LONG brutal article on our current foreign policy mess...
Comments
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I tried explaining this mess to a big time Obama supporter recently and the response I got was:
"I don't care about other Countries, I care about what he is doing in our own"
These are the kind of people we have voting. Christ. -
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I think it is more along the lines of doesn't want to read the truth. It is like the lump on the breast that all of a sudden has "always been there, not an issue".sarktastic said: -
The Libertarian in me wants to GTFO in all facets but the practical side says to work with the non-crazies in the region (the Kurds, Israel, and......oh wait that's about it). I wish the Germans would sack up and carry more of the load but they continue to hide behind American power.
Lower oil prices would take the sting out of a lot of the wallets of the crazies who fund the crazies who do the fighting. -
Allowing German power to be unleashed might not be the best thing to do. Having them as a little brother keeps them under control and allows us to sublimate their tendency to want to dominate everything around them geopolitically. It also enhances the perception of our status as a superpower to have such a powerful country stuffed in our back pocket.HFNY said:The Libertarian in me wants to GTFO in all facets but the practical side says to work with the non-crazies in the region (the Kurds, Israel, and......oh wait that's about it). I wish the Germans would sack up and carry more of the load but they continue to hide behind American power.
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Decent point though I wasn't thinking that they would be "unleashed". Special forces would be nice so that our's don't get too strained or they could chip in some billions to fund the Peshmerga. Heck, since we're still running massive deficits, they could even throw the billions our way for us to disperse.oregonblitzkrieg said:
Allowing German power to be unleashed might not be the best thing to do. Having them as a little brother keeps them under control and allows us to sublimate their tendency to want to dominate everything around them geopolitically. It also enhances the perception of our status as a superpower to have such a powerful country stuffed in our back pocket.HFNY said:The Libertarian in me wants to GTFO in all facets but the practical side says to work with the non-crazies in the region (the Kurds, Israel, and......oh wait that's about it). I wish the Germans would sack up and carry more of the load but they continue to hide behind American power.
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What about oil priced in rubles/yuan?HFNY said:The Libertarian in me wants to GTFO in all facets but the practical side says to work with the non-crazies in the region (the Kurds, Israel, and......oh wait that's about it). I wish the Germans would sack up and carry more of the load but they continue to hide behind American power.
Lower oil prices would take the sting out of a lot of the wallets of the crazies who fund the crazies who do the fighting.
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Oil is globally priced in dollars (like a lot of commodities). The Chinese are hoping to get some commodities eventually priced in yuan but I don't see that happening, at least in the next few years.
With the USA ending tapering and then likely to raise rates in early / mid 2015 and the Chinese growth slowing (as well as having a population aging much faster than our's), I see the yuan weakening relative to the dollar. I'm not a FX trader though.sarktastic said:
What about oil priced in rubles/yuan?HFNY said:The Libertarian in me wants to GTFO in all facets but the practical side says to work with the non-crazies in the region (the Kurds, Israel, and......oh wait that's about it). I wish the Germans would sack up and carry more of the load but they continue to hide behind American power.
Lower oil prices would take the sting out of a lot of the wallets of the crazies who fund the crazies who do the fighting. -
It's happening. Too bad you're missing it.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-09/de-dollarization-accelerates-chinarussia-complete-currency-swap-agreement -
No I read ZH but I don't see it materially affecting anything much over the next few years. Of the top 15 economies in the world, nearly all are solid American allies and it appears that the Bernanke / Wall Street / Obama / Yellen cabal is mostly finished devaluing the dollar (which partially created the incentive for other countries to seek currency agreements with China).
Russia may not even be in the top 10 of countries by GDP anymore since their economy is contracting and if the dollar continues to strengthen, lower oil and nat gas prices will hurt them even more. China is undoubtedly a power but as noted before, their growth is slowing and the bill for their aging population will be increasing since their working age population peaked in 2010:
icis.com/blogs/asian-chemical-connections/2014/05/demographics-guarantee-china-property-crisis/
I can't blame China and other countries not in the USA orbit for seeking out currency swap agreements but if we get a new president willing to tackle the structural problems in the USA (corporate tax reform, personal income tax reform, consolidating poverty programs and / or giving more power to the states, etc etc), our economy will become stronger and so will the dollar.sarktastic said:It's happening. Too bad you're missing it.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-09/de-dollarization-accelerates-chinarussia-complete-currency-swap-agreement
