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https://www.truthdig.com/articles/goodbye-to-the-dollar/
The inept and corrupt presidency of Donald Trump has unwittingly triggered the fatal blow to the American empire—the abandonment of the dollar as the world’s principal reserve currency. Nations around the globe, especially in Europe, have lost confidence in the United States to act rationally, much less lead, in issues of international finance, trade, diplomacy and war. These nations are quietly dismantling the seven-decade-old alliance with the United States and building alternative systems of bilateral trade. This reconfiguring of the world’s financial system will be fatal to the American empire, as the historian Alfred McCoy and the economist Michael Hudson have long pointed out. It will trigger an economic death spiral, including high inflation, which will necessitate a massive military contraction overseas and plunge the United States into a prolonged depression. Trump, rather than make America great again, has turned out, unwittingly, to be the empire’s most aggressive gravedigger.
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:48AM (19 children)
Trump blames everything on his predecessors, principally Obama, so we may as well play the same game and blame this one on Trump.
And I have my suspicions about the Wall Street Crash as well...
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:29AM (18 children)
And I have my suspicions about the Wall Street Crash as well...
You can blame that on Hoover
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:33AM
The Great Depression was far worse than it otherwise would have been due to the Federal Reserve's efforts to support the price of gold. That led it to _not_ stimulate the economy at a time when such a stimulus was desperately needed.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:27AM (14 children)
Some breadcrumbs: Money appears (QE). Loans easy (rates low). Banks flush with virtual money. "Invest" it in stocks. S&P Boom! Defaults. VIX up. Ouroborus of stop losses and margin calls. Crash.
Same procedure as last time, Miss Sophie? The same procedure as every time, James.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:04PM (13 children)
It's to watch them try to expand the economy without growing the population by balancing it on the point of a needle [ssrn.com]. Scarcity now has to be manufactured.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:31PM
Let me come in again...
It's [fun] to watch them...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:40AM (11 children)
Making the food we eat now requires about a third of the land surface area of Earth (1/9 agriculture, 2/9 pastureland). Land is not so abundant that we can just ignore that as too cheap to meter.
Such as not doing 5% changes in GDP per year? That's a pretty fat needle.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:29AM (6 children)
Over half of produced foods are thrown away. Waste and corruption (primitive tribal politics) are what cause distribution difficulties. Capitalism doesn't work without scarcity and conflict. Without stratification, money doesn't flow.
Such as not doing 5% changes in GDP per year?
Voodoo economics are for entertainment use only...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:53PM (5 children)
Waste would happen anyway.
Obsession over such things is an indication of lack of abundance.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:22PM (4 children)
"Obsession"? Over a primary cause of our problems? Are you trying to appeal to authority again?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @01:35AM (3 children)
A lazy backhoe operator who takes two hour smoke breaks still digs faster than a guy with a shovel. Waste and corruption aren't primary with technological advancement.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:19AM (2 children)
Waste and corruption aren't primary with technological advancement.
They are the primary impediment to efficient and equitable usage and access. You are quite the apologist...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @04:09AM (1 child)
Which is just not that important. You started by emphasizing 50% food wastage. That's not very much.
What is this conversation supposed to be about? I'm hearing a lot of wooshing above my head right now.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 07 2019, @05:06AM
I'm hearing a lot of wooshing above my head right now.
Apparently so. You are simply hand waving away the entire truth. You are defending corrupt and wasteful authority. Cui bono
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by qzm on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:43AM (3 children)
> Making the food we eat now requires about a third of the land surface area of Earth (1/9 agriculture, 2/9 pastureland)
Complete and utter bullshit. from someone who has obviously not traveled much.
Huge swarths of what get counted as 'pastureland' are not in any way actual pasture, because they count ALL grasslands as pasture.
Including a whole great load of africa, for example.
If you look at the percentage of the planet used at a reasonable level of intensity for such purposes, it is much MUCH smaller..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:52PM
If the grasslands has farm animals grazing it, it's pastureland.
Not seeing the problem.
I think we are doing so. I'll check my sources later when I get the time to see if there's a problem with them.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @02:13AM (1 child)
Not all the land was in present use, but it doesn't include land that was fallow for more than five years.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @02:14AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:37PM (1 child)
I blame Columbus. Had he never discovered America, Wall Street wouldn't even have existed!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:36PM
Yeah, we'd all be like, "Occupy Frankfurt" 'n stuff...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..