Quote from: btc_n_economics on January 07, 2015, 07:42:10 PM

Quote from: B.A.S. on January 07, 2015, 06:54:25 PM

Comon? You really believe a country that can create its own money out of nothing is a good thing? Why aren't other countries doing because "in and of itself" it's good? Hell, why doesn't some small nation just get to printing? --They can't do it because everything is tied to the exchange rate of their currency to the reserve currency (the USD). We are in control of it; we set the price. This really is my only point out of all of my writings for you to see and internalize. The US is in control. That's why every thing I am saying to you sounds wildly outrageous. You are part of those in control. You are seeing it from one side and because that side is in control, you think that is reality for everyone.

I think I get what you are saying here. Sure, most of the time things are priced in USD. Like EuroDolalr or YenDollar or whatever. But people can just as easily talk about the EuroYen instead of the DollarYen when quoting prices. This new country that just prints $ would see its FX decline in relation to all currencies, not just the USD. Even BTC is quoted in dollars often but can also be quoted in EUR or whatever. The reason that the USD is in control, as you say, is because well if I work in Indonesia or whatever and someone wants to pay me, I would much rather trust the USA than Vietnam or whatever so I would much rather you paid me in USD. That's just because that country has good things going for it, there is nothing wrong with being preferred currency if that is the case.

I just don't agree that "we" set the price of these other things you reference. The USD is not set by any one party. Sure, the Fed has a lot of control over it because they control short-term interest rates, but there are so many other global factors that affect the value of the dollar that it is difficult for me to accept that our government controls it. And even if they do - I just don't think it matters. It only matters if you are doing business with the US, in which case other countries WANT our FX to be weaker so that they can sell us more stuff! But in the long run it is inflation that affects the strength of a currency and this government has done a good job of keeping that in check.

Creating money out of nothing IS a good thing if that money is being used to invest in productive assets. If a country prints its way into a fortune and has no economy, it is worthless. But if a country prints a fortune and create unlimited, no-pollution portable power source or something crazy, that currency will be worth a lot. It just depends. And I think in this case the USD is doing well - they have the best tech industry, the best healthcare industry and a slew of other things going for them. Sure, it could change tomorrow but that is speculation. And having that argument is much different than saying the USD will be worth $0 in 100 years because it's much harder to think it through and say I think the US won't be competitive because of X or Y. Those points can be argued but saying that it's screwed, well that's just an opinion.

"It only matters if you are doing business with the US, in which case other countries WANT our FX to be weaker so that they can sell us more stuff!"

--Now you get it. The US is a major importer. Other countries want them to buy their stuff, but when the country that is selling to the US wants to do some growing of its own what happens? Well, their currency isn't worth shit globally even though they are selling the US massive loads of stuff. So they go to the US for a nice credit line and a favorable exchange rate only to find that the rate has teetered once again in favor of the US dollar. It is no coincidence.

"If a country prints its way into a fortune and has no economy, it is worthless."

-- I agree completely. Problem is this is essentially what is happening in the US right now because its only economy is exporting dollars. Financial transactions are the leading "product" produced. Yes, the US makes things, but not nearly on the scale it used to.

"But if a country prints a fortune and create unlimited, no-pollution portable power source or something crazy, that currency will be worth a lot."

-- This would be great, but why go through all that trouble as a country if you could command power over what currency that power source was designed and built with? Have someone else do it using your money which you control.

The US and their currency is not going anywhere. Same with other countries as well. What will change I predict is how foreign countries trade with each other. I believe in the future, all global trading will be done with a unified currency ("The World Dollar" or whatever you want to call it). Countries will exchange their respective currencies into "The World Dollar." Trades will be made using this World Dollar and upon completed transaction, those World Dollars will be immediately exchanged back into the denomination they originally were.

USD --> World Dollar (Make trades globally)

World Dollar --> USD (Profit or Losses from global trades)

The world dollar serves as the "exchange rate" so no longer does USD/YUAN at (Example--$1.50:1 yuan) show up when the US strikes a deal with the China for instance.