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The Rational Walk's avatar

Throwing away our advantage as the world’s reserve currency by pursuing a mindless proxy war with no discernible American interests at stake while we blow up the federal budget with zero plans to ever get it under control … history books will be written about the idiocy of the 2020s.

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Abe's avatar

my wife and I are retired. we have a paid off house, 2 social security checks coming in and financial savaings..no debt. i see the $ continuing to deflate in value via inflation and loss of reserve currency status. Has anyone got a plan for people like us to sustain the value of our financial savings assets?

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TxSodbuster's avatar

Go back to work

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Rudy Havenstein's avatar

At least you're in a solid starting position, but in my opinion overall costs are only going up in the future. Home maintenance, taxes, labor., etc. Some smart people think bonds are a buy here but I'm not that smart - bonds get killed in inflationary periods. Quality solvent company stocks at least nominally should keep up. This is not advice. I'm trying to figure it out too. I try to buy things they can't print more of, but that's tricky too. Also any additional income you could bring in would help. Sorry, I just don't know for sure either.

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Abe's avatar

Without a reserve currency or a reserve asset in sufficient quantity and controlled growth, I do not see how it is going to be possible to avoid huge swings in the value of EVERYTHING as value seems to always be priced in some form of currency and if that is not stable how can anything else be stable?

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Rudy Havenstein's avatar

Your comment reminded me of a quote by Bernd Widdig in his book, "Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany":

"Next to language, money is the most important medium through which a modern society communicates. What happens when this medium does not function properly anymore, when it loses its trustworthiness and ultimately wreaks havoc?"

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Melody Wright's avatar

This quote: “So the whole let's do industrial policy hides the bigger policy failure of undermining our single biggest comparative advantage, which is the rule of law and property rights in the Western world.” We broke contract law in the GFC. It’s been downhill ever since.

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Merelynapping's avatar

Our competitive advantage rests on several foundational rights which work together to create an environment that encourages and rewards exceptionalism. These include: 1. Individual property rights; 2. The right to speak freely; 3. The right to a jury trial; 4. The right to bear arms. No less important are the concepts of (1) separation of church and state; (2) equal opportunity under the law (as opposed to government equalized outcomes which is an oxymoron).

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Rudy Havenstein's avatar

Sure. Gave was just giving his perspective as a foreign investor.

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bigfatpop's avatar

Snow leopard: took me too long.

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John Merrill's avatar

me too, but how the hell did someone take that photo???

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John Merrill's avatar

As luck would have it, I was living a couple of blocks off Harvard Square in the Spring of 1970, but somehow I missed out on the Grope Fest (pg. 161). My loss...

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May 25, 2024
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Rudy Havenstein's avatar

I have heard estimates even higher, but as you say we can’t know for sure.

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