April 7, 2025
Dave Braatz wrote:
Re: Terri Wu’s article (and others) on tariffs
Complaining about the US trade deficit assumes that the US Dollar is an honest unit of account; it is NOT. Please consider what exactly is trading hands, and what the “deficit” is.
As long as the US continues to operate on make-believe funny money, we have no right to bitch about a trade deficit – or anything. A US trade rep says the US has “suffered” decades of “wealth loss”. NONSENSE. Please define wealth. A $1.3 trillion annual trade deficit means that we got other countries’ labor, products, and resources (i.e., real wealth) and we “paid” them with fiat debt money that corrupt politicians and bankers create out of thin air by the trillions (and then have the guts to charge “interest” on it). Yes, it is dishonest (a form of economic slavery), but undoubtedly a good deal for the US Gov’t (as long as it lasts).
Paper IOU’s are not wealth. We got the real goods while “trade surplus” countries got stuck with constantly devaluing fiat garbage or UST’s. Unbacked paper money is always destroyed by inflation, as the dollar debts or deficits become progressively worthless in real terms.
Since 2019 the US M2 money supply increased (inflated) by 43%. That means that the REAL VALUE (constant purchasing power) of our $36 trillion nominal national debt was inflated away (i.e., destroyed or stolen) to the tune of $15.5 Trillion Dollars. That is a massive theft from the poor “trade surplus” idiots who believed in paper money or were forced to accept the PetroDollar.
That is how the US Government and corrupt banks control and rob the world, why many nations continue to sell US Treasuries and repatriate their gold, and why the BRICS nations continue to grow and abandon the Dollar to seek a more honest and level playing field. More power to them!
The US needs to return to honest, Constitutional money (gold & silver).
