You can blame inflation for part of that. The value of a dollar is near nothing compared to even 5 years ago. And of course you need a higher salary when everyone charges you more just for being in the US. See YouTube premium pricing around the globe as an easy example.
The US economy pumps assets and dumps exports, yes. However, weakening the dollar would dump assets and pump exports. That's the opposite of what the US has been up to for the last 50 years and it's the opposite of what the US is up to today. Your understanding of macroeconomics needs work.
Hint: if your analysis does not involve US counterparties, it can only ever be correct by accident.
At the very last, it's devalued by more than half, and this is a national trend in the housing market alone. You can also observe this in dining out (either sit down or fast food), groceries, tools, etc. And yes, a pre-2021 dollar losing half of its worth in less than a couple of years is "near nothing". That means the dollar is a terrible store of value, and an entire net value stored in dollars would disappear inside half a lifetime, if not faster if Congress does another mass printing/borrowing of money.
As an anecdote example:
* Pre-2021, my house was 160k, with about 10% down, resulting in P&I of about $750.
* Post-2021 (and no significant change since, the same house can probably sell for near $320 (& definitely $290 at the low end). To buy this, you'll need twice the down payment, and even with 10% down, your P&I is now nearly $2000 (due to the higher interest rates and huge principal).
A dollar in 2018 is worth 2.67x more than a dollar today. It's pretty apparent in equities, but also in commodities, and there's no going back to pre-2021 monetary values. "Inflation" may or may not have slowed down, but a lot of people are now stuck until deflation actually occurs or significant salary growth occurs.
How so? As you acknowledged, number go up internally doesn't mean number doesn't go down relative to other currency, leaving relative expensiveness the same.
yen an pound are at historic lows vs dollar.
Dollar vs euro is at historic average.
Let me guess, you'an Austrian/freshwater econ fan. Know theres a problem and what it is before you see the patient.
