The problem Russia faces is that, short of launching an all-out nuclear attack, there is little they can do that affects the decisionmakers in Washington.
In _Naked Captialism_ yesterday (or a few days ago), Yves Smith and MIchael Hudson discussed what they called the zugzwang facing the US. "Zugzwang" means a move forced by the rules but which is disadvantageous (sometimes catastrophic) for the mover; this situation often occurs in games like chess and checkers. In this case, according to the authors, the flooding of the US economy with funny money to inflate rich people's asset prices has led to a situation in which the Fed is damned if it does and damned if it don't. As some of you may have noticed, when the interest rates were raised, several banks failed. The intention seems to have been to punish labor and some owners of capital from being too productive and thus supporting inflation, but this move failed; the economy refused to go into recession, which means the Fed will have to try harder to get worse results. I thought this might eventually affect the propensity of the government to throw money at its Ukrainian war project which in turn will affect the future of that project; see above where I speculate about the scorched-earth tactic of using cluster bombs.
The BRICS have not issued their currency yet, it will take significant time for it to impact the dollar. The majority of commerce is still conducted in dollars and will be for years to come. Like you I look forward to the dollars destruction as the only means of removing the cancer in DC from power. They can still print dollars even if its not the reserve currency it will just devalue much more quickly
The bond markets are purely synthetic, the price is not driven by investors or even markets but governments and central banks. Judging the health of the dollar based on bond rates is like judging the ethics of a prostitute in church on Sunday morning.
Bond markets don’t listen. Any more than oil giants. Nearly every respectable responsible economist is documenting the crumbling dollar. But in disaster capitalism, crumbling means a chance to make big bucks. Bond markets are the vultures.
If the largest, most sophisticated and liquid securities market in the world doesn't listen, you should be able to make an easy killing as an investor.
"The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."
As documented in The Big Short, the guy who bet heavily on the mortgage crash didn't make as much as you would think, largely because the market was rigged.
The Federal Reserve dominates the bond market. The stock market is largely artificial due to the formerly illegal practice of stock buybacks combined with Congress shoveling money to the stocks they themselves own. Covid comes in, the economy tanks, and stocks soar. What's wrong with this picture?
Yes. For awhile. That seems to be the driving idea behind all of the US’s policy decisions now. No, we can’t win Ukraine but we can bilk trillions out of the economy. No we can’t stop global warming so we might as well dig and extract and chase $$$$ until we die. It is as you say, a killing. They’ll prop up investments until it’s time to take the winnings and run, at which time the soaring inflation will eat up all the profits they have so assiduously chased these last years of empire. They may go for gold, but since China is there ahead of us buying it up like crazy, there won’t be much place left to hide their ill-gotten gains and boo hoo, they’ll just have to start another war to steal it from someone somewhere.
The problem Russia faces is that, short of launching an all-out nuclear attack, there is little they can do that affects the decisionmakers in Washington.
Meanwhile, the dollar crumbles into worthless dust...
It does? Someone ought to tell the bond markets....
In _Naked Captialism_ yesterday (or a few days ago), Yves Smith and MIchael Hudson discussed what they called the zugzwang facing the US. "Zugzwang" means a move forced by the rules but which is disadvantageous (sometimes catastrophic) for the mover; this situation often occurs in games like chess and checkers. In this case, according to the authors, the flooding of the US economy with funny money to inflate rich people's asset prices has led to a situation in which the Fed is damned if it does and damned if it don't. As some of you may have noticed, when the interest rates were raised, several banks failed. The intention seems to have been to punish labor and some owners of capital from being too productive and thus supporting inflation, but this move failed; the economy refused to go into recession, which means the Fed will have to try harder to get worse results. I thought this might eventually affect the propensity of the government to throw money at its Ukrainian war project which in turn will affect the future of that project; see above where I speculate about the scorched-earth tactic of using cluster bombs.
Don't kid yourself. The Empire in general and the war on Ukraine in particular are sacred cows, and at the same time, labor must be brought to heel.
if the Fed has to offer an unlimited backstop to the banks, wipe out savers, print unlimited free money, whatever, they will do it in a heartbeat.
If we learned nothing else from the GFC, it is how far The Powers That Be will go to get what they want.
They can’t print money if the dollar is no longer the world currency. And BRICS is seeing to that.
The BRICS have not issued their currency yet, it will take significant time for it to impact the dollar. The majority of commerce is still conducted in dollars and will be for years to come. Like you I look forward to the dollars destruction as the only means of removing the cancer in DC from power. They can still print dollars even if its not the reserve currency it will just devalue much more quickly
World trade is still largely denominated in USD. What slack there is has mostly gone to EUR.
The bond markets are purely synthetic, the price is not driven by investors or even markets but governments and central banks. Judging the health of the dollar based on bond rates is like judging the ethics of a prostitute in church on Sunday morning.
If you really think that, then there's easy money to be made.
Bond markets don’t listen. Any more than oil giants. Nearly every respectable responsible economist is documenting the crumbling dollar. But in disaster capitalism, crumbling means a chance to make big bucks. Bond markets are the vultures.
If the largest, most sophisticated and liquid securities market in the world doesn't listen, you should be able to make an easy killing as an investor.
"The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."
As documented in The Big Short, the guy who bet heavily on the mortgage crash didn't make as much as you would think, largely because the market was rigged.
The Federal Reserve dominates the bond market. The stock market is largely artificial due to the formerly illegal practice of stock buybacks combined with Congress shoveling money to the stocks they themselves own. Covid comes in, the economy tanks, and stocks soar. What's wrong with this picture?
Without going into the details of what you wrote, what happened during COVID was "free money".
Yes. For awhile. That seems to be the driving idea behind all of the US’s policy decisions now. No, we can’t win Ukraine but we can bilk trillions out of the economy. No we can’t stop global warming so we might as well dig and extract and chase $$$$ until we die. It is as you say, a killing. They’ll prop up investments until it’s time to take the winnings and run, at which time the soaring inflation will eat up all the profits they have so assiduously chased these last years of empire. They may go for gold, but since China is there ahead of us buying it up like crazy, there won’t be much place left to hide their ill-gotten gains and boo hoo, they’ll just have to start another war to steal it from someone somewhere.
The value of the dollar is already deteriorating as evidenced by marked domestic price increases and the drop in bond values.
Massive foreign capital outflows have triggered the collapse of large banks
https://science1arts2and3politics.substack.com/p/world-strategy-today
Enough to say that you'll need to see a lot more than that to mean anything.
At least while the current illegal war mongering clowns are in office.
The people who make the decisions are not up for election.
Elections are all now questionable.