Absolutely. Oil is being traded in currencies other than dollars, like 50 countries are working on doing trade in Bitcoin, China is deeply infiltrating Africa and requiring they do trade in RMB as well as establishing Chinese banks in those countries
The dollar is going to lose its power, the only question is if we start a war over it
yeah Trump was good at being a power bottom, like when he fucked over all our farmers by tanking our soybean trade deal with China. Truly a masterclass in foreign trade relations by cranking Chinese tariffs. So friendly.
> "Well, certainly the difference between 2019 and 2021 is the differences in administrations," Montana Farmers Union President Walter Schweitzer said in an interview. "In 2019, our administration was at war with all of our customers." Under Biden, he said, the nation is "rebuilding our relationships with our customers."
>The dollar is going to lose its power, the only question is if we start a war over it
That would merely increase the speed that it loses its power. The problem is the United States using the mailed fist to punch everyone rather than the velvet glove to caress. The sanctions on Russia using the banking sector were such a geopolitical fiasco that it will be regarded as one of the major pivot points in history when being studied a half century from now. The whole Ukraine thing has been an unmitigated disaster of American foreign policy, the coup was absolutely unnecessary and ever action afterwards by the deepstate has only made it worse.
Its absolutely amazing that Trump has been the best foreign policy President since Bush Sr, merely by just doing zero obviously stupid offensive actions that would piss off other nations.
@Salastil@feld That last paragraph...I thought during DJT's first campaign 2016, it was odd when he'd promote the idea of being friendly with Russia the media riled all the citizens to say that being friendly with other nations is not a smart move. For me, that was the beginning of the nutty era 2point Uh-oh! THIS: don't do "...obviously stupid offensive actions that would piss off other nations."
Trump's only trade policy move is "I think I'm getting a bad deal, let's try tariffs"
Tariffs don't work. They never work. They only punish Americans by forcing Americans to overpay for products that come from a less efficient American industry leaving them with less money to spend on other American goods.
Tariffs only hurt yourself under the guise of "saving an industry". It's an appeal to emotions.
Farmers flourish under Biden, see recovery from Trump-era trade wars The prices of corn and soybeans have increased and demand is up for American exports.
> SLOW PACE CONTINUES FOR SOYBEAN, CORN EXPORT SALES
U.S. soybean exports (crop year*): 2012: 1,328 million bushels 2013: 1,639 million bushels 2014: 1,842 million bushels 2015: 1,943 million bushels 2016: 2,167 million bushels 2017: 2,134 million bushels 2018: 1,752 million bushels 2019: 1,683 million bushels 2020: 2,266 million bushels 2021: 2,158 million bushels
@feld@Salastil The lumber, the building materials...the wood you say was unobtainable. btw I'm sure the pandemic had little to do with the decline in export of soy beans and corn.*snark intended* You seem as though you're building up to being apoplectic or am I mistaking your passion for the incorrect emotion?
@feld@Salastil >Don't you remember when a 2x4 was nearly $15? No. I'm not being facetious. I have no recollection of that specific item being outrageously priced. >All because we didn't want Canadian lumber to hurt our precious American lumber oligarchs If you say so. I disagree. imo I think there is another reason, a more nefarious reason that overshadows the simple explanations proffered by the media.1/2
@feld@Salastil I think all of this experience of the last twenty or so years is very wicked. From the passing of the Patriot Act, which at the time was predicted to be more than limiting when implemented, to this madness known as Identity Politics...where candidates campaign on how well they relate to you...then ignore the voters to whom they seemingly related, after their campaign for office is successful.2/2 Were you, personally, trying to build a house during the period we're discussing?
Ok, let's talk about Interfor in 2021. Go look up their quarterly reports:
> Total lumber production in Q1’21 was 687 million board feet, which was consistent with Q4’20 and only 1 million board feet below Interfor’s production record for a quarter.
> Total lumber production in Q2’21 was 716 million board feet, representing an increase of 29 million board feet quarter-over-quarter and setting an Interfor production record.
> Total lumber production in Q3’21 was 731 million board feet, representing an increase of 15 million board feet quarter-over-quarter and setting an Interfor production record.
The spike in 2021 had nothing to do with tariff rates, it had everything to do with the lockdowns shutting down "non-essential workers." https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/canadian-news/coronavirus-forces-curtailments-four-major-canadian-lumber-mills the same thing happened with oil but for different reasons, there was a massive glut and the prices went negative since demand was cut so dramtically, so huge amounts of wells were shut down. The lockdowns were one of the most shortsighted idiotic things ever done to an economy and the boomerang effect clubbing people in the face should have been expected.
> the same thing happened with oil but for different reasons, there was a massive glut and the prices went negative since demand was cut so dramtically, so huge amounts of wells were shut down.
as for the oil: you're talking about all the frackers who were running barely profitable operations that got shutdown. The only reason they existed was because of elevated oil prices. Also some refineries shutdown *hard* and never came back. That was a really big problem that to my knowledge has still not been resolved.