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72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

eco3min.fr

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Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#81

[flagged]

Really not interesting analysis. Four "concentrated episodes" totaling 30 years, hardly "concentrated episodes", especially when you have a "concentrated episode" that lasts for fifteen years. It's extremely unsurprising there are periods of inflationary growth that's higher, and some lower.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#82
post #50

This supports my hunch that the current Iran war creates a lethal trifecta that could potentially cause a dollar collapse. 1. Massive military overspend. 2. Petrodollar squeeze (Strait of Hormuz). 3. Allies pulling out: Europe and the Gulf diversifying both their investments and defense purchases. #1 creates oversupply of dollars and #2 and #3 lower demand. This study supports the idea that wars can indeed destroy pu…

One of the goals of the Heritage Foundation is a weak dollar. They believe they can bring manufacturing back to the US this way. I don't think they're right. I do think they will continue weakening the dollar.

They are right on that. What they are wrong is when they decided that is a good thing.

Not every kind of "bringing manufacturing back" brings the same kind of wealth and quality of life.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#83

I'm trying to read this and not feel like an idiot. Can someone explain to me how post-covid is considered one of the 4 episodes? it looks to me that the dips at 1933-1936 or 1956-1958 are much more significant - are these just "regular" inflation? Are we ignoring these because we can't tie them to some specific current event?

I think probably the interest rate is higher, but the value as a proportion of the starting value on LHS is less significant, compared with the periods you mention. If you look at the monthly interest rates at the bottom, it seems to support this notion.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#84
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran is also playing its own Uno card here by saying that it would consider allowing some oil and gas shipments through the Strait if they have been bought with Chinese Yuan, than the US dollar. ( The Islamic Republic may grant safe passage to oil tankers if the cargo is traded in Chinese yuan - https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/iran-allow-chinese-ships-hormu... ).

This is particularly funny if you consider petrodollar to be a bad deal for US, not a good one. Ironically, if yuan becomes new petroleum currency, it might hurt Chinese long term.

The petrodollar confers a huge advantage to the US, which is the whole point of it. It soaks up liquidity and allows the US to export inflation which allows it to be in the insanely profitable business of printing money. An argument could be made that this is corrupting and economically distorting to society resulting in a net negative but there is no guarantee that the same corruption would undermine China in a timely manner. I think the effect would be rather muted provided that the US remains world hegemon but if the US would lose the petrodollar and credible force projection at the same time we will shift from the current looting stages of collapse to the free for all stage of collapse. Or put another way, from a managed decline to an unmanaged decline.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#85

This supports my hunch that the current Iran war creates a lethal trifecta that could potentially cause a dollar collapse. 1. Massive military overspend. 2. Petrodollar squeeze (Strait of Hormuz). 3. Allies pulling out: Europe and the Gulf diversifying both their investments and defense purchases. #1 creates oversupply of dollars and #2 and #3 lower demand. This study supports the idea that wars can indeed destroy pu…

anyone who sees this are early early early, yes it's very likely to happen, probabilistically.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#87
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bigger question is, why is that even the primary goal?

Because Conservative politics is about returning to a past that often can no longer exist.

Or didn't exist to begin with. All too often mythologized into an absurd caricature of the past.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#88

Note that most of this period falls before the modern inflation target was established in 1995. In the past 30 years we've had 75% accumulated annual inflation (aka prices have increased be a factor of exp(0.75) = 2.1) of which 16% (aka 21% of the total) took place during an inflation excursion (which lasted 2.5 years aka 8% of the total time period). If anything the data points at "inflation targeting works and is p…

I believe the broader reason for an inflation target is to increase the value of "doing something" as opposed to "doing nothing" with money. Of course, like most policies, this acts on people with way too much of it and skews the perception of control and locus of control to those entities with too much.

Not to reply against you, just to add clarification. This is the reason why a slightly positive inflation rate is normally targeted. Theoretically, it would be entirely possible to target 0% inflation, but then you are so close to possible deflation, that most people would simply save up money instead of buying things from the economy.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#89
post #54
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is particularly funny if you consider petrodollar to be a bad deal for US, not a good one. Ironically, if yuan becomes new petroleum currency, it might hurt Chinese long term.

>Ironically, if yuan becomes new petroleum currency, it might hurt Chinese long term. Agreed. Which is why the Chinese do NOT want their currency to become the Petrodollar or world's reserve currency. They know that that is what destroyed US Manufacturing. China wants to maintain their manufacturing dominance. They've seen what de-industrialization has done to the US.

How are you connecting the petrodollar and US manufacturing? US manufacturing was destroyed because companies closed their factories in the US and used factories in China because labor was cheaper and they were less regulated.

Re: 72% of the dollar's purchasing power was destroyed in just four episodes

#90
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran is also playing its own Uno card here by saying that it would consider allowing some oil and gas shipments through the Strait if they have been bought with Chinese Yuan, than the US dollar. ( The Islamic Republic may grant safe passage to oil tankers if the cargo is traded in Chinese yuan - https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/iran-allow-chinese-ships-hormu... ).

This is particularly funny if you consider petrodollar to be a bad deal for US, not a good one. Ironically, if yuan becomes new petroleum currency, it might hurt Chinese long term.

Or not. It depends on policies other than just being reserved currency
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