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I was thinking about this recently, and wondering the EU will start moving away from the USD, further weakening the global strength of USD and America. They are

I was thinking about this recently, and wondering the EU will start moving away from the USD, further weakening the global strength of USD and America. They are already dealing with BRIC, and the potential of crypto (likely Bitcoin) to remove any single currency as providing power to any country. The US has benefitted hugely by being the reserve currency, but that strength is also a weakness that can be used against them, but only if the other countries collaborate, which the EU is most capable of.

epistasis 2y ago
As a US citizen horrified by the people that voted for Trump, this is my big fear too. We have never had a weaker president that caused so many self-inflicted wounds. This administration is shaping up to be self-immolation covered by the veneer of strength, for people that don't understand what strength is. The small fraction of Silicon Valley that bent the knee to this narcissist wanna-be-king have shown themselves to be unbelievably weak too. It's surprising. I have lost so much respect for so many people over the past 6 months, but I fear much more for the future prosperity that we have needlessly destroyed.
- JPKab 2y ago
  "As a US citizen horrified by the people that voted for Trump" Congratulations, you've been successfully propagandized to a point where you view people who don't vote the way you do as morally inferior. I'm sure that will help you persuade them in the future. "This administration is shaping up to be self-immolation covered by the veneer of strength, for people that don't understand what strength is." Oh, so you know what strength is huh? Did you ever serve in the military? Do you even have friends who did? Interesting that you ignore the fact that the previous president was mentally incapable of the job for increasingly long intervals as his term progressed, and was so incompetent on the Afghanistan withdrawal that he projected tremendous weakness that acted as an invite for Putin to launch a full scale assault less than a year later. Biden did nothing for Silicon Valley, other than try to regulate AI to a point where only a small handful of massive companies had foundation models. Marc Andreesen didn't support Trump until AFTER the Biden administration bureaucrats met with him and told him they would ensure that they would only allow a small handful of foundation AI companies that they tightly regulated to exist. He was so horrified that he switched over. The moral inversion it takes to claim that the people willing to stand agains the Valley's intense social conformity "weak" is also revealing about how brainwashed you truly are. You're just part of the mob, and if you lived in a super conservative place, you'd be part of that mob too. Freethinking requires courage, and I see none of it in the typical SV limousine liberal. Just a bunch of millionaires who hate the billionaires they envy.
  - etc-hosts 2y ago
    I thought Andreesen on the surface publicly "heel turned" because the Biden administration and SEC made some really weak motions at regulating cryptocurrencies. I believe Andreesen's words were "CRYPTO REGULATION TERROR REGIME", or something like that. Every day there is a bigger and bigger crypto token scam becoming public, not always but sometimes involving the most powerful person in the United States.
  - pedalpete 2y ago
    JP, the tone of your answer actually jumps to all the conclusions, and name calling. Epi just said "he was horrified", he did not in any way suggest that the people who voted for Trump were inferior. Having said that, Biden was a pretty crap and useless leader. That doesn't mean the opposite of Biden is doing better. At least Biden did fairly minimal damage with his inaction. Do I disagree with Biden's take on AI? Sure, but did they actually have any teeth to stop progress? China's progress in AI proves not. You were very quick to blame others for being successfully propagandized. I suggest you point the same magnifying glass on yourself. We dislike in others what we see in ourselves.
    - DamnYuppie 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - AlecSchueler 2y ago
        Can we recognise how bad of a look it is to be calling people "illegals" while your leaders are giving Nazi salutes, opening concentration camps and referring to people on welfare as parasites? I don't think any of us should be engaging with such violently charged language anymore. By all means have the discussion respectfully but it's distressing to see people continue with this dehumanising language while the rest of us look on in horror.
        DamnYuppie 2y ago
        I don't agree that it is a bad look. People on welfare are taking from the system and people who cross our borders and enter and stay in our country without visas are illegal. People who look at such things with "horror" dehumanize the conversation by refusing to admit the harsh truths of the world. It is like they bathe themselves in weakness and virtue signaling. They hide from how cruel the world is and try to bring everything down to some tame level that doesn't exist solely so they can control the discourse.
01100011 2y ago
The benefit of the reserve currency is our ability to run huge deficits and the result is a loss of our industrial base. It's a double-edged sword but one that ends up leaving us vulnerable. If we had a major non-nuclear conflict with China, for example, they would out build us the way we out built the Germans in WWII.
- whatshisface 2y ago
  There is no such thing as a major non-nuclear conflict.
  - bdangubic 2y ago
    except the one happening last three years? :)
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - rad_gruchalski 2y ago
      If it was a non-nuclear conflict Russian would have been mowed down long time ago. The only reason why Russia is still in the game is defensive plans involving tactical nuclear weapons.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
    - herewulf 2y ago
      Only one side has nuclear weapons so it doesn't count.
      - impossiblefork 2y ago
        Both sides do have nuclear weapons. Europe has France. While there are no European armies in Ukraine, we are not neutral and thus in principle in some way at war with Russia. Presumably this is why our PM here in Sweden has said that we are neither at war nor not at war-- i.e. we're legally at war with Russia, but it's a sort of phony-war á la 1938.

epistasis 2y ago

As a US citizen horrified by the people that voted for Trump, this is my big fear too. We have never had a weaker president that caused so many self-inflicted wounds. This administration is shaping up to be self-immolation covered by the veneer of strength, for people that don't understand what strength is. The small fraction of Silicon Valley that bent the knee to this narcissist wanna-be-king have shown themselves to be unbelievably weak too. It's surprising. I have lost so much respect for so many people over the past 6 months, but I fear much more for the future prosperity that we have needlessly destroyed.

JPKab 2y ago
"As a US citizen horrified by the people that voted for Trump" Congratulations, you've been successfully propagandized to a point where you view people who don't vote the way you do as morally inferior. I'm sure that will help you persuade them in the future. "This administration is shaping up to be self-immolation covered by the veneer of strength, for people that don't understand what strength is." Oh, so you know what strength is huh? Did you ever serve in the military? Do you even have friends who did? Interesting that you ignore the fact that the previous president was mentally incapable of the job for increasingly long intervals as his term progressed, and was so incompetent on the Afghanistan withdrawal that he projected tremendous weakness that acted as an invite for Putin to launch a full scale assault less than a year later. Biden did nothing for Silicon Valley, other than try to regulate AI to a point where only a small handful of massive companies had foundation models. Marc Andreesen didn't support Trump until AFTER the Biden administration bureaucrats met with him and told him they would ensure that they would only allow a small handful of foundation AI companies that they tightly regulated to exist. He was so horrified that he switched over. The moral inversion it takes to claim that the people willing to stand agains the Valley's intense social conformity "weak" is also revealing about how brainwashed you truly are. You're just part of the mob, and if you lived in a super conservative place, you'd be part of that mob too. Freethinking requires courage, and I see none of it in the typical SV limousine liberal. Just a bunch of millionaires who hate the billionaires they envy.
- etc-hosts 2y ago
  I thought Andreesen on the surface publicly "heel turned" because the Biden administration and SEC made some really weak motions at regulating cryptocurrencies. I believe Andreesen's words were "CRYPTO REGULATION TERROR REGIME", or something like that. Every day there is a bigger and bigger crypto token scam becoming public, not always but sometimes involving the most powerful person in the United States.
- pedalpete 2y ago
  JP, the tone of your answer actually jumps to all the conclusions, and name calling. Epi just said "he was horrified", he did not in any way suggest that the people who voted for Trump were inferior. Having said that, Biden was a pretty crap and useless leader. That doesn't mean the opposite of Biden is doing better. At least Biden did fairly minimal damage with his inaction. Do I disagree with Biden's take on AI? Sure, but did they actually have any teeth to stop progress? China's progress in AI proves not. You were very quick to blame others for being successfully propagandized. I suggest you point the same magnifying glass on yourself. We dislike in others what we see in ourselves.
  - DamnYuppie 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - AlecSchueler 2y ago
      Can we recognise how bad of a look it is to be calling people "illegals" while your leaders are giving Nazi salutes, opening concentration camps and referring to people on welfare as parasites? I don't think any of us should be engaging with such violently charged language anymore. By all means have the discussion respectfully but it's distressing to see people continue with this dehumanising language while the rest of us look on in horror.
      - DamnYuppie 2y ago
        I don't agree that it is a bad look. People on welfare are taking from the system and people who cross our borders and enter and stay in our country without visas are illegal. People who look at such things with "horror" dehumanize the conversation by refusing to admit the harsh truths of the world. It is like they bathe themselves in weakness and virtue signaling. They hide from how cruel the world is and try to bring everything down to some tame level that doesn't exist solely so they can control the discourse.

01100011 2y ago

The benefit of the reserve currency is our ability to run huge deficits and the result is a loss of our industrial base. It's a double-edged sword but one that ends up leaving us vulnerable. If we had a major non-nuclear conflict with China, for example, they would out build us the way we out built the Germans in WWII.

whatshisface 2y ago
There is no such thing as a major non-nuclear conflict.
- bdangubic 2y ago
  except the one happening last three years? :)
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - rad_gruchalski 2y ago
    If it was a non-nuclear conflict Russian would have been mowed down long time ago. The only reason why Russia is still in the game is defensive plans involving tactical nuclear weapons.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - herewulf 2y ago
    Only one side has nuclear weapons so it doesn't count.
    - impossiblefork 2y ago
      Both sides do have nuclear weapons. Europe has France. While there are no European armies in Ukraine, we are not neutral and thus in principle in some way at war with Russia. Presumably this is why our PM here in Sweden has said that we are neither at war nor not at war-- i.e. we're legally at war with Russia, but it's a sort of phony-war á la 1938.