| ▲ | consumer451 2 hours ago |
| The fact that this all happened by choice is really something. It's like witnessing a self-decapitation. |
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| ▲ | somenameforme an hour ago | parent | next [-] |
| You're seeing the result of something that's been decades in the making. You can see a simple table of dollar reserves here. [1] They've been consistently falling year over year for the past 27 years. And it's not like 1999 was anything particular. Rather the uptake leading up to 1999 as a peak was a result of shenanigans that happened in 1971 [2]. That's when the USD became completely unbacked by anything, enabling the government to start going arbitrarily far into debt. That had short to mid-term positive impacts and long-term catastrophic ones, as is the typical strategy in modern times. People always exaggerate the impact of geopolitical things, because it feels like the biggest thing ever, especially when you're relatively young. But in reality we're always onto nonsense after nonsense. Countries have the wisdom and view to appreciate this, and so respond to geopolitical stuff (in action, not rhetoric) far more gradually than people do. They're certainly not going to just dump all their dollar reserves because of a single misguided war or even misguided president, or they'd have been gone long ago. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_currency#Global_curren... [2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system#Nixon_sho... [2] - https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ |
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| ▲ | consumer451 an hour ago | parent [-] | | I hear you, the world is always ending. But, I am well past mid-life, I am a huge beneficiary of Pax Americana, and 47 feels like something truly different. Maybe it's just the end of a long pattern, but it is still the end. US-led NATO is dead, and the stability of the USA is dead, therefore the dollar's dominance is weakening. Don't take my word for it. Listen to Mark Carney at Davos. |
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| ▲ | SilverElfin 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| It’s not a self decapitation exactly. I think Trump, his family, his corporate donors, and other friends are all willing to sacrifice everyone else - including the lead America had - to make themselves rich and powerful. Every single decision to spend - defense, ICE contracts, AI, approvals of anticompetitive acquisitions, changes to regulations, etc - is making that circle richer at our expense. They don’t care if American supremacy is lost or if the dollar crashes or if the national debt becomes a crisis. As long as they have their wealth. The public is being decapitated, not them. |
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| ▲ | consumer451 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | That's fair. I agree. I was thinking of the USA as one actor. The USA votes, or chooses not to, and that has effects. | | |
| ▲ | SilverElfin 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | True. In that sense the voters have self decapitated. I can’t understand how the Trump administration still has support from 40% of the country (per polls). I could understand voting for him due to some issue a voter has strong feelings about. But now we have seen it all play out and it’s a disaster leading to national ruin. And there is no talk of impeachment, trials, and accountability for everyone in his circle. So I guess that 40% DOES choose to self decapitate. | | |
| ▲ | aaronbrethorst 34 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Heather McGhee's concept of 'drained pool politics' really resonates with me: https://newrepublic.com/article/171844/heather-mcghee-moving... | |
| ▲ | b3ing 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | They don’t care when the media on am and talk radio, evangelical and mega churches, and all the conservative news tells them what to believe | | |
| ▲ | consumer451 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Media that is never critical towards one side is what started all of this. A politician's kryptonite is when their voters find out that they lied or were hypocrites. That is a universal truth. Single party media outlets like News Corp, Sinclair, Euronews, and so many others have broken that system entirely. My test to see if someone is a shill/moron is to simply ask them to say one obvious bad thing about "their side." If they cannot, it becomes clear that they are not worth listening to. | | |
| ▲ | andsoitis an hour ago | parent [-] | | What’s the worst thing, in your mind, about “your side”, assuming you have one. | | |
| ▲ | consumer451 an hour ago | parent [-] | | I grew up in Seattle mostly, some of my policy positions could paint me as a progressive, and they are somewhat "my people." It turns out that progressives are just as easily fooled as any other group, by a slick turn of phrase. For example, "Genocide Joe." I once thought my group was more thoughtful. But, it turns out that ALL of us are easily programmed meat machines. Voted for Obama, he totally messed up with Russia and Crimea. I could go on, and on. Fallibilism, ftw? Can't be sure :) |
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| ▲ | georgemcbay 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > and all the conservative news tells them what to believe And most traditional news is conservative now. The idea that the mainstream media was ever leftest was always wrong, but these days its absolutely laughable and yet a lot of people still parrot this like it is the truth. | | |
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| ▲ | IAmGraydon 21 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Funny enough, that's capitalism, isn't it? Survival of the most ruthless, and morality is a weakness. Are we surprised he was born out of this? | |
| ▲ | dartharva 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Weakening your own domain to get powerful sounds clearly contradictory, yet there are so many examples of elites doing exactly that despite the fact that doing so must've required foresight and planning elaborate enough to not blind them from the consequences. | |
| ▲ | refurb 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | How does sacrificing America's lead make American oligarchs richer? That doesn't even make sense. | | |
| ▲ | toyg 33 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | It does, it's textbook "banana republic". Dictator and close circles enrich themselves, everyone else gets poorer. US voters were so worried that South America would come to them, that they have become the worst of South America. | |
| ▲ | vincnetas an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | basically make decisions that make no sense but benefit you financially. Sample. you run a printing business. you dont own it just run it. you sell your main printer and assign a performance bonus to your self. next month your business is closed because you dont have equipment to print, but you also have your bonus in pocket. | |
| ▲ | bijowo1676 an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | just like stock trader, you can get rich from going long, you also can get rich by shorting the economy (selling short). this is what trump is doing: selling America short |
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| ▲ | bijowo1676 an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | The worst part is that I dont see a meaningful opposition to Trump. if American political system allows President to do that and allows such President to be elected, than such system deserves to die. |
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| ▲ | themafia 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| America just experienced a leveraged buy out. |
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| ▲ | refurb 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Not really. It has more to do with gold is now worth almost 3x what it was 2 years ago. And before you get too excited, this "news" from the World Gold Council. A consortium of gold mining corporations. Clearly it's a pump article "have you bought gold yet? everyone else is! why not you!?!?" |
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| ▲ | onion2k an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | Not really. It has more to do with gold is now worth almost 3x what it was 2 years ago. It's not like we've suddenly found new and exciting uses for gold though. The reason the price has gone up is because the demand for it has gone up, and the reason why demand has gone up is because people want an alternative to U.S bonds. A bunch of pump articles wouldn't be enough to lead to a 3x price increase. | |
| ▲ | consumer451 an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | Are you saying that the USA is doing just great and there is nothing for anyone to worry about? Are you saying that the price of gold just spontaneously went up? From over hear it seems like the age of Pax Americana is over, and gold at ~$4,600 is one of the results. | | |
| ▲ | rustystump an hour ago | parent [-] | | No, but it was due for a correction for a while now. That correction has sparked extra speculation because everything is gambling now. Ofc those with an incentive of higher priced gold will tell to buy gold. Only time will tell if they were right. |
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| ▲ | an hour ago | parent | prev [-] |
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