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

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101–110 of 277 posts

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

#101

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…

It is by design. How else can you make trillionaires?

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

#102

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…

#1: US military war spending concerns are largely overblown. It's expending what it already has. The spending is mostly on its own internal industry i.e. the US economy (with due respect to broken window fallacy). It arguably makes it all back from the increase in oil prices.

It's a very different thing to fire a $5m missile that you imported vs one that you made domestically with all-domestic components and labor.

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

#103
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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

I believe the idea is to support the “real” economy vs a “paper” economy. The “real” economy manufactures stuff in meat space instead of making value through abstractions like financial derivatives. The real economies are tied to a stronger middle class and national security. That’s the thesis as I understand it.

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

#104
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The devaluation also mostly happened during the periods that everyone calls good old times now.

there was wage growth

Yeah, didn't people used to make like $10/week as the median wage at the turn of the 20th century? I agree that we have big problems now, but I feel like this analysis is deeply flawed without the inclusion of wage data.

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

#105
post #89
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Because it increases US workers relative (to other countries) wage. Though with current automation levels this may be a lesser problem.

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

#107
post #89
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

[deleted]

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

#108

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…

Just noting: it's interesting to see the term "lethal trifecta" used here given the relatively recent coinage relating to LLM security: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Jun/16/the-lethal-trifecta/

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

#109

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?

money supply increased more than all those during the covid.

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

#110
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard the expression "to play one's Uno card." Is this a play on "to play one's Trump card"? I can understand why this phrasing could cause confusion, but want to make sure I'm not missing something.

In Uno, you're supposed to say ‘Uno’ as you play your second to last card (indicating you are close to winning).

I think the internet use is usually “reverse uno (card)” which means the tables are being turned, aka what you tried is being reflected back at you.
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