates and kept used the monetary system it controlled to its advantage, fuelling the mother of all debt bubbles. Meantime, China has become the world's exporter of last resort and keeps an exchange-rate peg to the dollar. Will they manage to impose a monetary system with themselves at the centre? Will central banks all fall back on managing their exchange rates?
Within Europe, Germany cemented its position as exporter of last resort by bringing most of its free-trade area into narrow bands of foreign exchange rates with the DM, eventually merging into a single currency. En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
