Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries • Hacker News Board

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#251

Post by danny_codes » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:37 PM UTC

eggy wrote: post #195

It's not like the EU can go to China for the $64 to $94bn in mineral fuels and oils (LNG, crude oil) they import from the U.S. Or the aerospace products and parts $35-46bn they import. Or the $45-$52bn in pharmaceuticals and medicines and advanced biologics (unless they go all in on generics, but this is only part of that sum). The list goes on and on. Germany trying to reboot their nuclear energy infrastructure, but…

Not in one year no, but in 5-10 years, certainly. Solar is cheaper than coal in China today and they blew through their capacity targets. I was just there and the EV adoption is phenomenal. The buses, even some heavy trucks are EV.

If this pace keeps up for 10 years I don’t see how methane will be useful in the energy sector. Let’s face it, we’re investing in a dying industry. In 20 years our kids (or grandkids) will laugh at any country burning methane to make electricity.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#252

Post by colechristensen » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:37 PM UTC

DustinEchoes wrote: post #179

whimsicalism wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious when people make comments like this, do they actually live in the US and believe this or has the media environment gotten so bad in Europe+ that people have no clue what’s real or not?

It’s wishcasting. Some people just want to see dead Americans.

It's also stupid. A US civil war which went far enough to fragment the country would in actuality be a global WWIII and lead to billions of deaths.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#253

Post by jimnotgym » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #136

epistasis wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "nearly limitless" source of borrowing, the limit is the gain in global wealth. The US has been siphoning off a huge chunk of world wealth by printing dollars to serve as the currency for that wealth. All the people complaining about "US Debt" and $26T of "net investment" or whatever don't realize that this is/was the benefit of the US being stable, strong, and friendly. When the US is unstable, weak, an…

The US is more stable than the powers of Europe (which have constant political upheavals, snap elections that completely remake the political landscape, etc). You're confusing Trump's mouth with how the US political system actually functions. Just because the US changes political direction, that doesn't equate to instability. Its aims are changing, like it or not, good or bad. The US deciding it wants Greenland is no…

In a war type scenario between US and Europe, what do you think will happen to those large corporations 'sway'? Their assets will be confiscated, their systems cut off or repurposed. It will immediately end any sway those corporations had

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#254

Post by sunaurus » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #206

azinman2 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re assuming the people in charge are sane, rationale, and value past decisions that have worked out. It’s quite clear with the now likely permanent damage to NATO this isn’t the case.

You're assuming NATO is somehow critical for the US. It is not. NATO is critical for the European powers (those not named Russia). The US doesn't require it. The US doesn't need to defend Europe any longer. And it's clear the Europeans don't want the US there, so it works out great. Europe can boost its defense spending by ~$300 billion to make up the difference, or not, whatever they choose to do is up to them. The…

The US does not benefit from a stronger, more unified Europe. Thanks to NATO, "the west" has effectively become an empire in all but name, with the US having enough influence to be the de facto leaders of this empire.

If US pulls back from NATO, and Europe builds up military power to compensate, then the US loses this de facto leadership seat of an empire.

Today, the US appears in parallel to be doing two things:

1. Causing fragmentation in Europe, by promoting right-wing nationalist politics in the EU

2. Threatening to drastically reduce their role in NATO

At the very least we can both agree that these two efforts are completely in contradiction with each other, and it's very unlikely that Europeans will want to go for more fragmentation without the military power of the US on their side, right?

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#255

Post by anabab » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

lateforwork wrote: post #141

This quote from Trump is very revelatory: “I’m a real estate developer, I look at a corner, I say, ‘I’ve got to get that store for the building that I’m building,’ etc. It’s not that different. I love maps. And I always said: ‘Look at the size of this. It’s massive. That should be part of the United States.’” Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/us/politics/trump-greenla...

Ah, it is all Mercator's fault

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#256

Post by triceratops » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

xienze wrote: post #218

triceratops wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Its median income is at an all-time high. Its median dispoable income is at an all-time high. Its housing wealth is at an all-time high. Then why is everyone so damned unhappy all the time?

The US used to be a much more homogeneous country, which certainly makes it a lot easier for everyone to be on the same page because of shared cultural values. That has changed dramatically in the past few decades and with it, places where Americans can find common ground. Other western countries are going down the exact same path, just a bit behind us.

I love how racism gets snuck into everything these days.

No, homogeneity doesn't cause happiness.[1] And the US was always less homogenous than other "western" countries.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_in_Japan#Suicide_proble...

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#257

Post by jacquesm » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

Keep in mind that there are many such 10 to 100 billion funds and they can move very fast if they have to. If the feeling is that the value of the USD is going to be lower in the near future they will divest and before you know it the threat becomes reality simply because it is predicated on a belief. Kill the belief and the actions will follow automatically. This could be the first and it could be the only or it could be the first of many.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#258

Post by corimaith » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

adrr wrote: post #2

What happens when USD stops becoming the the reserve currency for the world? And who takes its place?

>And who takes its place?

Anybody who can (EU, Yuan) does not want to. Primairly because as export based economies, they want a weak currency in relation to a strong reserve (dollar) so they can make their goods more competitive, and also because surplus naturally appreciates a currency without central bank intervention via buying US treasuries to offset the appreciation. And for China, they're not going to accept the liberalized capital controls neede for it either.

So the answer is if the US dollars fail it would be global economic collapse and then chaos, but contrary to the rhetoric the rest of the world's economic systems are too uniquely vested in the USD to see it fail. As for gold, well we come to the same problem as noted above but worse, and in that situation the US actually holds the highest gold reserves so they still benefit the most out of it.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#259

Post by etc-hosts » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

complianceowl wrote: post #241

afavour wrote: post #42

It's symbolism. But it's important symbolism. Far more notable, I think, is Macron saying this morning that Europe needs more investment from China. Canada signing a deal with China to allow their cars to be sold in the country. It's all a sliding slope until it reaches a breaking point and falls off like a cliff. EDIT: to quote the Canadian PN earlier today: “American hegemony in particular helped provide public goo…

[flagged]

I think we should all be more shocked the US kidnapped the leader of another country.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#260

Post by throw20251220 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

ahartmetz wrote: post #191

throw20251220 wrote: post #97

Someone should tell the orange guy that we can also stop respecting our obligations. It’s a two way street. It would be a shame if something happened to your ITAR-protected secrets, for example. The US would lose a lot of leverage if they cannot use European military bases. Let’s see how fast Trump goes to bed with Putin…

I don't think that Trump could get into bed with Putin. He could get out of bed with Putin.

Oh, I know. Let’s see how fast he tries to make Putin the good guy on Fox News. What are these rednecks going to do when MAGA goes into bed with Ruzzians! Cold War warriors gonna flip out.

Just impeach the guy already. His mental capabilities aren’t far off Biden’s at the end.