Re:U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Declines to Smallest in Three Years
by gscott on Tuesday December 31, 2019 @11:42PM
(#21926697)
China has printed more money then any country in history. There is just not many good choices other than the U.S Dollar.
Re:U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Declines to Smallest in Three Years
by Scarblac on Wednesday January 01, 2020 @07:36AM
(#21927801)
It's a country of two billion people that grew from mostly rural to partly very modern in very short time. Of course they need a much larger money supply than before.
Re:U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Declines to Smallest in Three Years
by s_Hogg on Wednesday January 01, 2020 @12:09AM
(#21926751)
Source?
Re:U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Declines to Smallest in Three Years
by onlyrealcuzzo on Tuesday December 31, 2019 @11:37PM
(#21926682)
Japan has been in worse debt than the US with much worse demographics for 30 years, and they're somehow doing just fine. I think we have plenty of legs still.
Re:U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Declines to Smallest in Three Years
by yaantc on Wednesday January 01, 2020 @04:49AM
(#21927404)
The Japan government has a huge debt. But it is mostly owned by Japanese people and firms. If you look at the whole Japan country, state, people and companies together Japan is not in debt, but is a net creditor. So very different from the US as a whole.
Re:U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Declines to Smallest in Three Years
by wahern on Wednesday January 01, 2020 @07:12AM
(#21927741)
The Social Security Trust Fund used to soak up most of the U.S. deficit, but it switched to net outflows 1 or 2 years ago.
For the past 5 months the Federal Reserve has increased its treasury holdings by $250 billion[1], after selling them steadily for the past 2 years as part of QE reversal. Everything I've read said that the recent inability for the Treasury to clear short-term bonds is a technical issue. But I wonder if these two matters are purely coincidental. Perhaps the removal of the SS Trust Fund buffer is starting to catch up with our massive and dramatically increasing (since the Trump tax cut) deficits? Any linkage would have to be indirect, I suppose, but still....
Re:U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Declines to Smallest in Three Years
by dnautics on Wednesday January 01, 2020 @01:23AM
(#21926921)
I wouldn't say that. They have been suffering from a lost decade that has lasted 30 years. Social stagnation is the highest it's ever been. Yes, there is still a lot of social cohesion but that's maybe just... because they're japanese? Japan is the country where fining families for an suicide that stops the train works because suicidal individuals don't want to inconvenience their families.
Bretton Woods has led to a US life of luxury and the economists’ joke that the American consumer drives the world economy. It was a nice run. But once we have to print money to service the astronomical debt, it will devalue both the treasuries and the dollar, reducing our purchasing power and putting us to work for others — like they have been doing for us.
Let’s hope we have robots and automation by then :)