Politics Random, Random

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

Read The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton if you really want to understand deficits.

I am from a 3rd world country. I think I understand them quite well.
For the USA, it is different than for 3rd world countries. Our deficits kill us because our debts are nominated in foreign currency. So, when we make payments on our debt, the money leaves the country.
For the USA, the debt and deficit are local. They are denominated in the local currency. So, when you pay them, the money stays in the country.
It is the husband owes money to the wife. In our case, it is you owe money to your in-laws. Who hate you.

[ashkor87]

yes, but the point isnt whether you are a first world country or third world, the distinguishing factor is whether you have your own currency. India does, for instance, Italy doesnt..Vezuela has made the cardinal error of taking on debt denominated in USD.. India never did that, and so on..

[ti-amie]

‪Seth Abramson‬ ‪@sethabramson.bsky.social‬
·
4h

[ti-amie]

George Takei‬ ‪@georgetakei.bsky.social‬
·
2h
When they talk about privatizing Veterans’ care and Medicare, they mean allowing companies to provide healthcare for a profit.

But how do companies make those profits? By *denying* care to many who need it.

Don’t get fooled by the “privatization” label. It means “for profit” and YOU are the cost.

[Suliso]

yes, but the point isnt whether you are a first world country or third world, the distinguishing factor is whether you have your own currency. India does, for instance, Italy doesnt..Vezuela has made the cardinal error of taking on debt denominated in USD.. India never did that, and so on..

Argentina has their own currency. Much good it does them...

[ashkor87]

They tied it to the usd, so they didn't really have their own

[ponchi101]

ALL South American debt is in USD.
Ecuador, for example, does not have a currency any longer. They use the USD.
El Salvador, as we know, went even more extreme. They took on bitcoin as the official currency.
And no, Argentina's currency is no longer tied to the USD. That was the Austral, over two decades ago. And that one flamed aground in a heartbeat.
The current Peso is not tied.

[Suliso]

Italy does have it's own currency - they have serious say over how euro is run unlike South America with a dollar. Clearly having a major currency (euro, yen, rupee, yuan, pound, Swiss franc etc) helps a lot and having a world reserve currency (US dollar) helps even more, but it's not an absolute shield. As evidenced by high inflation generated by covid era money printing.

[ti-amie]

Christopher Webb
‪@cwebbonline.com‬
Markwayne Mullin on Hegseth’s drinking:

TAPPER: Drinking at 10 in the morning, that’s a drinking problem.

MULLIN: Yeah & there’s probably a lot of media that has a drinking problem too.

TAPPER: A drunk reporter who is drinking at 10 AM…is not in charge of the 3 million person defense department.

https://bsky.app/profile/cwebbonline.co ... sve7xj5k26

[ti-amie]

He's let the cat out of the bag again.

[ponchi101]

My thoughts on the popular vote are so scrambled...

[ti-amie]

Oligarchs, crown princes and only the deity knows who else...

[dryrunguy]

The Associated Press is reporting Matt Gaetz has landed a new gig at One America News Network.

[ti-amie]