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Comment by chongli | Hacker News Reader

That’s easy. Just pay employees in USD no matter where they are. Employees would face the currency risks of their own country relative to USD.

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Yeah, that's a problem. If the dollar loses 10-20% against their native currency, then they all of a sudden have a 10-20% pay cut.

Even if that happened (which is highly unlikely) then the employees would still earn more money since SF/NY salary - 20% is greater than salaries outside USA.

Most smart people I know who work in areas with weak currency use USD or Euro. Hard to find a better reserve currency than that.

It goes the other way too.

The IRS is going to come after you for taxes anyway (post first 105k) so you might as well earn it in USD, bank it in the US, and transfer what you need to whereever you are.

The good news is that some countries won't bother taxing you if you're working for a US company remotely - they're just happy to have expats spending in the local economy.

That only applies if you are a US citizen or permanent resident. For others, it is very inconvenient to have their income tied to a foreign country and/or foreign exchange rates.

For me in Turkey: Having my tied to a foreign country is kind of inconvenient (paying fees and having to wait for a swift transfer). Having it tied to an exchange rate has benefits that far outweigh the inconveniences of the transfer (With the way exchange rates have been going for the last few years, it feels more like* you get automatic raises throughout the year tied to inflation in addition to your yearly raise)

* I know it is not that, but it feels like that. Also thankfully not tied to the officially reported inflation rate in Turkey

You would be surprised how common is is then, especially in areas of Europe surrounding non EU countries where international daily commutes are not uncommon, not to mention remote working.

I work for an engineering company in Switzerland, and half my team are German citizens who (pre-covid) made a daily commute all while enjoying the lower cost of living in Germany.

Yes of course - the context of the thread is "why stay in the US"? Please don't be so pedantic.

Not for say, people in Mexico. Given the inflation rate of our coin, it would be a benefit to be paid in USD.

The USD has been one of the best performing currencies in the world in most people's lifetimes. I'm sure that most people would prefer to be paid in that currency.

For every Swiss Franc that strengthened 15% against the dollar in 10 years there's an Argentine Peso that because 45 times weaker in that time period.

Not sure how the long term exchange rate movements are relevant for most people who take a paycheck, spend a great deal of it, then use the rest to pay down debt or invest. Not many people are choosing to long term hold and deciding between dollars or pesos. And even if paid in pesos you could open a dollar bank account anywhere.

If you get paid in Peso you lose money every payday that you don't get a significant raise in salary. If you get paid in Dollars your salary raises roughly on pace with inflation.

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