My QAnon-brained coworker is trying to convince me that Texas is joining BRICS and we're going to go back to the gold standard. Also this man is heavily invested in the Iraqi dinar currency. He obviously couldn't explain what any of that meant, so I'm coming to the one source I can trust; strangers on the internet. What the hell is gonna happen?

  • Awoo [she/her]
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    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Over the course of the next 5-10 years dedollarisation will continue, eventually hyper inflation will hit the US, money printing will no longer be possible, water will rise in value and it will be impossible for the US to maintain its 1000 military bases around the world of which 70% of all overseas military costs of the US army are water. The US empire will become untenable and begin a process of retraction that the British empire and so many other empires went through.

    The danger is that the US will start ww3 before this hits them.

    • disgruntled_worker [none/use name]
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      edit-2
      2 years ago

      70% of all overseas military costs of the US army are water

      do you have a link before i start digging through budget requests and shit? this is a great data point and i cant find much with a quick google.

      • Awoo [she/her]
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        edit-2
        2 years ago

        The Pentagon did their own report in 2019 on the threat of the US military collapsing in the next 20 years, citing climate change and the cost of water as the leading threat. They aim to mitigate this with technology improvements but I call bullshit and see these as easy targets of sabotage. https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/implications-of-climate-change-for-us-army_army-war-college_2019.pdf

        Without technology advances, water remains 30%-40% of the force sustainment requirement.

        I was apparently slightly misremembering the report, water is currently 40% of their costs but expected to rise to 70% of their costs. If I were interested in kicking the US military bases out of my country the focus of my attention would be on sabotaging their water in a way that raises the cost to maintain their bases to untenable levels.

          • Awoo [she/her]
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            2 years ago

            Yeah there are probably things like this abroad that never get disclosed. Generally speaking though I'm talking about maoists in south america that want rid of the bases or comrades in parts of asia. Any bases that are inland are probably particularly susceptible.

          • Awoo [she/her]
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            edit-2
            2 years ago

            Likelihood of the military getting what it needs quickly enough to mitigate this given the VAST size of their overseas organisation? Near zero. I see a contraction of the US military as inevitable. If climate change weren't happening and water costs weren't skyrocketing they would probably last much longer but the situation for them is that they are vastly oversized for the circumstances.

            How will they respond to this? I assume they will pick a theatre that they consider the highest priority and pull resources out of all other theatres. The priority will probably be China or Africa while others will be necessarily contracted as their abilities reach their limits and opponents seize on this obvious weakness to drive the knife in.

            • IceWallowCum [he/him]
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              edit-2
              1 year ago

              They will probably incline towards total domination of Latin America

              • Awoo [she/her]
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                1 year ago

                You think? And leave Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe to China who is benefited by the contiguous landmass?

                I think they will compete as hard as possible until their dying breath. Knowing full well that getting locked into south america only would lose them every single battle.