41–50 of 367 posts
Economists writing about the end of the dollar as a reserve currency is not a new thing. With the Fed printing money tho at record rates this would be the time for a shift to happen. The problem is there is no alternative. The Euro has it's own structural issues and as we saw in March when folks got scared they sold alternatives like Bitcoin down hard. In short, there is no alternative without international cooperati…
Economists writing about the end of the dollar as a reserve currency is not a new thing. With the Fed printing money tho at record rates this would be the time for a shift to happen. The problem is there is no alternative. The Euro has it's own structural issues and as we saw in March when folks got scared they sold alternatives like Bitcoin down hard. In short, there is no alternative without international cooperati…
> On the other hand, a structural change could happen with a shock and stepwise change, like the end of the Bretton Woods system. This can happen in a few ways, but becomes more probable if the United States decides to actively promote a change rather than defend the status quo.
Especially since Trump's election, I have always wondered about the future of America, not just socially but also economically. Trump's excessive use of sanctions and bullying comes at a major loss for future generations. And this line from the article elucidates it:
"However, when major powers like China, Russia, and India begin pricing things outside of the dollar-based system and using their currencies for trade, including for energy in some cases, the US can’t realistically intervene militarily, and instead can only intervene with sanctions or trade disputes and other forms of geopolitical pressure."
and
"Chinese officials have said on numerous occasions that their reliance on the dollar system is a security risk for them. Having surpassed the United States as the world’s largest trading partner and world’s biggest importer of commodities, China increasingly has an interest in being able to acquire commodities and perform global trade without dollars, which as we see with trading partners like Russia, or with China’s yuan-based oil futures contract, they’re increasingly able to do with small steps at a time."
The bullying is the last straw. A lot of countries are very independent and are only trading in dollars because of oil. Take that away with sanctions and the demand for dollars drops rapidly. Thus, US dollar doesn't need to be a major reserve currency, holding US dollars might even be a risk.
Had bitcoin not been deflationary, bitcoin could have filled this gap. More likely though is that the declining faith in American politics will force other countries to go back to a multicurrency system and thus, US will no longer remain the top dog.
History repeats.
You've been on HN for 13 years, and this is your first post in 7. Welcome back! Can you provide any context regarding why this article made the cut, when nothing did for 7 years? Sorry if it's a bit off topic; it's just an interesting circumstance, and I'm curious.
It's pretty clear that the account was either sold or taken over. Look at the most recent comments as well; not even a single one since 2012. I know we aren't supposed to talk about this per HN guidelines, but this is just too blatant. And yes, I've already emailed hn@ycombinator.com.
Economists writing about the end of the dollar as a reserve currency is not a new thing. With the Fed printing money tho at record rates this would be the time for a shift to happen. The problem is there is no alternative. The Euro has it's own structural issues and as we saw in March when folks got scared they sold alternatives like Bitcoin down hard. In short, there is no alternative without international cooperati…
"Instead of drawing down our gold reserves, however, we gradually draw down our domestic manufacturing base and it gets replaced piece-by-piece in foreign countries." To me, this is the money shot. I hadn't seen this expressed before and it makes perfect sense. I'm baffled that we (the US) caused this to happen to the US. I'm (unhappily) registered Republican but I argued vociferously to a Dem friend in 2000 that our…
This is 100%, the fact the US can barely manufacturer face masks during a global pandemic is embarrassing. On the other end, how do you compete with slave labor in the Chinese factories?
There are plenty of countries with worse working conditions yet but people seem to stick with china.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is 100%, the fact the US can barely manufacturer face masks during a global pandemic is embarrassing. On the other end, how do you compete with slave labor in the Chinese factories?
> how do you compete with slave labor in the Chinese factories? Trading blocs that ensure minimum working conditions. Companies which pay the worker a decent wage should get favorable tax treatment and procurement.
"Instead of drawing down our gold reserves, however, we gradually draw down our domestic manufacturing base and it gets replaced piece-by-piece in foreign countries." To me, this is the money shot. I hadn't seen this expressed before and it makes perfect sense. I'm baffled that we (the US) caused this to happen to the US. I'm (unhappily) registered Republican but I argued vociferously to a Dem friend in 2000 that our…
This is 100%, the fact the US can barely manufacturer face masks during a global pandemic is embarrassing. On the other end, how do you compete with slave labor in the Chinese factories?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-d...
"Instead of drawing down our gold reserves, however, we gradually draw down our domestic manufacturing base and it gets replaced piece-by-piece in foreign countries." To me, this is the money shot. I hadn't seen this expressed before and it makes perfect sense. I'm baffled that we (the US) caused this to happen to the US. I'm (unhappily) registered Republican but I argued vociferously to a Dem friend in 2000 that our…
They spent years training the Chinese side-by-side in the US.
In the end they still haven’t exactly caught up to the quality we had in the US. However, they now have 5x the tool & die makers in China.
To compete, you really do have to cut minimum wage. You have to loosen regulations, and importantly, you have to do massive tariffs / sanctions on China for the next decade.
There are enough people still here to teach and expand the Industry. However, if you don’t start now. Like today. We won’t ever recover. Once enough manufacturing is gone, it’ll be impossible to come back - we are almost there.
You are competing against a foreign power who uses slaves. You either let free people work for what ever wage they can achieve or we risk becoming slaves ourselves.
You've been on HN for 13 years, and this is your first post in 7. Welcome back! Can you provide any context regarding why this article made the cut, when nothing did for 7 years? Sorry if it's a bit off topic; it's just an interesting circumstance, and I'm curious.
It's pretty clear that the account was either sold or taken over. Look at the most recent comments as well; not even a single one since 2012. I know we aren't supposed to talk about this per HN guidelines, but this is just too blatant. And yes, I've already emailed hn@ycombinator.com.
I'm familiar with it for, say, ebay, and at least indirectly familiar with it over reddit, but hn is a new one to me.