Was talking to someone about that the other day, in a roundabout sort of way. Reckon that was once the case but I would wonder if it really is so true now. The US used to have an industrial economy, but now so much of what it consumes, and even the servicing of the US, is sourced from overseas, that I would wonder if a decent conflict might cause the US to crash out completely. There's hardly any industry left in the 'post-industrial' economy compared to what there used to be to crank up for a good war. Thoughts?
US military is stretched, morale is low, and the lies of the last few wars has reduced trust in leadership. I wouldn't rely on that wildcard.
I look at how the US so casually invades and occupies other sovereign nations, imposes lengthy brutal sanctions at will, has full spectrum dominance in so many regions of the world, is involved with the overthrow of leaders of other countries at will, and everything else that the US is doing today.....and I come to the conclusion that yes, the US is far and away the top dog on this planet...and will be for the foreseeable future. I'm not saying that I think imperialism is a good thing....I'm just saying that it's going on and no other nations are doing anything about it. In my view, that's the most fearsome of all wild cards. .
I think the general discussion on "value" is applicable here too - the US imperialism occurs because we (the big worldwide 'we') let it. For lots of vested self-interests, we 'allow' the US to do what it does because 'we' greedily chase the crumbs from the US table. If 'we' consolidated and said 'no', then the US would lose that power. The power (value) the US possesses, even in military terms, is due to the fact that 'we' agree to it. Just like money. Or sort of, at least.
When I talked about Russia and China buying gold and silver I didn't mean to imply that they would be offering a direct backing of their currency by gold or silver, rather that they are buying gold and silver to sure up their national reserves for the same reason they have been talking about mandating larger good reserves in Switzerland. As for US debt there is certainly nothing anybody could do to make the US pay if they chose not to, as has been mentioned the US has near complete dominance in military terms. What it would do though is immediately destroy the US economy. Unless it was done within the very strict confines of say a military conflict with China and the US said that they were applying sanctions that meant they would not send money to China and do were suspending the debt it would completely destroy international investor confidence in the USA. With questions already hanging over their long term ability to manage the debt the idea that they might selectively ignore inconvenient debt would dry up credit faster than a light shower in death valley. Given that the US government is dependant on credit at the moment, a lot of it sold overseas I can only imagine the immediate impact of this. I don't think this is very likely but defaulting on the debt is simply not a good option for them. That leaves printing money. Whether they keep printing money or do default it's good for silver. If things start getting better, interest rates go up and thru slow down QE then there is a possibly of silver going lower but a stronger economy could lead to increased demand for industrial and medical silver, silver for jewelry as well as individual investment in silver so even that shouldn't be that bad in the long run. Add the possibly of things going badly wrong in the Levant or Ukraine/with Russia and a rush to PMs things are looking up from where I'm sitting. So in all those cases I'm bullish. The only mid/long term hiccups I can see are major switches away from silver for industrial uses in favor of CNTs and related carbon products or some massive increase in the demand/price of metals that produce silver as a byproduct thereby increasing supply.
Funny things happen when the government can't afford to pay it's troops. http://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.asp Not much difference between USA, Russia and China. If it comes down to reliance on allies, will they continue to follow the US into expensive war after expensive war in distant lands? Already nations are reducing their trade in US dollars - None of this is good for the USA.
i dont know, can Fiat really stand on its own? its based on confidence (i suppose in the same light that silver and gold price is backed by confidence). but what happens when someone decides that the US dollar isnt worth what everyone else thinks it is? i honestly dont know if or when it could happen, but it is possible. there is a good argument in having real "money" versus currency
destabilizing other countries provides security for the United states and its allies. answer this, what good is a nations sovereignty if they cant defend it? morals or ethics aside the world benefits from US intervention. personally, i would rather see a focus on distancing ourselves from the international community. the US is gives away more money than any other country, what happens when you give something away? it becomes less valuable
Hey Trew, that page is way too noisy. The first article I read left a bad taste in my mouth because it lauds a real piece of garbage creep, Jeb Hensarling. If views such as this Representative is in line with the undercurrent of the views of this website, then thanks but no thanks....I am not too interested in this website. .
If you are defining regional or global domination as "security" then your comment is correct. Tell that to the people of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran, and the other nations that haven't been able to defend their sovereignty against other nation's military attacks/assaults. How do you and I benefit from US military attacks on other nations (US intervention)? How do the 4 to 5 million Jains benefit from US war-making? How do most people in the world benefit? Please be very specific. I don't think that's necessarily true. If you give away gold, does it really get less valuable??? The US has been giving away lots and lots and lots and lots of money for decades yet the dollar is arguably very strong compared to most other currencies.What other nation could replace the uS dollar as the global reserve currency? .
Yeah don't bother - too much effort to read and become more informed I've been reading that site since 1998 EJ warned of the internet bubble for several years and called the top of the bubble almost to the month he warned about the US housing bubble several years before it crashed he warned about the GFC about a year before it happened hell he even announced he sold all his silver about a week before it topped and crashed back down again he hasn't been right every time though - he was calling for US stocks to keep going down after the GFC but obviously was wrong on that so far Find some of the old KA*POOM theory articles to see how things might just play out ... but if you can't be bothered because the site is too noisy then keep reading permabear stuff or whatever you normally read
why would global domination be a good thing? the idea is to benefit the homefront, not take on responsibility for other areas of the world. aka nation building is a farce just as i said, if they cannot exist in a global setting (either through their own bellicose demeanor towards other nations or suppressing their own citizens through violence) then they dont deserve sovereignty. im not discussing politics nor am i making a normative statement here, just telling it as it is you ask for me to break down every benefit in specifics regarding different theatres of operation (which one are you referring to?). i disagree with how the campaigns were run as do the end goal, but the fact is "war is business" and unless you are on the receiving side then you are generally benefiting from the trade brought on by it as for the people who use to live under the rule of saddam or the taliban, i would conjecture they are no better off aside from the trillions of US dollars we have essentially thrown at them. fact is their country could be considered in the crapper because of any number of reasons, its not like afgahnistan, iraq, libya, etc. was a field of rainbows and an economic powerhouse before the US got involved. to sum it up those were crappy countries before the US got there lol the only reason the US is top dollar is because the US economy is still top dollar. you can equate our breadbasket and capability to produce with our success. the main reason is oil, after the bretton woods conference it was decided that all confidence would be placed in the US dollar and as such the US dollar is what has been used for decades in international trading (specifically oil) as for the precious metals market i think everyone can agree that its based on how much metal is "available", and what i mean by that is if i want to buy some today what would i be willing to pay? giving away money makes it less valuable, and gold is essentially money. an unexpected 3rd party interjection of precious metal would mess that up royally (didnt cypress sell off alot of its gold unexpectedly? what did that do? imagine if greece or spain did it besides, another currency doesnt have to replace the US dollar for it to get weaker, since all value is relative the above is a super basic explanation but its how i see it. the rule of thumb is everything in economics is based in the buyers' confidence of what a product is worth said buyers
You are speaking nonsense and what you are asserting would be no different than me claiming that someone who sees this following page as noisy - http://www.jamilin.com/ - is not interested in giving much effort to read and become more informed. That wacky argument of yours is entirely rubbish, Trew. You want to make a specific point citing an argument posited in an article, then fine, send the link to a specific article. But to send a link to a goofball, cluttered webpage is nothing but propaganda pitching and corroborates no point at all. .
Hey chucklenut, Many of your arguments don't hold water at all. I will explain why. First though, I do want to agree with one thing you've stated, "...everything in economics is based in the buyers' confidence of what a product is worth...." Yes, that's why fiat money is used instead of precious metals today and why in spite of the fact that one may give away silver, salt, dollars, or gold, those things won't necessarily lose their perceived value because confidence would not necessarily be undermined. Nation building is not providing security...it's telling others that we will impose the leaders, values, and military bases we want on your soil for the purpose of controlling either the spigot of resources or the cultural dynamic that is favorable to our worldview. I think you have little to no clue about Middle East and American history. Which nation led the undermining and destabilization of Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan most recently? Which country supported and propped up the Ba'athists during the corrupt Reagan and Bush 1 administrations? http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articl...prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran Which nation supported and propped up the radical and depraved predecessors of Al-Qaeda (remember that bunch whose figurehead, Osama bin Laden, was enemy number 1 to the war hawks in the US?) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1670089.stm If you answered the U.S. to all of those, you'd be right. Learn your history before making absurd accusations. As for most people benefiting, you don't even have a good anecdotal argument let alone something substantive. Since the invasion and subsequent military occupation of Iraq beginning in 1990 (Gulf War - a war of choice no doubt for the U.S.), what has been the all in cost to the tax payer for everything (including long term health care for vets who were psychologically or physically damaged and payouts to family members of soldiers who died as a result of injuries in these US led attacks, and I mean everything)? What has been the cost in lives and trauma to vets, their families, and the rest of us? At this level of incomprehensible expense, are we really more safe now? Before 1990, there have been no incidents inside the US of retributional killings but since the Gulf War we have had a few...the short list includes those who have been succesful in killing others here in the US or were caught prior to carrying out their plans for killing in the U.S. That short list includes but is not limited to (in no particular date order: November 2009: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, July 2011: Army Pfc. Naser Abdo, June 2009: Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, October and November, 2010: Marine Corps reservist Yonathan Melaku. These were all deadly or near deadly incidents that were carried out on military installations. If not even our own military installations are less safe since the Gulf War began, then why would that make civilians more safe??? It doesn't. Most people in the world are actually not better off because of these deadly and extremely costly wars of choice....to claim that it is is simply regurgitating war hawk propaganda. Countless people have paid dearly in many ways for these wars of choice. .
The article in the middle of the main page http://itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=274911#post274911 When the markets figure U.S. debt cannot and will not ever be repaid: Bond market will collapse Stock market will collapse US dollar will collapse Us Inflation will skyrocket The path has already been set - the only question is when it will happen, not if China has already figured this out and is buying everything physical they can get their hands on Your comments about military might are irrelevant The U.S. is not going to invade China to ensure their factories and workforce continue making cheap iPhones to keep apples stock price up
We understand the dollar is an instrument of war, disease, famine and most importantly debt. The world is weaning itself off the petrodollar. Sovereign nations are buying less and less of our stuff with Tbills and bonds. They don't want our debt. They don't want our wars. They don't want our bio-terrorism. They don't want satanic psychopathic central bankers turning the place into a putrid ashtray. There is a changing of the guard as we speak. I don't know which Commander in Chief is running the US but its not Obola - he's playing golf. Ordo ab chaos - dollar devaluation, shortages, a basic leveling or "reckoning" as the zealots like to say and a new Sino central banking hegemony. I've got my sights on a brighter future (regardless of the timing next long term bull trend in pm's) as the system returns to homeostasis and a greater semblance of sanity - with lots of rain expected this Friday in northern CA.
Swap the Americans for the Chinese for a brighter future?????? Remember Tiannemen Square (or however it is spelt). Honestly, I might not like what the yanks have been up to, but I don't see any major powers stepping up that I would prefer. (My Nana was always waiting for the Russians to come and liberate us, but I son't subscribe to that theory) If the American economy melts down, we might be somewhat prepared, but I don't think the years afterward will be any picnic.
hubris /hjubrs/ noun 1. pride or arrogance 2. (in Greek tragedy) an excess of ambition, pride, etc, ultimately causing the transgressor's ruin
