Yes. this is what is so frustrating. Trump trashing everyone and blowing stuff up is making the rest of the world work around and ignore the US. The US is being excluded and scorned. Much of our power is based on being the defacto leader and how it works into everything else (default currency for transactions, courts, product standards, etc). When you become the insane loon that is ignored, people start working around you and become less dependent on you, weakening your power. The loss of power results in diminished economic power as you are less able to monetize your soft power. Trump has done critical long term damage.
Funnily enough I believe the biggest beneficiary may become China.
Since nuclear superpowers canāt wage wars, future would plural. No more US as the only superpower. The likely future superpowers are US, China, India and Europe. In this type of geo political environment, US may not print depreciating dollars to import value added goods. What is the value of the greenback?
China is focused on commercial aspects against the US and is doing something broader in the states that that are smaller / weaker that it feels it can influence (see OBOR initiative that is putting countries like Sri Lanka and Montenegro in itās pocket). itās doing something hybrid in Australia (buying up infrastructure - e.g. power companies and influencing politics and press)
Chinese aid can be pretty scary for a country to accept. It is often a loan and not a grant. It also comes with specific requirements - can only be spent on a Chinese company and the company is allowed to use Chinese workers. So literally countries are going into unsustainable debt to help use up excess Chinese production and workforce. I wonder why someone would want to take such a bad deal?
Itās natural for each country trying to influence other countries in different style and different ways. Just like Obama/Trump, they represent very different style of leading the superpower US. Itās too early to tell whoās more effective. We are just ordinary citizens with only superficial information and very limited time to consume the limited info, I would not hold too strong an opinion on things we donāt know enough. Media is not reliable and sometimes wants to misinform us intentionally.
Direct democracy over rent control issue is disastrous. Thatās how South America failed. Vote No on Prop 10.
Russia is #2 and has been for 100 years. Probably Trump thinks that Russia is going to be #3 and China is rising to #2. Thatās why he is nice to Russia abs tough to China.
Russian economic power is fake news. Brazil, Japan, India, France, Germany, UK, Italy, South Korea, and Canada all have bigger GDP. All we need to do is keep drilling for oil to keep prices low.
EU power is diminished. Brexit is contagious. France and Italy could be next. The Euro itself is threatened.
I think Trump sees an opportunity for bilateral trade and less EU protectionism. German cars have less prestige than before. Germany may not be the power house it was.
I owned a 1995. Porsche. Worth the same today as 20 years agoā¦ Strickly valued by nostalgia.
I would never buy a German car today. High depreciation high maintenance and plenty of competition. They canāt even compete on prestige against Tesla. The German car killer.
Correct but if you prefer sporty driving German cars are still what other brands shoot for. However Tesla if it survives as a company will severely challenge the Germans and the German companies know it.
German car is too much a hassle. Hope Tesla will replace them after they get skilled and industrious labor in China.
If the infamous Prop 10 passes, weāll have an acute shortage of rentals. Maybe those old and broken German cars will become the slum shelter in Silicon Valley.
Nothing handles like a BMW at least for sedan and coupe cars. Also, the flat torque curve of the of their turbo charged I6 is awesome. Itās a cheap modification to make it outperform the small M-series engines. All you need is a new chip to boost the turbo.
