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I don’t see why anyone would trust future payments in the dollar. It’s not backed by anything but trust. Sure, you’ll get your social security at $5k/month in 3

I don’t see why anyone would trust future payments in the dollar. It’s not backed by anything but trust. Sure, you’ll get your social security at $5k/month in 30 years, but the money will be worth toilet paper. Sure, your army pension will be there, the raw $$ amount, also worthless.

Gabriel_Martin 3y ago
To me, it seems there are two sides to your point, one about trust, and the other about dollar value in context to growing federal debt. As for the trust, I think part of where things go beyond trust comes from a sort of self-reinforcing economic strength. When the average monthly expenses for an American household add up to about $5,500, certain industries (like transportation (16.8 percent of those expenses), or food (12.8 percent) will always view the American economy as a leading market to operate in. At a macro level, it would seem that many businesses making this similar judgement call would create a dynamic that goes beyond trust. Regarding the buying power of pensions point, I believe there are cost of living adjustment laws for buying power which require Army or Social Security pensions to react to USD's changing buying power over time.
- maxerickson 3y ago
  The existence of a rule doesn't mean the thing will happen. (There's no reason for government policy to eschew abundance, so I'm not particularly worried for the future, but that is because of the dynamics of the situation, not the laws that are in place)
Supermancho 3y ago
> It’s not backed by anything but trust. It's backed by the ability of the US government (and military) to ensure that the US is operating. As long as the US maintains a world hegemony, it's a safe bet. If it loses a series of engagements (not a single theater of economic interest), it's time to hop on to another currency. Ofc, that's just how I see it.
- a-user-you-like 3y ago
  Sure, backed by a large army that ensures the fed prints the value of your pension away.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - KyleBerezin 3y ago
    Both pensions and social security scale with the cost of living. inflation isn't new, and this isn't the worst we've seen.
    - a-user-you-like 3y ago
      So we printed 40% of total money supply two years ago and this year we gave an 8% social security raise. What a sham. Please let me opt out now.
      - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
        I give you permission to opt out. If you have skills, there are plenty of countries that would gladly have you. They all mostly do monetary policy the same way though.
        a-user-you-like 3y ago
        Oh, staying and voting that we can all opt out and keep our money.
      - KyleBerezin 3y ago
        That 40% did not lead to a 40% increase to the cost of living like you are implying. Cpi went up 8% in 2022, and social security went up 8.7%
        riku_iki 3y ago
riku_iki 3y ago
> I don’t see why anyone would trust future payments in the dollar. the issue is that other currencies can be trusted even less.

Gabriel_Martin 3y ago

To me, it seems there are two sides to your point, one about trust, and the other about dollar value in context to growing federal debt. As for the trust, I think part of where things go beyond trust comes from a sort of self-reinforcing economic strength. When the average monthly expenses for an American household add up to about $5,500, certain industries (like transportation (16.8 percent of those expenses), or food (12.8 percent) will always view the American economy as a leading market to operate in. At a macro level, it would seem that many businesses making this similar judgement call would create a dynamic that goes beyond trust. Regarding the buying power of pensions point, I believe there are cost of living adjustment laws for buying power which require Army or Social Security pensions to react to USD's changing buying power over time.

maxerickson 3y ago
The existence of a rule doesn't mean the thing will happen. (There's no reason for government policy to eschew abundance, so I'm not particularly worried for the future, but that is because of the dynamics of the situation, not the laws that are in place)

Supermancho 3y ago

> It’s not backed by anything but trust. It's backed by the ability of the US government (and military) to ensure that the US is operating. As long as the US maintains a world hegemony, it's a safe bet. If it loses a series of engagements (not a single theater of economic interest), it's time to hop on to another currency. Ofc, that's just how I see it.

a-user-you-like 3y ago
Sure, backed by a large army that ensures the fed prints the value of your pension away.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- KyleBerezin 3y ago
  Both pensions and social security scale with the cost of living. inflation isn't new, and this isn't the worst we've seen.
  - a-user-you-like 3y ago
    So we printed 40% of total money supply two years ago and this year we gave an 8% social security raise. What a sham. Please let me opt out now.
    - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
      I give you permission to opt out. If you have skills, there are plenty of countries that would gladly have you. They all mostly do monetary policy the same way though.
      - a-user-you-like 3y ago
        Oh, staying and voting that we can all opt out and keep our money.
    - KyleBerezin 3y ago
      That 40% did not lead to a 40% increase to the cost of living like you are implying. Cpi went up 8% in 2022, and social security went up 8.7%
      - riku_iki 3y ago

riku_iki 3y ago

> I don’t see why anyone would trust future payments in the dollar. the issue is that other currencies can be trusted even less.