It’s not propaganda though, it’s related to how the strength of a currency is determined.
The best example here is post-Soviet Russia, a country with almost no financial capital. During the USSR times, the industrial capacity of the Soviet Union was at least ~50-60% that of the US. In other words, the Soviet economy was at least half the size of the US in industrial terms.
The Soviet ruble was set at ~0.6 RUB/USD in the 1980s.
Immediately after the dissolution of the USSR, the West forced Russia to adopt GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to calculate the size of its economy. The USSR had used GNP (Gross National Product) for its calculation, which did not include financial assets such as the stock market, land and rent value etc.
When converted from GNP into GDP, the size of the Russian economy remained nearly the same (difference was only less than 2%, because post-Soviet Russia had no finance capital). However, when compared to the US GDP, the US economy was suddenly many times larger than the Russian economy. The value of the ruble plunged from 0.6 RUB/USD to ~120 RUB/USD by 1993 (200 times drop). This allowed Western capitalists to come in and scoop up post-Soviet Russian industries on the cheap. Mass poverty ensued.
When Russia defaulted in 1998 in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis, the value of the ruble was 6000 RUB/USD (10000 times drop compared to the Soviet times), at which point the value had maxed out and the value of the ruble had to be reset. By then, the entire Russian industries had already been plundered.
This is the power of finance capital. You can say it’s fictitious value, but it has real consequences on the real world. This is how Western financial imperialism wreaks havoc on the Global South, and subject them to economic neo-colonialism even when the West has de-industrialized itself.
Europe plundered so much of the as yet non-financialized post-Soviet Russian assets that they garnered vast amount of finance capital capable of forming the European Union in 1993 and the euro currency zone in 1999, a currency aspired to directly compete with the US dollar. Always remember that European capital came from plundering Soviet industries, and post-Soviet states are a few of the worst victims of Western imperialism.
I don't feel like having a huge convo on this atm but thanks sincerely for your post which makes good points. I just don't want you casting your pearls before swines lol
One thing I will say is that the fact that finance capital was able to change the way the Russians calculated the size of their economies to include bullshit like stock markets before going on to raid them is exactly what I mean when I say it's a bullshit made-up propaganda measure. Maybe that's not it's sole intended purpose but it is definitely used for that purpose. A dollar spent on a factory in china is counted the same as a dollar made from creating NFT apes.
It's a fake measure with real consequences in other words. I also don't think western economists know their asses from their elbows, and spending 15 minutes in an econ 101 class illustrates why. Following that shit to it's conclusion basically leads you to ancapistan.
I agree with you it’s complete bullshit metric, but since the world has decided to adopt it as a measurement, it’s real as far as real world consequences are concerned.
It’s like debt (promise) - if a society has decided that a promise made has to be kept, then it’s real and needs to be fulfilled, even if it’s just someone’s words that are not tangible.
It’s not propaganda though, it’s related to how the strength of a currency is determined.
The best example here is post-Soviet Russia, a country with almost no financial capital. During the USSR times, the industrial capacity of the Soviet Union was at least ~50-60% that of the US. In other words, the Soviet economy was at least half the size of the US in industrial terms.
The Soviet ruble was set at ~0.6 RUB/USD in the 1980s.
Immediately after the dissolution of the USSR, the West forced Russia to adopt GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to calculate the size of its economy. The USSR had used GNP (Gross National Product) for its calculation, which did not include financial assets such as the stock market, land and rent value etc.
When converted from GNP into GDP, the size of the Russian economy remained nearly the same (difference was only less than 2%, because post-Soviet Russia had no finance capital). However, when compared to the US GDP, the US economy was suddenly many times larger than the Russian economy. The value of the ruble plunged from 0.6 RUB/USD to ~120 RUB/USD by 1993 (200 times drop). This allowed Western capitalists to come in and scoop up post-Soviet Russian industries on the cheap. Mass poverty ensued.
When Russia defaulted in 1998 in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis, the value of the ruble was 6000 RUB/USD (10000 times drop compared to the Soviet times), at which point the value had maxed out and the value of the ruble had to be reset. By then, the entire Russian industries had already been plundered.
This is the power of finance capital. You can say it’s fictitious value, but it has real consequences on the real world. This is how Western financial imperialism wreaks havoc on the Global South, and subject them to economic neo-colonialism even when the West has de-industrialized itself.
Europe plundered so much of the as yet non-financialized post-Soviet Russian assets that they garnered vast amount of finance capital capable of forming the European Union in 1993 and the euro currency zone in 1999, a currency aspired to directly compete with the US dollar. Always remember that European capital came from plundering Soviet industries, and post-Soviet states are a few of the worst victims of Western imperialism.
what i love about this website is users with stupid funny usernames laying out brute knowledge unprompted, GOOD post.
Oh fuck it is a honk shoo joke that’s so good
xiao -> little, small
hong -> red
shu -> book
it's a mao reference
This is the correct answer
Banger. I’m so stupid
oh. i thought it was a reference to the instagram account with the five dollar bill AI voice lol
I don't feel like having a huge convo on this atm but thanks sincerely for your post which makes good points. I just don't want you casting your pearls before swines lol
One thing I will say is that the fact that finance capital was able to change the way the Russians calculated the size of their economies to include bullshit like stock markets before going on to raid them is exactly what I mean when I say it's a bullshit made-up propaganda measure. Maybe that's not it's sole intended purpose but it is definitely used for that purpose. A dollar spent on a factory in china is counted the same as a dollar made from creating NFT apes.
It's a fake measure with real consequences in other words. I also don't think western economists know their asses from their elbows, and spending 15 minutes in an econ 101 class illustrates why. Following that shit to it's conclusion basically leads you to ancapistan.
I agree with you it’s complete bullshit metric, but since the world has decided to adopt it as a measurement, it’s real as far as real world consequences are concerned.
It’s like debt (promise) - if a society has decided that a promise made has to be kept, then it’s real and needs to be fulfilled, even if it’s just someone’s words that are not tangible.