Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto

Re:Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto by nowherebeen on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @02:54AM (#31406872)

I haven’t seen any other country that tries new things and willing to spent than the US. That includes Europe and Asia. It’s quite disappointing really because the world is so much bigger than the US alone.

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Re:Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto by ChuckNorris89 on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @03:05AM (#31406945)

>I haven’t seen any other country that tries new things and willing to spent than the US

The US owns the money printer to the world trade currency (USD), and has the military force to defend this unique position, so of course it can afford to outspend everyone else.

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Re:Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto by TMWNN on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @03:41AM (#31407194)

I wish the legions who, in online discussions of the US dollar (or almost anything US foreign policy/military-related), always bring up how the US dollar/economy's strength is based on the "petrodollar" (you didn't say it, but that's what you were thinking of), how the US goes to war to preserve the dollar's role as a reserve currency, how Russia/China/Saudi Arabia can cause the dollar to crash by using another currency, etc., would actually think about what they're arguing about.

No, kids, if Saudi Arabia suddenly started selling all its oil in Euros or Yen on renminbi, the US would not send the Sixth Fleet off its shore, any more than it did so to force KSA to use the US dollar to price its wares in the first place. Saudis (and Russians, and Chinese, and everyone else) use the US dollar because they find that a) using it is more convenient than another hard currency like the Swiss franc or British pound, and b) no one else wants riyals, rubles, or renminbi.

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Re:Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto by hahaxdxd123 on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @04:14AM (#31407413)

This is not necessarily some petro-dollar argument. Individuals in other countries and their central banks want to save or hold USD in reserve for a variety of reasons (local currency inflation, exchange rates, etc). They buy dollar denominated bonds. This essentially allows the US massive access to credit which can fund these sorts of ventures.

I can make the same argument without mentioning the military - we benefit from a virtuous cycle of having the most dynamic economy which allows us access to credit to improve it, making it even more dynamic, and we simply pay it back as a lesser share of % GDP later.

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Re:Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto by lIl-IIIl on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @03:17AM (#31407031)

That may be relevant to the US government, but the investors that would invest in startups don't have access to that printer.

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Re:Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto by ChuckNorris89 on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @03:21AM (#31407065)

VC firms, investment banks, etc. are all suckling from the same FED teat, and all this cash trickles down into the US tech sector/start-up scene.

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Re:Microsoft Opens New HQ in Toronto by refurb on Tuesday May 17, 2022 @06:55AM (#31408599)

Not really. VC are investing institutional money. Institutions in the US are willing to invest in "private-equity venture capital". Hell, even CALPERS does.

It has nothing to do with the federal reserve and everything to do with risk tolerence.

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