Not a direct answer and this video is out of date with current events, but the background on the current state of El Salvador is worth knowing: https://youtu.be/WtkI-QAgM6w

When you have government officials saying they want to default on the “risk free” bonds it undermines markets in a completely unprecedented way.

Shockingly stupid.

That last statement accurately describes the constituents of those government officials and large swathes if the American electorate. The fact that it’s politically viable to muse about these things is so fucking idiotic . So many Americans owe their safe and prosperous lives to things of which they are completely ignorant.

I wonder if someone with gif skills can make one of the final scene in that movie where Bond is standing there waiting for the missiles to hit and one missile is tariffs , another is the next pandemic, and another is a breakdown of the geopolitical world order.

I wish I had the skill but I don’t.

Back then doctors were cool too. Tell them your shoulder hurts and they give you cocaine.

Plus chlorinated chicken is weak as fuck. I want brominated chicken. Or better yet, fluorinated chicken. Bathe the chickens in one of the cool halogens or don’t even bother .

None of the supporters of this are going to read any of that.

The stuff you mentioned only matters if people know how to vote in their own best interest, and they don’t. All the Tesla protesters and the AOC crowds likely voted Democrat anyways. Nobody’s mind has changed.

I think that can start to change in the coming months. On April 2 Trump’s full tariffs are going into effect. There will be a retaliatory response from the whole world. But make no mistake. If the election were held again today Trump would still win.

The value of the weapons used exceeds the value of the buildings destroyed by at least one order of magnitude.

Trump literally doesn’t have the ability to shut the fuck up so not sure this is a real option.

Even if this plan succeeds, it’s not like the countries you just tariffed are just going to allow American exports into their markets. It will shrink the whole economy AND cause inflation at the same time. Economics fear this state for a reason.

the US president reconfirming his commitment to a comprehensive tariff regime he argues will be “the greatest thing we’ve ever done as a country”.

I will never understand how Americans developed a taste for his constant hyperbolic bullshit.

Really? Tariffs? Rehashing pre-WW1 economics theories is the greatest thing America has ever done? Greater than abolishing slavery? Greater than the civil rights act? Greater than the moon landings? Greater than the invention of the transistor?

Trump is at a point where nobody bats an eye to this. Trying to hold him accountable for literally anything he says is futile, and half the country things that quality is a good thing and they enable it.

Lol how do you think the aftermath of Pearl Harbour would have gone if someone like Trump was in power instead of FDR? He is the commander in chief. Nothing will happen.

It could potentially stop Americans from sleepwalking into the decline of their country, perhaps. Maybe even generate the political will to get rid of Trump. But none of that is even close to happening. The easy road off this path hasn’t been available since last November. The path out of this mess now necessary leads through suffering.

The stupidity that led him down that path still remains.

“LOOK AT ME!!!” said the irrelevant person.

It fits on with what I thought would happen when all the genocide Joe people were insisting things couldn’t get worse. Netanyahu has a direct interest in involving the US as deeply as possible into his conflict (yes it can get deeper) while maintaining a stranglehold on US politics . Ultimately this is a short term play. He helped Trump win , but Trump is destabilizing the US to the extent that long-term Israel is going to lose its one absolute ally.

The US isn’t a democracy though, it is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, where every election we get to select which group of oppressors will wield state power against us until the next one.

Yes that truly one of the opinions of all time.

No, I really have no clue what you mean by that because you’re implying Putin’s role is far larger than it actually is.

I’m asking a very simple question. Were there words in there that you didn’t understand?

When he steps down, it’s most likely that it’s going to be Medvedev that replaces him.

This already happened. Putin was still in charge, and came back when the pretense of not being in charge was no longer necessary. What reason is there to believe Medvedev is next in line and that everyone else will just go with that when Putin is dead? Yes I’m saying dead because dictators don’t have retirement plans lol.

You evidently have absolutely no clue about Russian politics.

Ah yes, the last refuge of the loser who can’t answer a simple question. You’re dancing around the question because your ridiculous claim that Russia is “stable” falls apart immediately when the fact that this question has no clear answer is considered. It’s your ridiculous opinion dude. You can change it for free.

Not sure what you mean by that.

You know exactly what I mean by that. Who runs Russia after he dies and how will that person be selected? Until you can answer that question, your claims of Russia’s “stability” will remain ridiculous.

This argument is dependent on Putin being immortal.

Democracies grant immense power to the electorate. Including the power of suicide. Democratic systems are inherently capable of ending themselves because ultimately their survival depends on enough people believing in the system and holding the integrity of the system to be more important than any particular democratic outcome. That is lost in the US. Most voters don’t care.

That truth alone makes a decent argument for US being in decline. It will take a long time , but it’s beginning.