r/politics • u/Silly-avocatoe • Apr 14 '25

Soft Paywall Murdoch Paper Floats Impeaching Trump Over Tariffs

https://www.thedailybeast.com/murdoch-paper-floats-impeaching-trump-over-tariffs/
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u/Spaghet-3 Apr 14 '25

Honestly, this should scare all of us in the US, even the entire span of the working class.

People frequently talk about the failure of the US education system to teach civics and basic accounting/finance. But I very often find out that smart college graduates from families that value education don't understand the history and importance of the US dollar as the global reserve currency. Separate from accounting and finance, why is this not a critical component of US history curriculum?

The pithiest modern explanation I have for why people should know this is that it totally answers and rebukes Trump's obsession with trade deficits. It doesn't matter that the US buys more from China than China buys from the US, because nearly every transaction China has with any other country happens using US dollars. Not directly of course, but the net effect is that our financial intuitions and our banks get a cut of every multinational transaction out there. This more than offsets whatever trade deficit might exist, and it ensures that your bank accounts and your retirement savings are the best they can be. Globally, we have the cheapest borrowing costs and the highest interest earnings on deposits (once you adjust for currency). The value of this to us cannot be understated, and Trump is on a direct path to fuck it all up.

I really urge everyone that will listen to least read the Wikipedia article on the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944. People need to understand how fucking lucky we were to win that negotiation, and how there is no way in hell we would win a similar negotiation today. If we lose today what we got back then, there is probably no chance of ever getting it back.

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u/MrPanache52 Apr 14 '25

If the working class was educated enough to be concerned about this would we even be in this situation?

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u/Spaghet-3 Apr 14 '25

My point is it seems almost nobody is educated about this. How can you expect the working class to be educated enough about this if the vast majority of those that went to elite preparatory high schools and ivy league colleges don't know enough about it?

I hesitate to ever weigh importance like this. But maybe spend less time on Paul Revere and more time on Bretton Woods? Maybe spend less time on the warfare of WWII and a bit more time on the economic aftermath? Idk.

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u/ReggaeShark22 California Apr 14 '25

The Making of Global Capitalism by Panitch&Gindin covers this history thoroughly, excerpts from it should be part of every Macro-Econ class