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Originally Posted by Type941
Neal, when your president tells on TV to international audience that his country is the greatest, I think it's BS. Who is he to decide that, and what has the US done overall that warrants it such a term? Patriotism blind leads in the end to nazionalism hardcore.
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Not always. The US has been fairly patriotic for centuries (almost three of them
) and we opposed nazionalism, we didn't side with it. And it cost us plenty.
As for Bush saying to an international audience that his country is the greatest, other US Presidents have probably done the same. I know they have said that to US audiences. That really bothers you, huh? Well, don't sweat it, it's just an opinion.
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Europe is affected by the US because Europe finances the US national debt along with Asia
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Why do Europe and Aisa finance the US national debt? Tell me that. Why? Becuase they make reams of profit from it with relative low risk, that's why. And I have nothing against that, but don't make it sound like a humanitarian effort
Thanks for the example, I know only a little about the Bretton Woods treaty (and corresponding Marshall Plan). From what I remember they were efforts by the US to help Europe, both to rebuild and to stave off your new Soviet Overlords. It would have been a terrible thing for Europe to collapse into anarchy and poverty after WWII and to be absobed by Stalin. Terrible for Europe and not good for us, either.
I did a quick check for more info, and from reading this, I don't see how the US was a bad guy, we just exhausted our ability to continue support.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/...1/braithwa.htm
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It is an exaggeration to say that the whole Bretton Woods system broke down. What did break down was the rules of cooperation for the convertibility of the dollar into gold and the exchange rates regime. After the war, the US dollar became the international reserve currency. The US also went from being in surplus to running trade deficits. States at first wanted US dollars to meet their trade obligations. They were also happy to let the US run deficits since this provided liquidity in the international monetary system. This situation led, however, to a crisis first anticipated by the economist Triffin in 1960 (R. Triffin, Gold and the Dollar Crisis, New Haven CT, 1960). The problem was that if the US attempted to correct its balance of payments deficit it would cause a liquidity crisis. If it allowed its deficit to continue, other states would lose confidence in the dollar as a reserve currency and seek to convert their dollars into gold. US deficits continued to increase, partly because the US had to pay for its war in Vietnam. Confidence in the dollar started to slide. States began to seek, as the gold standard allowed them to, the conversion of their dollars into gold. The US reacted by announcing in August 1971 that it was going to abandon the convertibility of the dollar.
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Anyway, good discussion
