It is anachronistic. China's productivity, especially in shipbuilding, cannot be explained by reference to this historical analogy, since the trade deficit is a function of America's inability to produce.
@LukeGromen Productivity is the time per unit of value from input to output. Under that formula, a revalued gold cannot explain why the US has a trade deficit with China. The time per unit of value from input to output is unproductive in the US.
China has been investing so much in shipbuilding over the past 18 years that it can now build more ships in a month than the United States can in a year. Measured by time rather than gold or dollars, the situation draws into stark relief America's lack of productivity.
Shipbuilding is just one example. Productivity has fallen widely across the US because the FBI's imposition of a "final solution" on labor has prevented workers from achieving the gains for which productivity soared during WWII.
It serves my argument well that the US is in the fifth period of its steepest state of its decline as a global superpower. The financialization of the economy has so undermined productivity that America is incapable of producing at the required rate of innovation.
The financialization of the economy by way of the US Federal Reserve's insistence upon a fiat currency has led inevitably to its current situation where the dollar is disintegrating, as the incentives for higher productivity decline against the disintegrating dollar.
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Although sparse on actual details, this is not a tree/forest problem but really a misunderstanding about the actual crisis the US dollar faces, as it is not only the dominant global fiat currency but the last and final fiat currency in that monetary era for Western capitalism.
If you listen to a few of the gold salesmen, their point is that the precious metals are flowing from West to East, as Eurasia strengthens its overland trade routes over the maritime routes Eurasia never dominated.
The establishment of the mBridge system, regardless of how useless stablecoins are (why push a figure through the blockchain, it's just a figure), with a gold standard at five major vaults is literally the beginning of the end of Western capitalist dominance.
Citi Bank desperately wants to hold onto its treasury holdings, as a rise in the price of gold threatens to undermine the entire system of dollar dominance. History undermined Citi's predictions for 20% for 2025. May history rhyme in 2026!
1) The fall in the price of gold from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz arose from a liquidity crisis 1a) that shifted in March from nations selling gold to 1b) treasuries that has exacerbated demand for gold.
2) After 1b) Continued closure has not caused gold buying to contract. 2a) On the contrary, gold buying has rebounded. 2b) The lower the price, the more Central Banks demand. Proof is a Kobeissi Letter from June 6th.
If you are really into analytical philosophy with a hardcore obsession for the absurd, then a substantial body of evidence exists to facilitate the claim that Trump's consistently inconsistent statements exemplify Wittgensteinian language games played on the market.
The French have already seized upon the idea, calling Trump's statements "d'incohérence en incohérence" so there might be a little competition among the anglophone world.
Several of Kobeissi's Letters map Trump's statements to volatility in the market with time-series graphs, describing how a positive statement drops prices, a negative statement raises prices. It is a really hot topic for analytical philosophers and economists.
@rynkrynk Uniting together with class conscious Russian soldiers, the very last from the remaining 19.7 million Ukrainians must reject their exploitation as “Eastern European manpower” in Western scrap like Bradleys or Leopards for the higher goal of returning Ukraine to workers.
@rynkrynk Against a new ‘Spring’ counteroffensive, the very last Ukrainian must throw off armchair strategists from Langley, Virginia, directing handlers to field their operations personally with their own feet, hands, or limbs. Let handlers bear the brunt of amputation for Слава Україні!
@rynkrynk Zelensky’s pathetic, whelping calls for extradition from abroad ought to be met with fists clinching the red banner. “If you want us back, we want Ukraine back,” fleeing Ukrainian workers must exclaim! “Let us hang the banner up after your corrupt regime is overthrown!”
Bolton's claim of hesitancy defies the eight years prior to the war the West enjoyed to prepare the Ukraine for NATO's expansion. Leopards, Challengers, Abraham's do not combine as arms on an ad hoc basis. $113B in military aid is unparalleled in the history of mankind. 1/
Bolton himself provides no example of the effective use of sanctions, let alone against Russia. Lack of Enforcement is a reflection of their weakness. Russia eats sanctions alive. The sanctions have only hastened Saudi Arabia's willingness to peg oil in a gold standard. 2/
Biden has never claimed "the war is about Wilsonian abstractions." He openly advocated regime change but couldn't. "There are compelling arguments that assisting Ukraine serves our strategic interest, but the president isn’t making them." But Bolton makes none himself. 3/