Oddbean new post about login | logout You Americans have big cars and big houses but it is not because you are harder working than the rest of the world or smarter. It is because you have the world's reserve currency and you export inflation to the rest of the world, you finance yourselves at the expense of the rest of the countries, imposing your currency through the coercive force of your gigantic army. Ask yourself why the US has military bases all over the world. Bitcoin if it would solve this, we are going to compete as equals.
It's a story as old as time. Rome, England, America. When their currency fell, they did too. It's on its way🫡.
I agree that some significant portion of modern US wealth is a product of the post-WW2 world empire (and the dollar reserve as a form of tribute). However, USA (and Argentina) were dramatically rich in the late 1800s due to free market policies that brought about a much higher degree of economic activity than in most of Europe. The US is now a mix of industries that have been made into fascist cartels as well as those that are relatively free. Some of the present wealth is due to actual economic productivity even in industries laboring under government intervention (eg the US is the world's #1 food exporter)
Being subjects of the regime that controls the world’s reserve currency does nothing for ordinary Americans. It only benefits the State and its associated corporate clients/partners, while hollowing out and taxing to death the once highly productive American economy.
If you think so, you don't understand anything about economics.
no, you're wrong. the average American gets two weeks off for vacation. at 5 years you tend to get three. the basic retirement age is 67. Europeans are forever "on holiday" and anyone who has had the displeasure of working with them at a multinational corp. knows this. The rest of the world works less hours either because the employer just does not offer the pay .... or the high tax rates disincentivizes it. the rest may work more hours but their economy is 3rd world/communist/stone age.
You have a rather distorted view of Europe 😂.
20 years at a multinational corp .... enough experience for two lifetimes.
Then, if YOU value big cars and big houses, YOU can provide the requisite work to acquire them yourselves! And if someone else questions your life choices, you can confidently tell them to fuck off and work harder!
why do these fucked up countries like Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea host the US military at all? ..... The American tax payers want to know.
Why do poor Americans by Japanese cars and rich Americans buy German cars? BTW Most Americans are F@&$ked by debt that has them so buried they won’t get out till they are 65. In Rome it was said “ a society that lives on the sea and can’t feed its people is doomed” FISCAL DOMINANCE will doom the dollar and tough times will come.
who is "we"? Europeans, wherever they reside, as always, will continue to dominate everything anyone wants to be a part of relative to modernity. what no wheel? what no architecture? Are you claiming that sub-saharans and aboriginals will suddenly be on "equal" footing simply because fair money? if so, bitcoin certainly will fix that... delusion.
Seethe
As an American, This is pretty much true.
Yea that pretty much sums it up. But let’s not pretend England didn’t do the exact same thing right before we did, and the Dutch before them.
And the US turbocharged the advantage by providing a fantastic business environment. I can start a business here with 1 online form and $0 down. Contrast that to Magatte Wade in Senegal. The US has no barrier to entry when starting a business (except for crypto businesses 👎)
Part of this is because despite American inflation, every other fiat is worse. So America did it, but your government helped and is complicit. The major players could have dethroned USD by now if they had a better currency military or not. It is a double edge sword and it will hurt America soon and bad. Most first world countries hold US treasuries and bonds as a way to "back" their currency. The plan is if their currency slips, they sell the US assets and buy their own currency to prop up it's price. That hurts the US market which reduces the value of the other countries holdings. This will domino when the first major player falls. Remember that recent overnight (to Americans) flash crash in global markets? Japan raised rates. They are one of the biggest international US treasury holders. People in the know thought they might also start selling treasuries and start this chain reaction. Bitcoin is still seen by most as a high risk asset and crashed too. There will be nowhere to hide short term if this happens any time soon.
As an American, I did not even know or consider these things before becoming a bitcoiner. I just thought I was lucky to be born in a Country like this. Godspeed to you brother.