This could be America's greatest test until China. Iran may be leveraging The Strait regarding oil sales (40% of that trafficked through it) they're demanding it be traded in Chinese Yuan

@Brerzerk

yes the empire is dying

The US petro dollar has no substantive value beyond its usage as the world’s reserve currency which is tied to the Bretton Woods agreement around 1944 when it was linked to gold and become the currency for world trade and the world banking system which is run by the US

It got structurally devalued in the late 60s from US excessive borrowing and printing money for the Korean War in the 50s and Vietnam in the 60s and 70s and Nixon delinked it from the gold standard in 71 I believe

In 1974 the US managed to get OPEC countries to sell their petroleum in US dollars after the oil crisis and that saved it

The US is almost 50 trillion in debt. Its treasury bills and bonds will never be redeemed by the US treasury but they are still passed around in financial trading makets for their coupon value and because no one wants to admit it

countries are looking for another reserve currency and there has been none (not even the Euro) until now- the Chinese yuan or renminbi

in addition China the 2nd largest holder of US debt (treasury bills) is selling them off

so yes the empire is dying but the empire has a large army and spy agencies and an insatiable desire to be top dog and it will not go down without a fight.

Every action taken by the US since the 70s was to preserve the dollar. No country can attempt to de dollarize without getting bombed, invaded or regime changed. All the recent wars are proxy wars pursuant to weakening of China its rival for the world reserve / trading currency

but the writing is on the wall for all to see

@sudden

But the Dow is over 50,000 points!!!!!!

I really don’t know which world some people living in tbh

US dollar is 60% of global foreign exchange reserves. Oil, debt and trade are priced in US dollars

US military budget exceeds the next 10 countries combined.

Wha logo on allyuh credit cards?

SWIFT is US-controlled , ask Russia how getting cut off felt.

The internet’s physical backbone, domain systems, runs through US infrastructure.

The US consumer market is the largest in the world. Every export-driven economy needs access to it.

it has a monopoly on pretty much any type of software you could think of.

yeah, they crumbling. for every decade of the last hundred years.

Where Arawak? time to change this to “The Room of Delusion”

@VIX

Everything you mentioned has a replacement, in majority of the cases better and cheaper.

USA is broke

The U.S. government is insolvent. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the conclusion drawn directly from the Treasury Department’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released last week to near-total media silence. The numbers: $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025.

@sodden

USA is broke

That’s a poor take on the whole American hegemony conversation; it pulls together the classic “imperial overstretch” idea (Paul Kennedy and all that) and ties it neatly into today’s financial reality.

If you zoom in a bit, though, a few extra layers make the picture more interesting: Take the debt issue. Yeah, $40 trillion sounds almost absurd, but the U.S. plays by slightly different rules than everyone else. Because it borrows in its own currency, and because there still isn’t a true alternative to the U.S. Treasury market, “decline” isn’t as straightforward as the raw number suggests. It’s more relative than absolute.

Then there’s soft power, which tends to get underestimated in these discussions. China is a serious economic rival, and Russia pushes in more unconventional ways, but the U.S. still dominates culturally and technologically. Hollywood, Silicon Valley, AI, and biotech , those ecosystems matter. Meanwhile, some of the countries often framed as “successors” are dealing with their own internal constraints, like demographic decline or limited global cultural reach.

The bigger, quieter risk might be institutional. That “gradually, then suddenly” idea people like to quote (often linked to Hemingway) captures the anxiety pretty well. It’s not just about whether leaders understand the economy; it’s whether the systems managing all of this keep functioning smoothly. If those start to wobble, things can accelerate fast.

So instead of a dramatic collapse, what we’re probably looking at is something messier: a slow, uneven rebalancing into a more multipolar world, with plenty of friction along the way.

Sarge

@sudden

Dumbfcukistan is broke.

And they voted in (twice) a 6 times bankrupt child rapist convicted felon Dotard to fix it.

That checks out.

@VIX

Genuine question-with China's growing, economy, influence, wealth and growing competitive military power; how do you see the next 50yrs. Will any of Murca's strength be significantly weakened?

What will be their main leverages? Piper plays the tune scenario i.e. If US debt isn't managed successfully and China holds much of it, can it ever be like a householder desperately refinancing mortgage?

How many Gaddafi's and Atyatollah's must be killed for even the suggestion of an alternative dominant currency be suggested.

Would love to learn.

@sgtdjones

Expound- where do you see the rebalancing landing? All/most powers realizing the inter-dependence and connectivity of the modern world and deciding on peace and cooperation?

@SnoopDog

Snoopy

I’m no supporter of Trump or his administration, but to be fair, he didn’t hide his intentions from voters. More than 70 million Americans backed him, though I imagine some of them may be rethinking that choice now.

From where I stand, as a Canadian business owner, there's not much to do but watch, a bit stunned, as these policies ripple through economies far beyond the U.S. They don’t seem to follow much conventional economic logic, and the strain is already showing in parts of the American economy, with tougher consequences possibly still ahead.

You’re seeing reports of aid disruptions, surplus goods going to waste, and sectors like agriculture and auto manufacturing taking real hits. Promises like “drill, baby, drill” haven’t materialized in the way many expected. Americans have long supported farmers, the military-industrial complex, Silicon Valley, and scientific research with vast amounts of taxpayer money, trillions over time. Yet many don’t recognize that this kind of large-scale government support fits, in practice, under the broader umbrella of socialism, even if it’s rarely called that at home.

In the end, he is carrying out what he said he would do, regardless of the broader human and economic costs. And simply complaining about it doesn’t really change the outcome.

@VIX

Delusional or not, it does make one feel good to say America’s dying, ain’t it?

@CricSham

To the contrary most definitely!

One can genuinely fret about those they're leaving behind when they "step aside" from this earth you know. And, yes it may be delusional (dunno) but for me certainly not "feel good" Not every thing is about either owning the libs nor MAGA abhorrence. SMH!!

@CricSham

indeed indeed. but that's about it.

@Brerzerk

yuh asking stupidjones to ask AI? do it yuhself nah man. 😀 why you encouraging low-value copy-pasted nonsense?

Genuine question-with China's growing, economy, influence, wealth and growing competitive military power; how do you see the next 50yrs. Will any of Murca's strength be significantly weakened?

Doubtless, but not in our lifetimes.

Nor in our children's.

@Brerzerk

Short answer: probably not a clean, enlightened “everyone realizes we’re in this together” moment. Interdependence doesn’t automatically produce harmony; it just raises the cost of breaking things.

Where it seems to be heading is something messier and more conditional. Think of a world where major powers accept they can’t fully dominate but also don’t fully trust each other. So instead of one centre of gravity, you get overlapping spheres, economic, technological, and military, constantly negotiating their boundaries.

You can already see the outlines. The U.S. and its allies are tightening networks around advanced tech and finance. China is building parallel systems, trade routes, payment mechanisms, and supply chains that reduce its vulnerability. Europe tries to balance autonomy with alignment. India hedges, benefits from both sides, and keeps its options open. None of these actors are aiming for open conflict if they can avoid it, but none are betting their future on goodwill either.

So the “landing point,” if there is one, looks less like global cooperation and more like managed tension. A system where everyone is entangled enough to avoid catastrophic conflict but divided enough that friction is constant. Periods of cooperation will still happen, despite climate, pandemics, and financial stability, but they’ll be pragmatic, not idealistic.

In other words, not a peaceful convergence, but a stable imbalance. Not comfortable, but durable.