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Other countries stashing dollars is basically pure seignorage profits for the US. And these countries using the dollar as a long term storage of value is geopol

Other countries stashing dollars is basically pure seignorage profits for the US. And these countries using the dollar as a long term storage of value is geopolitical insurance. This makes no sense unless you read it as the Trump administration sabotaging US interests.

blitzar 2y ago
> This makes no sense unless you read it as the Trump administration sabotaging US interests. Occam's razor - they are all morons.
- namaria 2y ago
  Yeah, assume no malice when stupidity can be postulated. Caveat: intentional stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
rich_sasha 2y ago
This isn't aiming to be overdramatic, but still there's interesting comparisons with the arch-populist, Hitler. His main quality was really that he captivated crowds, his resentments resonated with his voters, and he had no inhibitions to do the unthinkable. Without in any way comparing Trump to Hitler in other ways, in these three specific things they are alike. Reading about Hitler's rise to power, it's obvious he kind of bumbled his way into it. There were many people for whom it was convenient, he did many random reckless things that should have been disastrous but somehow he made them into success - for example rearming the Ruhr, or frankly invading Poland with the French army right on its western border. Hitler was incredibly lucky for a long time, and that's why he managed to do so much damage. But there wasn't really a clever master plan to it. He had hateful ramblings in his head and acted rashly on them. It was sheer luck and shock effect that he wasn't spat out after just a few heads in politics. I suspect this is also what Trump is doing. And as in 1930s, for a while, everyone else has too much to lose to stand up to it. But unless he will have Hitler's luck for just as long, eventually the random lashings will end badly for him. Of course Hitler's luck ran out in the end too, with him dead, Germany on its knees and split into two, and German imperialism more or less dead.
- Tainnor 2y ago
  > But there wasn't really a clever master plan to it. He had hateful ramblings in his head and acted rashly on them. Hitler had a fairly consistent worldview and sets of goals going all the way back to Mein Kampf, even though he didn't know how to get there from the start. I don't think this can be said about Trump.
  - rich_sasha 2y ago
    Yeah, I'm not claiming it's an all-encompassing analogy. Though you could argue Trump was always going on about tariffs, even as a supposed Democrat. Also Hitler's views radicalized dramatically over time. Or maybe more accurately, the ideas were constant, but their scope and ruthlessness expanded.
    - seec 2y ago
      Hitler ideas were radical from the start. We just like to pretend otherwise in history manuals, because it started as a socialist thing, and since left HAS to be the camp of the good, it has to become far-right radicalism. But if you look at history in various countries it is extremely consistent with socialist/left ideology that necessarily need to have an authoritarian state to put the world in the "right" state.
      - Tainnor 2y ago
        Although a member of the German Worker's Party, Hitler was never an ardent socialist (you may confuse him with Mussolini), and both of them had completely broken with any "socialist" roots long before they came to power. Communists and social democrats were among the first targets of the Nazis.
        seec 2y ago
        His program was litteraly national socialism. He wanted to get rid of the communists but not because their ideas didn't suit him (in many ways it's extremely similar, central state deciding everything) but because they were sympathisan of the soviets; another big power that he just wanted to take over. I'm not confusing with Mussolini but yes it is more of the same. What I'm pointing out is that all those authoritarian centralised government are almost always some sort of far-left by definition. In my opinion the way we classify the political ideas and government is very flawed and illogical. It is that way to respect the sensibilities of the people theorising such things and they always want to have the left side look better (even though it is by far the most murderous ideology there has ever been).

blitzar 2y ago

> This makes no sense unless you read it as the Trump administration sabotaging US interests. Occam's razor - they are all morons.

namaria 2y ago
Yeah, assume no malice when stupidity can be postulated. Caveat: intentional stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

rich_sasha 2y ago

This isn't aiming to be overdramatic, but still there's interesting comparisons with the arch-populist, Hitler. His main quality was really that he captivated crowds, his resentments resonated with his voters, and he had no inhibitions to do the unthinkable. Without in any way comparing Trump to Hitler in other ways, in these three specific things they are alike. Reading about Hitler's rise to power, it's obvious he kind of bumbled his way into it. There were many people for whom it was convenient, he did many random reckless things that should have been disastrous but somehow he made them into success - for example rearming the Ruhr, or frankly invading Poland with the French army right on its western border. Hitler was incredibly lucky for a long time, and that's why he managed to do so much damage. But there wasn't really a clever master plan to it. He had hateful ramblings in his head and acted rashly on them. It was sheer luck and shock effect that he wasn't spat out after just a few heads in politics. I suspect this is also what Trump is doing. And as in 1930s, for a while, everyone else has too much to lose to stand up to it. But unless he will have Hitler's luck for just as long, eventually the random lashings will end badly for him. Of course Hitler's luck ran out in the end too, with him dead, Germany on its knees and split into two, and German imperialism more or less dead.

Tainnor 2y ago
> But there wasn't really a clever master plan to it. He had hateful ramblings in his head and acted rashly on them. Hitler had a fairly consistent worldview and sets of goals going all the way back to Mein Kampf, even though he didn't know how to get there from the start. I don't think this can be said about Trump.
- rich_sasha 2y ago
  Yeah, I'm not claiming it's an all-encompassing analogy. Though you could argue Trump was always going on about tariffs, even as a supposed Democrat. Also Hitler's views radicalized dramatically over time. Or maybe more accurately, the ideas were constant, but their scope and ruthlessness expanded.
  - seec 2y ago
    Hitler ideas were radical from the start. We just like to pretend otherwise in history manuals, because it started as a socialist thing, and since left HAS to be the camp of the good, it has to become far-right radicalism. But if you look at history in various countries it is extremely consistent with socialist/left ideology that necessarily need to have an authoritarian state to put the world in the "right" state.
    - Tainnor 2y ago
      Although a member of the German Worker's Party, Hitler was never an ardent socialist (you may confuse him with Mussolini), and both of them had completely broken with any "socialist" roots long before they came to power. Communists and social democrats were among the first targets of the Nazis.
      - seec 2y ago
        His program was litteraly national socialism. He wanted to get rid of the communists but not because their ideas didn't suit him (in many ways it's extremely similar, central state deciding everything) but because they were sympathisan of the soviets; another big power that he just wanted to take over. I'm not confusing with Mussolini but yes it is more of the same. What I'm pointing out is that all those authoritarian centralised government are almost always some sort of far-left by definition. In my opinion the way we classify the political ideas and government is very flawed and illogical. It is that way to respect the sensibilities of the people theorising such things and they always want to have the left side look better (even though it is by far the most murderous ideology there has ever been).