Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as inflation soars

Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by 0xfaded on Monday July 04, 2022 @02:24PM (#31980288)

Mark Blyth, who I find to be a cynical but entertaining economist, would say (paraphrasing):

  An export-based economy just means you let someone else consume the excess you produce.

In exchange, you receive an increment to an arbitrary number stored in a computer somewhere. This might be a reasonable model for a household, but governments can print money making the value of said number somewhat fluffy. In a sense, the US got away with QE (for as long as it did) because other countries exercised tight fiscal policy. In the aftermath of 2008, the ECB was as conservative as ever and Europe relied on American $'s for liquidity. Or another way of thinking of it: so long and thanks for all the BMW's :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Blyth

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by olivermarks on Monday July 04, 2022 @02:43PM (#31980455)

I'm a Blyth fan but you are missing out a critical component of the right to print money, which is that the US dollar is the reserve currency of the planet. The petro dollar (offshore) is not backed by the FDIC the onshore US dollar is.

The vast US military is arguably primarily to protect the right to print the world's currency. (The day Iraq started to sell oil in euros the US attacked it for example)

As Blyth knows and talks about the ECB is in dire straits versus the reserve currency dollar. The EU has a difficult road ahead having completely screwed up their energy policy and are now creating food shortages in Holland and elsewhere to add to the global inflation nightmare.

It's hard to tell if the US federal (it's not, it's private banks) reserve (they don't have any) are willfully incompetent or master tactical strategists...

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by unmole on Monday July 04, 2022 @09:35PM (#31983395)

> The day Iraq started to sell oil in euros the US attacked it for example

This stupid meme needs to die.

Iraq's switch to the Euro was not some rogue act of defiance. It happened under the UN's Food for Oil-for-Food program and was authorised by the Security Council: https://www.un.org/depts/oip/background/chron.html

If it really was such a significant risk to the dollar hegemony, the US could have simply vetoed it. The switch happened in late 2000 but Iraq wasn't invaded till March 2003.

> US federal (it's not, it's private banks) reserve

Eye-roll.

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by olivermarks on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @07:29PM (#31995011)

Preceding the 'oil for food' historical fig leaf was the Iranian oil bourse, an attempt to get the petroeuro off the ground. That was headed off and nipped in the bud pretty fast by the petrodollar mercenaries...

The FR is a federal board 'overseeing' 12 private chartered regional banks. This contraption was organized in deep secrecy in 1910 at Jekyll Island as I expect you are aware.

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by Vinnl on Monday July 04, 2022 @03:33PM (#31980859)

Wait, what do you mean by food shortages in Holland, and especially ones caused by the EU?

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by olivermarks on Monday July 04, 2022 @04:15PM (#31981299)

https://www.dw.com/en/dutch-farmers-block-food-distribution-...

etc.

dutch farmers are spraying manure at the bureaucrats buildings

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by epups on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @03:10AM (#31985266)

There's no food shortage at all. This is about farmers protesting future measures against global warming, which might partially shutdown livestock production.

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by olivermarks on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @08:36PM (#31995452)

My point was there will be food shortages once this EU directive gets enforced. Not necessarily in Holland but in their export markets

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Re:Germany records first monthly trade deficit since 1991 as... by Vinnl on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @07:15PM (#31994918)

I was aware of that happening (though that not necessarily leading to significant food shortages), which is why I added the "especially ones caused by the EU". Though re-reading now I guess you weren't talking about energy policy there and instead refer to the Natura 2000 areas it selected (though not really recently)?

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