the attitude with Arnie Arnesen the Thurs edition noon to 1pm EST Aug. 14

[Arnie Arnesen]

vthe attitude with arnie arnesen

opening thoughts: how to kill a reserve currency

producers: Dave Scott and Stephanie Collins
Chloé LaCasse (the best of the attitude)
streaming live at wnhnfm.org noon&7pm EST on the dial-94.7FM Concord NH

podcasts available at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attitude-with-arnie-arnesen/id1634055179

opening thoughts robert arnold how to kill a reserve currencyThe dollar isn’t dying in a slow dignified way… it’s bleeding out in the middle of the street while the man holding the knife tells you it’s just ketchup. You don’t have to be an economist or a market junkie to feel it. You can see it at the checkout counter, in the gas station receipt, in the rising price tag on a refrigerator you swore was cheaper last year. Every imported thing you buy… from the coffee beans in the morning to the microchips that keep your car running… is more expensive because the greenback isn’t what it used to be. A weaker dollar means your paycheck buys less, not because you changed, but because the currency you’re paid in has been quietly shaved down. And the world can smell that weakness. Weakness in a reserve currency is like blood in the water. Traders, central banks, and sovereign wealth funds are circling, not out of malice but because markets have no conscience… they follow the scent of profit and security. Right now, both smell like gold...When the world finally looks elsewhere for its reserve currency, it won’t be because America was conquered or outcompeted. It will be because we sold the crown for applause… traded the stability of a century for the sugar high of a political rally… and told ourselves it was all just corn syrup and food coloring while the lifeblood drained out on the pavement. And by the time we realize it wasn’t an act, the applause will have faded, and the crown will be gone.The numbers aren’t just bad… they’re historic. This year alone the dollar has fallen nearly ten percent against other major currencies… the kind of drop you once saw in countries facing coups or defaults. And the reasons aren’t mysterious. Tariffs are spiking import prices, feeding cost-push inflation… the kind you can’t rate-hike away without crushing demand. Political stunts are shaking foreign confidence in U.S. assets. Open warfare with the institutions that make the dollar trustworthy… the Federal Reserve, the Bureau of Labor Statistics… because the facts they report don’t match the fantasy being sold. Every blow to credibility is a chisel in the foundation. Whether you wear a red hat or a blue one, the math doesn’t change… Trump is killing the dollar, and you can’t lie your way out of a global currency crisis.As former IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld once put it, “Reserve currency status rests on a tripod of economic size, financial depth, and trust in governance. If you knock out one leg, the stool tips.” Well … We’re sawing through more than one.And that value is not disappearing… it’s migrating. Into euros. Into yuan. Mostly into gold, because gold doesn’t care about elections, tariffs, or which political party is shouting the loudest. The World Gold Council reports that central banks bought over 1,000 metric tons of gold in the last year… the second-highest annual total in history… much of it in Asia and the Middle East. That’s not diversification for fun. That’s building an escape hatch. The dollar’s share of global reserves has fallen to just above 59% today… a slow-motion transfer of power...So when’s the right time to panic? Panic is when Treasury auctions start to fail… when foreign banks hesitate to roll over dollar swaps… when allies start settling major trades in other currencies because they don’t want the risk of being paid in ours. We’re not quite there… but we’re closer than we’ve ever been. And if the man in the Oval Office keeps treating the dollar like a political toy instead of the bedrock of the world economy, that day will come faster than anyone thinks.The tragedy is that this isn’t a partisan issue. The dollar doesn’t care about your voter registration… it cares about credibility, discipline, and stability. A strong dollar isn’t a Wall Street fetish… it’s the reason our debt is cheap, our shelves are stocked, our investments are safe, and our military might is underwritten without crushing taxes. You don’t burn that down for a news cycle win. You don’t undermine the institutions that keep the market believing in you just to score a political point. But we’re watching it happen in real time… and the people who could stop it are too busy clapping along to notice the floor is giving way beneath them. 

https://defiance13.substack.com/p/how-to-kill-a-reserve-currency?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=fbz0&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

part one:  a conversation with Robert L. Borosage is a leading progressive writer, activist, and co-founder of a range of progressive organizations including the Campaign for America’s Future, ProgressiveMajority, and ProgressiveCongress.org. He guided the Institute for Policy Studies for nearly a decade, and served as issues director for the Jesse Jackson 1988 presidential campaign. A contributing editor of The Nation, Borosage’s articles have been published by Reuters, the Huffington Post, Progressive Breakfast, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

How the Constant Noise Distracts From the True Peril of Trump’s MisruleHis policies are making Americans less safe, less healthy, and more dead. https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-corruption-climate-change-pandemics-greed/

part two: Lisa Pelling  is a political scientist and head of the Stockholm-based think tank Arena Idé. She regularly contributes to the daily digital newspaper Dagens Arena and has a background as a political adviser and speechwriter at the Swedish foreign ministry.

the recent report: 

DON‘T TRY THIS AT HOME Exporting Sweden ́s neoliberal welfare experiment https://www.socialeurope.eu/how-swedens-welfare-experiment-became-a-warning-to-europe

Over the past three decades, the Swedish welfare state has
been transformed beyond recognition. Outsourcing,
privatisation and the introduction of voucher systems have
marketised welfare services to a greater extent in Sweden
than in any other European country. What was once often
portrayed as a Social Democratic ideal, is now more of a
neoliberal showcase.
This report describes some of the consequences of this
development. More importantly, it maps efforts by Swedish
for-profit welfare companies to expand their businesses and
business models abroad – particularly to Germany.
Sweden has been forced to learn the hard way that once
services have been privatised, it is difficult as well as costly
and time-consuming for society to take back control. In
some welfare sectors where private for-profit actors have
grown particularly strong, Sweden might have reached
tipping points beyond which privatisation can no longer be
rolled back.