Earlier quoted context omitted.
China's government is "very stable" until it's not. As a society, China has a long history but the central government has essentially collapsed or experienced violent revolution in 1976, 1969, 1949, 1927, 1911, 1850, 1796, 1644, etc. Perhaps we have reached "the end of history" and the Chinese Communist Party will now maintain stable control forever. Or maybe it will all fall apart again in a few decades due to resou…
The loss of a succession strategy with an elderly leader at the helm seems like a major issue.
Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
241–250 of 279 posts
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
The British Isles lie on the Eurasian tectonic plate, on the northwestern part of the European continental margin. Going to "the continent" is an incorrect expression. You are already on it. I'm being highly pedantic here.
If you want to be pedantic, then this also wrong: half of Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Scotland are actually on the Laurentian plate, which split apart. The Scottish Highlands used to be part of the same range as the Appalachian. Plates are not continents.
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#243Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#244Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#245Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
So which do you choose? Yuan carries Chinese geopolitical risk, Yen, probably not enough of it in the world plus Japan keeps trying to devalue, Euro maybe, but there's plenty of geopolitical risk there with Russia on the doorstep and shifting politics... Plus if everyone doesn't choose the same it's less convenient.
You make sound like we're stuck with it, but the franc and the sterling pound used to have a similar role for a few centuries each... these things change.
If China ever replaces Xi and the next generation takes a softer stance on a bunch of stuff it'll be a shoe in, but right now they're weirdly belligerent.
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not defending the US government but the reason why you hold treasuries is because if you want to buy something in two years, or ten years, etc. there is a good chance you will want to buy something with dollars. Oil, soy beans, New York real estate..
Until you can buy oil without dollars. This was an explicit agreement called the Petrodollar system, which was premised on the US navy securing international trade. If the US navy proves unable to do that (and exhausts its arms and demonstrates unpreparedness for future conflicts) then the whole premise falls apart. You might also stop buying real estate if the government seems unstable and economy is poised to colla…
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
So which do you choose? Yuan carries Chinese geopolitical risk, Yen, probably not enough of it in the world plus Japan keeps trying to devalue, Euro maybe, but there's plenty of geopolitical risk there with Russia on the doorstep and shifting politics... Plus if everyone doesn't choose the same it's less convenient.
Russia is going to have a very hard time directly attacking the Eurozone without also hitting NATO home soil - which through Article 5 would also pull in plenty of non-Euro countries, including the United States. Besides, shoveling never-ending piles of cash into the furnace of the War Machine doesn't seem to have hurt the dollar? As to shifting politics: The EU is famously extremely hard to move. The European Counci…
That's the plan, but under Glorious Leader? Not clear which side he would attack (or possibly neither).
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#249Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
The pedantry of being angry at the US for being the only country that actually has the word "America" in its name and yet calling itself American is almost comical in its ineptitude. Nobody shakes their metaphorical fist at the Central African Republic for daring to use Central African as its demonym. It's simply understood that the surrounding countries are also African, yet simply do not have the name of the contin…
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.