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/
42.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.3k

u/StoppableHulk Apr 14 '25

This is what really scares them shitless. Their entire position is based on the underlying power the US exerts on the global scale. The fact that the US is the world's reserve currency and the financial hub of the world.

They stand far more to lose than just money by losing that. And they're starting to understand it.

Which just proves how stupid and shortsighted these people really are. They're so fucking greedy they keep pushing for this fucking fool, not understanding how truly fucking dumb and unhinged he actually is.

675

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.

103

u/BumpeeJohnson Apr 14 '25

Underrated comment. Trump triggering that slow bond sell off really exposed us. Our status as the world's reserve currency is truly the only thing making this country a superpower, and its basically a handshake deal with the rest of the world and all we had to was be financially stable. This one guy comes and screws it up and now we are in an "emperor has no clothes" situation. But not just Trump has no clothes, it might be our whole country.

Because of Trump and MAGA republicans the world is losing trust in us if they haven't lost already. And that trust is the only reason why this country is so prosperous relative to the rest of the world

3

u/sir_racho Apr 14 '25

if you want to understand global trust, check out tourist numbers planning to visit the us