The US dollar and national security

The US dollar and national security(hegemoney.com)

17 points by whockey 146 days ago | 8 comments

Havoc 145 days ago |

> Our adversaries realize this. They’re flooding these regions with state-sponsored financial weapons.

That may well be, but the #1 danger to the dollar's preeminence is sitting in the white house. On current trajectory the Chinese win by default because the US has voluntarily abdicated their role as stabilizing force for the western order

UltraSane 145 days ago | |

And all because the rich want to undo the New Deal reforms.

hackandthink 145 days ago |

Someone else wants a piece of the national security propaganda pie.

nitwit005 145 days ago |

This seems to confuse the currency for the actual economic activity. The US doesn't "wield the dollar", they can do things like limit trade or access to banking.

bluegatty 145 days ago | |

That's what the author means but the biggest leverage from the dollar is not as a tool but just the fact that provides cheap debt. The US has enormous amount of leeway with debt issuance relative to other nations who's currencies will fluctuate wildly depending on economic circumstance.

Cheap debt actually creates it's own problems but it's a 'good problem' to have.

treebeard901 145 days ago |

Settling trade between two countries is not a difficult problem to solve. It was a mistake to ever base any national security on it.

bluegatty 145 days ago |

"hegemoney" good lord.

"dominate financially through new technologies and better policy."

Sorry, but nobody but a small number of crazy US imperialists wants that.

These people are extremely dangerous - they are not Eisenhower or Reagan types even if they claim the mantle, they're Imperialists who're living in the bosom of the peace dividend created by Eisenhower post WW2 order, and assuming that the 'prosperity of the free world' is entirely their creation and also theirs to own.

Eisenhower aka post WW2 people etc. wanted a world that included all nations where one was not above the other. He was definitely a bit missionary, wanting to 'spread the revolution' but he was def. not classically imperialist. Reagan was mostly that as well, and very genteel in nature. Go back and watch him talk, he was a pretty dignified guy.

This 'hegemoney' guy (and new class of people like him) are the essence of the Neo American Imperialist movement - aka presuming that 'might makes right' this was the realpolik structure of the international sitaution all along, but it was not.

The total lack of self awareness of these people extends right to the fact that they assume that anyone wants to be a part of their game, they can't fathom why people are siding with China outright, or viewing China/US with moral ambiguity.

It's 'Captain America' aka authentic, legitimate US leadership of a relatively free world that made the West admirable, and put the US at the centre of that, with all of the Mag 7 globally dominant companies etc. It's how we can win the moral argument (more or less) vis-a-vis Russia, and wayward states. It's economic, cultural, diplomatic, trade etc.

The USD is tolerated and accepted for trade because the security bargain was reasonable and the West, with the US as 'anchor' was a pretty good thing to be a part of.

Now it's not (or moving that way) - and literally everyone including US closest allies are looking for ways to de-dollarize and move away from the US.

What took decades to build will take decades to unwind, and of course this could still be a 'blip', but it's likely that things are never going fully back.

The language from these Neo Imperialist types seems to imply they're clueless about that. They are cheating on a system their much more dignified grandfather's built, and unaware that they are cheating.

We really need to start tracking these people.

fred_is_fred 145 days ago |

"Silicon Valley and DC have come around to the fact that trade can be a more effective weapon than boots on the ground. "

What an unfortunately timed post.