At this point hysteresis is all that is holding the US dollar as the global reserve currency. That has been the case since Nixon. What we have done since then has only dug us into a deeper hole when events finally happen that will throw the dirt in on top of the US. So, no American workers will not be better off when the US dollar fails, at least in the short term. The cost of oil will skyrocket as will all global commodities which we must import. Establishing a self-sufficient economy will take at least a decade. Eventually American workers might be better off under some sets of conditions, but not nearly all possible scenarios. The US will need a stable government with institutional depth and breadth. We will need a far better educated electorate than we have now.
Large mistakes come at a high cost usually on a long term installment plan with carried interest. The Treaty of Versailles cost global destruction and over six million lives and every nation party to that miscalculation is still in denial. Keynes nailed the Economic Consequences of the Peace in 1919. He attempted to reason with the players over the reserve currency with Bancor notes instead of dollars. US bankers had their way just as they had in 1919.
