Hacker News Reader

Comment by baryphonic | Hacker News Reader

His points about capital flows and that the US is always willing to run deficits to stabilize global markets are really underrated.

Also interesting: de-dollarization may benefit the US by increasing domestic growth and investment.

View on HN

I find the idea that the US' willingness to run deficits is an uniquely American thing very curious.

To me it is obvious that any country in the world would do systematic deficits if they could do it without tanking the value of their currency.

The budget deficit represents the monetary value of everything the government spends money on (e.g., places, programs, assets, investments, etc.).

I was referring to trade deficits.

And I was not. The statement holds for both anyway, in cases of hegemonic, sovereign, fiat currencies.

Then thay are better off doing it their own currency, so they don‘t even have to pay back.

Aside from petroleum profiteers like Norway, Russia, Kuwait, etc., what countries don't run "systematic deficits"?

I find the willingness to run surpluses far more curious.

Emerging markets are surprisingly happy to give vast amounts of oil, gold and manufactured products in exchange for claims on overseas assets that can be frozen or devalued at the stroke of a pen.

well, they still have to pay the bond notes. The interest due on the US debt is around 40% of income tax.

They’re a strong argument against the Americans dissuading others from using the dollar as a reserve currency.

In any case, the secular dollar shorts are a perennial watering hole for our FX community. Similar to gold or commodity ETFers.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com