Except for a few thousand Bitcoiners and Austrians, nobody realizes that no policy can defeat the Triffin Dilemma. If someone says that they can defeat it, they’re either a liar or an idiot.
Discussion
What is the triffin dilemma
You have to choose between having the world’s reserve currency and having a middle class and manufacturing base.
You don’t get to have both.
Quick and dirty: When you have the global reserve currency, the most profitable thing for you to export is the currency. Therefore, domestic production of everything besides the currency is sacrificed. The US enslaves the rest of the world in dollar denominated debt, they can’t print dollars to repay, have to manufacture things to get dollars to repay…which creates competitive, cheap foreign labor.
Which is why tariffs are a retarded strategy
Unless you’ve decided that you don’t want the world reserve currency anymore (because of Triffin’s dilemma). This is Jack Mallers’ thesis.
I guess I just don’t give a shit because of Bitcoin lol
YeahI think like gromens got something similar. We've gotten so bad that we can't make weapons so we've lost the ability to war. Can't really be a nation at that point.
I think the dod is in control now and will sacrifice anything it needs to
100%. The second part of Mallers’ thesis is the following: not only does the US no longer want to issue the world reserve currency, but nobody else wants to either. Sure you get free stuff for a little bit, but then you hollow out your middle class. Not a great deal in the long run.
If nobody wants to issue a world reserve currency, we’re going to have a neutral world reserve currency.
Dayum. That is pretty spot on of what we see happens globally throughout history.
Just talked to a guy who claimed he doesn't believe in it. Like it was an extra gender or something.
🤣
According to Grok:
The Triffin Dilemma, also known as the Triffin Paradox, is an economic concept that highlights the inherent conflict of interest faced by a country whose currency serves as the global reserve currency. It was first articulated by Belgian-American economist Robert Triffin in the 1960s, primarily in the context of the U.S. dollar and the Bretton Woods system.
Here’s the core idea: When a country’s currency (like the U.S. dollar) is used as the world’s primary reserve currency, that country must supply the world with enough of its currency to facilitate international trade and liquidity. This often requires running persistent trade deficits—exporting more dollars than goods—to ensure there’s enough currency circulating globally. However, these deficits can undermine confidence in the currency’s value over time, as they suggest the issuing country is accumulating debt or devaluing its money.
So, the dilemma is this:
• If the country (e.g., the U.S.) runs deficits to provide global liquidity, it risks destabilizing its own economy and the currency’s status as a reliable store of value.
• If it stops running deficits to protect its currency’s stability, it restricts global liquidity, which could disrupt international trade and economic growth.
Under the Bretton Woods system (1944–1971), the U.S. dollar was tied to gold, and other currencies were pegged to the dollar. Triffin argued that the U.S. couldn’t sustainably meet the world’s growing demand for dollars without undermining the gold backing, which eventually contributed to the system’s collapse in 1971 when the U.S. suspended dollar-to-gold convertibility.
Today, the Triffin Dilemma remains relevant in discussions about the dollar’s dominance, global imbalances, and potential alternatives like digital currencies or a multi-currency reserve system. It’s a classic catch-22: the privilege of having a global reserve currency comes with economic trade-offs that are tough to escape.
