Daily Inspiration Quote by Robert C. Solomon

Reserve currencies don’t become dominant because they’re virtuous; they become dominant because the world can’t stop using them. Robert C. Solomon’s line slices through the romance that often surrounds monetary power. He’s pointing to a blunt logistical reality: global demand is only half the story. A currency can’t function as an international reserve unless the issuing country is willing (and able) to flood the world with it.

The subtext is the “Triffin dilemma” without the jargon. To supply the world with your currency, you typically have to run persistent deficits, export capital, or otherwise let your money leak out in large quantities. That can juice global liquidity and make your currency convenient, but it also creates domestic political stress: deficits look like weakness, deindustrialization becomes a slogan, and financial openness starts to feel like vulnerability. Reserve status is less a trophy than a commitment to be the world’s banker, even when your own voters would prefer you stop extending credit.

Contextually, this lands in late-20th-century debates about the dollar’s role and recurring fantasies about challengers. People ask, “Why doesn’t X currency replace the dollar?” Solomon answers: because “demand” (stability, rule of law, deep markets) isn’t enough. The would-be successor must also tolerate the unglamorous mechanics of oversupplying the world. His educator’s clarity doubles as a warning: monetary hegemony is sustained by a pipeline, not a pedestal.