US becoming ‘developing country’ on global rankings

[Hamartia Antidote]

Try the Brioche Bread from Costco - 2 loaves for $10.00. Great for sandwiches lightly toasted.

I stick one loaf in the refrigerator right away and it keeps for several weeks.

You can put it in the freezer too.

 

[Han Patriot]

fair enough. most of us are not single. 2 loaves at $3.50 each is not bad. You get white labelled bread loaves at $2.50 pretty much in any decent grocery store.

Baking bread ain't hard. Buy king arthur flour and bake the bread. I have not worked out the economics. I have done it for fun

The amount of poverty I have seen in the states is shocking mate. We have poor folks in China but no where near the shit I saw in the inner cities man.

 

[8888888888888]

USA look like it has slums despite being a first world.

 

[AViet]

Wow, that is so cheap. What is average Vietnamese wage as today?

It depends. In big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, average workers in factories may earn 8 millions to 20 millions per month. My mother who was a professor at one of the biggest universities in Hanoi, now receives a monthly pension of around 10 millions.

However, not everything is that cheap. Average lunch in a decent restaurant with air con in Hanoi costs around vnd 50,000.

 

[Ssan]

It takes a price to become an international currency.

First of all, you must have a large trade deficit. Only the deficit can let other countries own and use your currency.

Secondly, in order to create a trade deficit, you need to transfer a large part of the manufacturing industry and invest abroad. That was one of the purposes of the Marshall Plan.

You will need to build a huge invincible fleet and invest heavily in military affairs to ensure global trade security and currency credit.

Because of the huge deficit, you will become a country relying on domestic demand to drive economic growth. Because war is the biggest domestic demand, you will gradually become infatuated with the smell of war. Your people will die in a war that will never stop.

Because of the transfer of manufacturing industry, your people will inevitably be troubled by the growing gap between rich and poor. Because of the high costs of war and armaments, your citizens will enjoy worse and worse welfare and public facilities.

If you want to maintain your position, you must attract talents from all over the world. This will inevitably lead to the diversification of your country. Diversified countries will inevitably be accompanied by ethnic conflicts, LGBT and other issues.

If you choose this path, you must always be alert to any risk of failure. Because once the monetary system collapses, countless currencies will return to your country, which will bring an unprecedented economic disaster.




Heavy is the head who wears the crown.
------Shakespeare

In fact, it is good for most Americans to make the world multipolar. The crown is both a blessing and a curse. After the curse is removed, the United States will become more and more like Europe, not more like hell.

That’s an interesting take. But I think the two biggest reasons are quite straightforward actually and have nothing to do with these points.

One- US won WW2 and as a result was able to negotiate the Bretton Woods System that made the dollar special as compared to European countries.

Second, the US convinced middle eastern oil producing nations to take payment in dollars.

Technically a deficit might help- but you could also just print money. To be honest, I don’t think the US has even been comfortable with the sort of deficit it has. Part of it is due to our lack of competitiveness with regards to pricing.

 

[MH.Yang]

That’s an interesting take. But I think the two biggest reasons are quite straightforward actually and have nothing to do with these points.

One- US won WW2 and as a result was able to negotiate the Bretton Woods System that made the dollar special as compared to European countries.

Second, the US convinced middle eastern oil producing nations to take payment in dollars.

Technically a deficit might help- but you could also just print money. To be honest, I don’t think the US has even been comfortable with the sort of deficit it has. Part of it is due to our lack of competitiveness with regards to pricing.

If you do not have a large deficit, but have a large surplus. The end result is that you have a lot of other countries' currencies, not other countries have a lot of your currency.


If other countries do not have your currency, how do you make these currencies international currencies?

 

[Ssan]

If you do not have a large deficit, but have a large surplus. The end result is that you have a lot of other countries' currencies, not other countries have a lot of your currency.

Believe me, the Chinese know this very well.

If other countries do not have your currency, how do you make these currencies international currencies?

Do what you are currently doing increase monetary supply (ie print money and send it abroad). A secondary bond market maybe)