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or a few other western or para-westernized nations.
The real state of events.
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With all due sympathies for any foreign member's nations here, I really hope that this shakedown is actually on them. That is, they're so married to us that they have to keep us in some shape or they've got no purpose. In other words, without us soaking up their stuff, they've got no mechanism to run themselves.
It's funny how you can conquer the world on paper. You get them 100% addicted and mated to slips of green paper ..then you make the stuff worthless.
It's funny how you can conquer the world on paper. You get them 100% addicted and mated to slips of green paper ..then you make the stuff worthless.
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Give it time. The creep will hit yoo too 'roo
It's not been really good for service industries so far. Construction and Mining are huge...but if there's no money for people to buy our dirt, it won't be long for those.
Give it time. The creep will hit yoo too 'roo
It's not been really good for service industries so far. Construction and Mining are huge...but if there's no money for people to buy our dirt, it won't be long for those.
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
With all due sympathies for any foreign member's nations here, I really hope that this shakedown is actually on them. That is, they're so married to us that they have to keep us in some shape or they've got no purpose. In other words, without us soaking up their stuff, they've got no mechanism to run themselves.
It's funny how you can conquer the world on paper. You get them 100% addicted and mated to slips of green paper ..then you make the stuff worthless.
You know, you're right and I was thinking something similar in a twisted way, I guess. Meaning, I'm hoping that our slump is just severe enough that it dents some of the bottom feeder petro-dictatorships that have been riding high off the recent icnrease in the price and demand of oil. As for getting them addicted to our green slips of paper, some have tried to move off that crack already....but it doesn't seem to have helped them weather the storm.
With all due sympathies for any foreign member's nations here, I really hope that this shakedown is actually on them. That is, they're so married to us that they have to keep us in some shape or they've got no purpose. In other words, without us soaking up their stuff, they've got no mechanism to run themselves.
It's funny how you can conquer the world on paper. You get them 100% addicted and mated to slips of green paper ..then you make the stuff worthless.
You know, you're right and I was thinking something similar in a twisted way, I guess. Meaning, I'm hoping that our slump is just severe enough that it dents some of the bottom feeder petro-dictatorships that have been riding high off the recent icnrease in the price and demand of oil. As for getting them addicted to our green slips of paper, some have tried to move off that crack already....but it doesn't seem to have helped them weather the storm.
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I think the US$ is the only currency that there's enough of to run the world. The Euro's just don't have enough para-wealth to do the job. Those oil mega-monarchies are our partners, Brian. If you have to buy petro in U$ ..you've got to have U$. That means you need to balance your books with the US. If the US$ is worthless, you're just going to have to work harder to pay for your petro ..and deliver more goods to the US to get the worthless US$ to pay for it. You'll can also buy US products..but ..if you're already broke paying for US$$ petro
Yes, a very odd arrangement. Naturally, as with all conquests, the pawns provide the fodder.
Yes, a very odd arrangement. Naturally, as with all conquests, the pawns provide the fodder.
No, they don't deliver more goods, they raise the price so that they have enough worthless dollars to stay profitable. Of course, they also come in and buy up newly cheap US goods, companies, and financial institutions.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want the Lion's share of these countries to go under...Just the thorny ones who challenge US hegemony!
Don't get me wrong, I don't want the Lion's share of these countries to go under...Just the thorny ones who challenge US hegemony!
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Quote:
No, they don't deliver more goods, they raise the price so that they have enough worthless dollars to stay profitable. Of course, they also come in and buy up newly cheap US goods, companies, and financial institutions.
You're talking China ..who holds our debt anyway. It's an ag culture in transition to industrial ..and their transition is massive even if it's fractional.
But look at something like Bangladesh or the vast majority of 3rd world countries. For example, Guest jeans are only made in Bangladesh for export. I mean, you can buy them there for a dollar within their internal economy, but that "company factory" is there to provide US$ for them to pay for stuff that only U$ can pay for on the international market. Now that the US$ is tanked ..and petro is traded in US$ ...what's that do to them?? They make up most of the other 1/3 of the planet outside of India and China.
No, they don't deliver more goods, they raise the price so that they have enough worthless dollars to stay profitable. Of course, they also come in and buy up newly cheap US goods, companies, and financial institutions.
You're talking China ..who holds our debt anyway. It's an ag culture in transition to industrial ..and their transition is massive even if it's fractional.
But look at something like Bangladesh or the vast majority of 3rd world countries. For example, Guest jeans are only made in Bangladesh for export. I mean, you can buy them there for a dollar within their internal economy, but that "company factory" is there to provide US$ for them to pay for stuff that only U$ can pay for on the international market. Now that the US$ is tanked ..and petro is traded in US$ ...what's that do to them?? They make up most of the other 1/3 of the planet outside of India and China.
Americans will be going through a painful adjustment process. The biggest hurdle to overcome is our expectations about our standard of living. The rest of the world has been piling whole extended families into 3 bedroom houses even in "developed" countries for years. They share cars and don't have every imaginable toy in the world. And life goes on and people make it and many are even happy. That's what's going to have to happen here over the next few decades. End of the world? No. Painful adjustment? Yes, especially for those with consumerism hangovers.
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It's going to be a real culture shock to realign our collective perception of a standard of living. It's very hard to understand why anything should retreat from any level that it attained. You do get into complications trying to manage such things and one can effectively argue that any cure will have its own set of ills that may make the ailment a wash. The sad part about our gluttony is that it didn't fatten us up for our future (relative) famine. It was mostly in the form of hollow calories.
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