I was also wondering about whether a dollar-denominated international fund would be specifically affected dollar instability. I was also wondering about how far a regime’s “reach” could extend into those funds with ostensibly international companies such as Fidelity or Vanguard. For instance, if you managed to flee, would the regime still be able to seize your assets that are in security funds after you have left? (Obviously they can extort whatever they feel like extorting in order to let you leave.)
Sadly, young Americans are taking hold of the reins . . . and pushing hard for fascism.
Exactly, “going to hell” may mean one thing for a portion of the population, but not for everyone. Remember, there are people alive today who lived in a fascist, while supremacist police state up until the end of segregation. Things can him along seeming quite peaceful for a long time while suppression goes on. Arguably, China is a good contemporary example of an economically successful authoritarian regime. Also Singapore.
Yeah, but in this particular case, I’m not sure it holds. It depends the mechanism by which the economically powerful blue areas are dealt with. If it’s by secession or the army going in with tanks, I don’t see how that doesn’t hurt the economy and currently pretty severely, especially in the eyes of the rest of the world. (This is part of my longstanding skepticism that the dystopia will or can be “the United States run and constructed exactly as it is now, except with a dictator.”)
Back in 2016 and with the threat of Trump looming on the horizon, Nova Scotia was inviting people to come check out their real estate. I never though I’d consider leaving the country altogether but if things continue the way that they are…
Cite x 1,000,000
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Here’s a counter-cite;
Minorities often oppress majorities. Just numbers aren’t enough.
True, but which would you rather have in a political fight? It’s not nothing.
Besides, I can see an argument being made for photos like this having extra significance, because it represents people who are engaged and willing to make personal sacrifices to show off their beliefs.
Yeah, but that reflects a need for the cash, not strength of the economy.
e.g. When the subprime crisis started to bite the USD strengthened sharply because US institutions were bringing back funds to staunch the haemorrhaging of their local operations.
Thank you—I’ve always wondered why this happened.
Once again one of my Board leitmotifs… I’ve been hearing that the New Generation will save us all since back when people older than I were the “New Generation”.
That’s not how it worked out. And it’s not all middle aged old farts voting for the Right Wing. Meanwhile a lot of those who could “take the reins” seem trapped between a worldvision where actually doing what it takes to take that power is viewed as dirty work, and an Establishment whose vision is “you want my power? Come and Take It.”
It’s not working. Or at least not in a manner that secures against backslide. And some noticed that even from the start.
And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply PREVAIL. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave…
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high water mark — that place where the wave finally broke, and rolled back.
–Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
I am doing what most americans are doing, which is nothing, since what your suggesting is not going to happen.
The #1 reason why the US will never become authoritarian is due to capitalism. Elections are BIG money and if they were to stop, so would the money. The republicans need to the threat of the democrats becoming elected to keep their money machine going and if that were to stop, so would the money.
If elections became unprofitable, then maybe your saying would be true. But there is just way too much money involved in elections for not only the corporations, but the political parties for them to want elections to go away. “Democracy”, which is really who is your favorite oligarch, is never going to die out in our lifetime. The oligarchs like the way things are and are just fear mongering people for political donations.
You think big money would rather pay for honest elections rather than just buy the corruption of the ruling party?
Under 1 party republican rule, everything is for sale and there’s no one to offer an alternative. The short sighted rich who’d burn the world for one more penny would love that shit. The party known to be completely subservient to business interests above all else would now control the whole country.
The corporations, not the politicians, really control everything. Without corporate donations, the politicians are useless. Corporate america loves these elections and so do the politicians since it keeps their money making scheme going. If elections end, then corporate america takes their money elsewhere and the politicians have nothing.
The corporations arent looking to change anything and they control the politicians. Its not the other way around. The corporations write the politicians checks and pull their strings. Always has that way, always will be that way. We were founded by oligarchs and will probably be an ochlarchy forever. Your not going to lose the ability to pick a giant douche or a terd sandwhich.
Regardless of the relaxed attitude of the above post, this is absolutely an angle I’ve been pondering for a while now. To be sure, there are oligarchs that seem to be True Believers, like the Mercers, but I really do wonder how they overall will react to a global economic status quo shattering.
We’ve been griping for about how those with the gold make the rules. I wonder if that’ll be tested now against the fanatics and completely self interested (eg Trump when he decided to directly attack Bezos).
There is absolutely nothing incompatible between capitalism and authoritarianism. China proves it every day. The Nazis worked hand-in-hand with the capitalists. Indeed, there is plenty of capital backing the authoritarian movement because they think they can use it to further entrench their power. Why do you think that people like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are moving into that camp? They intend to make themselves the masters behind the scenes. They’ll direct economic policy and let the right wing politicians go crazy with the social politics. Not that this is necessarily a stable arrangement, but people like that think they can control everything.
There is a vast and complicated world of political calculus outside the tiny puerile box of South Park.
Maybe you ought to sit this one out.