Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries • Hacker News Board

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#281

Post by jacquesm » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

palmotea wrote: post #276

jacquesm wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the world is not going to be bullied into submission by one guy. If you can't take care of your own problem then eventually the world will turn away from you. This has the obvious potential of spiraling out of control but Trump is first and foremost the responsibility of the US population. The rest of the world will pick up the pieces. But he needs to be kept inside the lines or he'll run into people who…

But "not getting bullied" is and entirely different thing than thinking a US civil war would be a good thing for the world or "reduce the global threat" (which is just bonkers). Like, we're all amateurs on a web forum, but it's best to avoid monomaniacal, first-order thinking.

Nobody hopes for that other than some guys that think that crashing the US lets them pick up the pieces like it happened with the USSR but on a much larger scale.

If you honestly believe that the EU wants the US to descend into civil war then you you have your parties grossly mixed up.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#282

Post by ben_w » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #113

alphazard wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's symbolism. It's not. This is where the financial rubber meets the road, actions have consequences, and the rest of the world is looking at the US as increasingly unlikely to pay above inflation on its debts. The people managing the pension funds (if they are acting in good faith) really want to generate yield, and really want to preserve capital for the Danish people. They don't want to symbolically do those t…

There's no chance US will default on its debts, all it has to do is to print more money. Inflation may spirale, but it's going to be a US citizens problems (as well as US bond holders) in terms of inflation and budget cuts.

This "solution" looks like the same problem to people holding the debt.

Ergo, they increasingly do not want to hold that debt.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#283

Post by OrvalWintermute » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #216

adventured wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is not a one sided thing. The US has been allowed to do a lot of things under the NATO umbrella that it benefited from (such as: selling a vast quantity of arms). Soft power is a thing and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization came into being to deal with exactly the kind of situation that we are viewing today. To see the US bow out, and in fact threatening allies is duplicitous at best.

The Euros also underfunded their defense obligations and received huge amounts of US investment in facilities, enabling them to upfund social programs, socialized healthcare and most egregiously 8 - 12 week vacations which are completely unheard of in the US.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#284

Post by qwertox » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

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…

It's like Trump and his followers are not aware how fragile this entire system is, and if they are aware, they don't seem to be aware of the risks, and that the most likely outcome is that the world is in a less good condition than before. A big child that got the wish granted to play president.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#285

Post by sorokod » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #113

alphazard wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's symbolism. It's not. This is where the financial rubber meets the road, actions have consequences, and the rest of the world is looking at the US as increasingly unlikely to pay above inflation on its debts. The people managing the pension funds (if they are acting in good faith) really want to generate yield, and really want to preserve capital for the Danish people. They don't want to symbolically do those t…

There's no chance US will default on its debts, all it has to do is to print more money. Inflation may spirale, but it's going to be a US citizens problems (as well as US bond holders) in terms of inflation and budget cuts.

There is no chance US will need to take Greenland by force ( financial or military) , all it has to do is to increase the number of troops already stationed there by agreement.

Yet here we are.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#286

Post by jlarocco » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

adrr wrote: post #2

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

I wonder if there needs to be a single reserve currency any more.

In the past it made things easier for everybody to use the same currency, but is that still the case with modern electronic transactions?

Maybe it splinters into Euro, BRICS, and USD?

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#287

Post by whimsicalism » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

JumpinJack_Cash wrote: post #268

whimsicalism wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree that our fiscal situation is unsustainable. I’m curious specifically about the people envisioning (with barely disguised glee) the US erupting into a civil war within 5 years, as they seem somewhat to have lost touch with reality.

> > the US erupting into a civil war within 5 years, as they seem somewhat to have lost touch with reality. When your material needs are satisfied then only ideological battles remain to be won. And having lots of material stuff you have plenty to throw at the enemy. It's already happening. People are willing to forego their material needs and harm the country and themselves to 'own' and defeat the other side. The on…

I think effectively all empirics go against this notion, the only real counterexample I can think of is the Troubles. People living comfortable lives don't want to die and the ideology usually routes around that: look how morality has been evolving wrt the notion of 'sacrifice for the common good' - and we expect people will sacrifice their lives for their perception of the common good? doubt it

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#288

Post by justin66 » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:48 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…

> The US is more stable than the powers of Europe (which have constant political upheavals, snap elections that completely remake the political landscape, etc)

How many European powers have had their incumbent head of state violently attempt to hold onto power after losing an election after January 6th, 2021?

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#289

Post by jacquesm » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:49 PM UTC

whimsicalism wrote: post #262

jacquesm wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not with the Europeans that I know, they are all absolutely aghast at every single murder. It is one of the reasons EU countries are reluctant about participating in any war, they always hope to avoid it (and as a result sometimes get much larger ones...).

Hard for me to see anyone who says an American civil war is a best case scenario as not cheering for American deaths and I'm skeptical that this was written by an American as it sounds far too out of touch and 'wishcasty' as someone else said.

I don't know exactly who you are referring to, which article/comment/?? do you refer to?

You are skeptical that it was written by an American, but you have no proof that it was not?

Do you know who did write it?

Those guys in the Whitehouse, are they not American?

They are the ones steering you straight off a cliff and quite literally anything - including civil war - could happen as a result of that.

Re: Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries

#290

Post by btbuildem » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 4:49 PM UTC

whimsicalism wrote: post #126

btbuildem wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not pure symbolism. The most effective way to reduce the global threat the US is appearing to pose more as of late, is to hit the dollar. The US economy is in a very precarious state, tensions along political ideology lines are high, and it would not take much more than a worsening of economic conditions plus a catalyst event to kick off armed unrest within the country. A new civil war that drives the US to frag…

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?

We don't live in the meth lab downstairs, we're in the apartment above it. It's been wild in the past couple of decades, but lately you guys have started taking pot shots at the ceiling, so yeah, we're watching.