Saturday, December 17, 2016

US Immigration Animation


Interesting animation here at blueshift.io at that depicts US immigration flow over a couple of centuries culminating in the most recent decades of rampant out of control chaos in the all out assault on the US by the ROW illustrated here.

Will probably make the "xenophobia!" people feel better and make the alt-right people's hair stand straight up despite the copious hair gel...

I suggest the material systems unqualified use the slider to start the animation at the late 1970's and run it to present in time domain to seek to understand via visual methodology what has caused the decline of income share of the lower 99 percentile over the last thirty six years... rather than mentally conjure up some fantasy crack-pot "neo-liberal conspiracy!" coping mechanism due to your lack of qualifications and lack of cognitive ability for systemic understanding.







What is it that is drawing these people either to move their presence into the US or in another related matter, accumulate trillions of USD balances via trade?

What is wrong with the nations that these people are leaving compared to the US?  And what is wrong with their own currency systems that drives them to USD zombify?


37 comments:

Critical Tinkerer said...

"What is wrong with the nations that these people are leaving compared to the US?"
Poorer nation's politicians are easilly bribed by foreigners, mostly due to longterm colonization that used such practices to control colonies. And it is cheap to do that.There are many entry bariers for business that would make competition against thise bogger ones that bribed political caste either by friendship/gifts or by money.
Also the economic theories that are tought in those countries are of Austrian/neoliberal kind per western recommendations.


"And what is wrong with their own currency systems that drives them to USD zombify?"

Currency is running fixed fx making them unable to have a monetary policy. Moreover, monetary policy of fixed fx often forces increasing interest rate when recession hits. Also a complete ban on money printing by state which is enforced by BIS and IMF.
Fixed fx is enforced by "former" empires onto "former" colonies by only trading in empires currency. So there is no free trade, since only one side enjoys using its currency. Free trade is the bigger hoaks then free market since there is no such thing except between British Comonwealth members and Japan, Swiss.
Only they use their own currency to trade with other nations. This is where the first problems come from, and then on top of that is having fixed fx which makes them unable to help economy at least with interest rates relief. And on top of that they are dependent on foreign banks for rollover of old debts.

Fixed fx makes debt more expensive and stronger then Gold Standard, and in time of crisis, raising interest rates will make that debt even higher and riskier to be squaezzed by foreign banks.

Tom Hickey said...

Good analysis, JJ, which is why the Fed raising rates rattles the global economy. The Fed knows that it cannot set rates looking only at the US, or it can create consequences that also affect the US not only economically but also geopolitically. This is the concern now as the Fed tightens its policy.

Tom Hickey said...

Another way of viewing it is in terms of settlement in gold/silver versus currencies.

Previously, international trade was settled in gold or silver. The nations that controlled gold and sliver controlled trade. This was the basis of mercantilism.

Betton Woods made the USD, exchangeable at a fixed rate for gold, the world's reserve currency and trade was conducted in USD. But countries settled in gold, which was held in a vault deep underground at the NYFRB.

When Nixon ended convertibility of the USD into gold at a fixed rate, the system changed dramatically in that trade was conducted henceforth in USD as the numeraire rather than gold bullion.

Since the USD is a monopoly of the USG, the USG became the only producers of the numeraire at its discretion, including setting the interest rate.

This is the basis for the "dollar hegemony" that replaced the mercantilist system of trade based on gold (and sometimes silver).

Tom Hickey said...

Regarding immigration, global population has greatly increased and so has transportation technology.

Doesn't seem to be me say much.

Would be better to represent immigration as a percentage of the US population.

Tom Hickey said...

"Dollar hegemony" = "neoliberal conspiracy!" = BS...

I would say that dollar hegemony — about 80% of world trade is in the USD so most countries need US reserves, that is, "get USD" — is the result of the US being both the superpower militarily and the world's largest economy.

The US prevailed at Bretton Woods over Keynes's bancor proposal, which made the USD the global reserve currency, but it was still an intermediary for settlement in gold, and the US had the largest gold horde by far coming out WWII.

But dollar hegemony only arise really when Nixon cut the cord with gold and the US was the monopolist of the global reserve currency that everyone needed since oil was traded in USD.

This is really an issue that is separate from neoliberalism, which is a political theory equating economic liberalism with political liberalism in liberal democracies that are really republics controlled by elites, in which elites govern to increase their power and wealth in the name of liberal principles. It's a shuck.

Critical Tinkerer said...

Tom.
That another way of viewing it is incorrect. First, nobody controls the gold. And trade was not settled in gold or silver, it was only a guarrantee that it would be converted to gold. And it worked well without anyone asked for gold untill France did it.
But such another way of viewing is incorrect and it is compicating how it is today. I described institutional set up and that is how it is. "Former" empires do not want to trade in other currencies. Full stop.
Fixed fx makes currencies without monetary policy to help economy.
This is Austrian economics in praxis.

Dollar hegemony is best described by Varoufakis in "Global Minotaur": Lend dollar to countries so they can buy goods from USA, and treat such lending as Marshall plan to "help" destroyed economies. Soon int. trade is flooded with dollars that everyone is acustomed to using it and since it was guaranteed by gold; voila everybody liked it. Flood the world with dollars so that there is enough of it to be used for trade by everyone.

Remeber Mosler's exlanation why Euro will never replace Dollar?: Because there is not enough of it to be used for int. trade.

Give it away untill they like it. There is how hegemony was achieved.

Another thing that hegemony represent is that everyone will take it for their goods. Since others can not provide enough domestic demand to sell their goods they will sell it for dollars. What is the effect of that?

From the model MV=QP. Supply of goods for dollars is supply of the whole world. US can print any ammount of money without causing inflation (except in FIRE) and buy goods from the world. Q is unlimited.

Unknown said...

Jj

Not that i don't like the rest of your comments because I definitely do, but the part about us Supply system being essentially the entire world and the implications that has for inflation in the USA is the part that I .think is the most important and yet is not. Ever talked about

Tom Hickey said...

World trade is now a game in which the US produces dollars and the rest of the world produces things that dollars can buy. The world's interlinked economies no longer trade to capture a comparative advantage; they compete in exports to capture needed dollars to service dollar-denominated foreign debts and to accumulate dollar reserves to sustain the exchange value of their domestic currencies. To prevent speculative and manipulative attacks on their currencies, the world's central banks must acquire and hold dollar reserves in corresponding amounts to their currencies in circulation. The higher the market pressure to devalue a particular currency, the more dollar reserves its central bank must hold. This creates a built-in support for a strong dollar that in turn forces the world's central banks to acquire and hold more dollar reserves, making it stronger. This phenomenon is known as dollar hegemony, which is created by the geopolitically constructed peculiarity that critical commodities, most notably oil, are denominated in dollars. Everyone accepts dollars because dollars can buy oil. The recycling of petro-dollars is the price the US has extracted from oil-producing countries for US tolerance of the oil-exporting cartel since 1973.

By definition, dollar reserves must be invested in US assets, creating a capital-accounts surplus for the US economy....

To save the world from the path of impending disaster, we must:

# promote an awareness among policy makers globally that excessive dependence on exports merely to service dollar debt is self-destructive to any economy;

# promote a new global finance architecture away from a dollar hegemony that forces the world to export not only goods but also dollar earnings from trade to the US;

# promote the application of the State Theory of Money (which asserts that the value of money is ultimately backed by a government's authority to levy taxes) to provide needed domestic credit for sound economic development and to free developing economies from the tyranny of dependence on foreign capital;

# restructure international economic relations toward aggregate demand management away from the current overemphasis on predatory supply expansion through redundant competition; and restructure world trade toward true comparative advantage in the context of global full employment and global wage and environmental standards.

Tom Hickey said...

Oops, I forgot to provide attribution.

Dollar Hegemony
Henry C K Liu
(Originally published as [US Dollar Hegemony has to go] in AToL on April 11. 2002)

Critical Tinkerer said...

That is a great piece by Henry. Except his conclussion. Only his conclusion is wrong. Alternative to dollar hegemony would be worse for the world. Replacing it would have an effect as demonetization in India did have. Untill other countries emancipate themselves about currency sovergneity and abandon Austrian economics with GS and fixed fx dollar hegemony is stll ok. They have to learn themselves to abandon former empire' directives. In short; emancipate their currency and adopt fiat policies.

This part about having to have dollar reserves is only an excuse to kepp piling up reserves, but whenever they need to be used, they do not use reserves. SOmetimes because those reserves are tied up in long term investments or they see how it will be depleted and stop using it. So in pratice, CBs never use dollar reserves when is the most neccesary under excuse that those reserves will be neccessary in another time.

I was thinking for a long time how to manage monetary policy while on fixed fx, and it is possible but very, very delicate. It has to be a dirigist economy with reindustralization but with new industries. Import substitution is in the first place as the most crucial to keep the fix.

Tom Hickey said...

trade was not settled in gold or silver, it was only a guarrantee that it would be converted to gold. And it worked well without anyone asked for gold untill France did it.

Under Bretton Woods, international trade was actually cleared periodically in gold bullion. It took place in the vault of the Federal Reserve Ban of New York, which was many stories under ground and heavily guarded. Each country had a cell in the vault. There were varying amounts of bullion bars in each cell. There were two men in the vault wearing steel boots that loaded the bullion bars rom one country's cell in the vault onto a dolly and wheeled it physically to another to be deported there, based on the manifest. I witnessed this taking place in the summer of 1960, when I was taking a course in finance. This was very unusual since it was exceptional at the time for anyone to be authorized to enter the vault that did not work there.

France asked for gold to be repatriated to France rather than being on deposit in the US.

Tom Hickey said...

Trade settles using reserves. Gold under the GS, and a reserve currency under fiat, unless countries have bilateral settlement agreements in their own currencies.

Countries also use their reserves to influence the exchange rate of their currencies by buying and selling reserves in the currency market. They also use gold, even though the GS is not operative. A country can issue its currency into the market by its cb buying gold, an asset that central banks are permitted to trade it, or they can withdraw currency from the market by the cb selling gold.

China is now selling US Treasuries (USD reserves) in order to buy CNY with USD to defend the peg as USD rises. Russia tried this initially to defend the RUB but was hemorrhaging RUB, so they floated the currency.

Matt Franko said...

"dollar hegemony!" = #fakenews

Jose Guilherme said...

The references to Brazil in this thread contain some incorrections - and the Brazilian case is a useful starting point to dispel some myths about the way dollar reserves are acquired outside the U.S.

Brazil has been running a floating exchange regime with free movement of capital since the Real plan was introduced in 1993/4.

The country has had current account deficits since 2008 - however, the amount of dollars held by the central bank has more than doubled during the period to some $370 billion today.

How was this possible? Well, in order to acquire dollars a country does not need to have a current account surplus. Local firms may borrow in dollars with a view to spending internally in the local currency (taking advantage of the lower interest rate in dollars). Then the central Bank can buy said dollars thus building up its foreign reserves. More foreign reserves can also be a boon for strengthening the exchange rate thus facilitating the repayment of the dollar loans taken by the local firms (these can also try to hedge the foreign exchange risk, of course).

The main point here is that dollars can be acquired via lending - even outside the U.S.

For instance, the very large Eurodollar market has London-based banks creating dollar deposits by lending to firms (including for export and import of goods and services) quite independently from the Fed and U.S. authorities in general. If, say, a Korean firm wants to import oil from Mexico it can pay in dollars after contracting a loan in the Eurodollar market (these dollars are not part of the U.S. money supply but they are otherwise indistinguishable from internal U.S. dollars).

One problem when writing about the hegemony of the dollar is that many people are still stuck in the Bretton Woods fixed exchange regime, with capital controls and convertibility into gold. But since 1971/73 the importance and size of financial account transactions in the balance of payments has dwarfed the current account. Spot transactions in foreign currency (after excluding other similar transactions such as foreign exchange swaps) stand at about $US 2 trillion a day, meaning 6 times the level of world GDP and 25 times larger than the total amount of world trade in goods and services. Thus, to look at dollar foreign exchange reserves through the eyes of the current account of the BoP can only lead us to mistaken ideas about the foundations of dollar hegemony in a flexible exchange rate, post gold standard international monetary system where open financial accounts are the rule.

Critical Tinkerer said...

"Trade settles using reserves"
Incorrect.
Int. trade settles by individual importing company borrows from exporting country bank, most of the time.
State debt settles using reserves and new debts.

There is state debt and there is individual company's foreign debt, to foreign banks.
I found out that most of bigger corporations never reduce their debts just as states don't. Domestic or foreign debt.

If there is a fixed fx, then state does borrowing on behalf of individual importing corps from foreign banks in order to pay for imports.
Importing for colonies is paid by borrowing, never by earned dollars from exports. Mostly because those are separate corporations. One is importing and another is exporting. One sells dollars to CB that fixes fx and another buys it from CB.

But since most of those colonies are importing more then exporting they have to borrow dollars to import and pay for old debts and servicing those debts.

Six said...

China wants USD balances so they can buy ham factories. Every sane person knows this. Right Matt?

Critical Tinkerer said...

Matt
I do not think that dollar hegemony is bad, at this time. But there is dollar hegemony. Same as Pound, Euro, Yen, all dollars, Franc enjoy unlimited supply from the world since every country will accept them in exchange for goods.
All those currencies are enjoying hegemony which can be used at any time their borrower can be blackamiled and destroyed by declining to rollover old debts.

Tom Hickey said...

A recent example is Russia. "Country" means consolidated public and private sectors. Russian companies, some state and some private, were indebted in foreign currency, mostly USD. When the oil price dropped and sanctions were imposed, those firms could not roll over their debt denominated in a foreign currency at foreign banks. The choice was to let the companies default or else for the Central Bank of Russia to provide the foreign currency to the companies by drawing down it USD reserves.

Magpie said...

Venezuela was never a U.K. Colony....

True.... It was a Spanish Colony.... But it has to pay its debts in USD.

Argentina ,

True.... It was a Spanish Colony.... But it has to pay its debts in USD.

Brazil never,

True.... It was a Portuguese Colony.... But it has to pay its debts in USD.

:-)

-------

But I did like this bit:

Will probably make .... the alt-right people's hair stand straight up despite the copious hair gel...

To say nothing of their designer glasses.... :-)

Jose Guilherme said...

The references to Brazil in this thread contain some incorrections, IMO - and the Brazilian case is a useful starting point to dispel some myths about the way dollar reserves are acquired outside the U.S.

Brazil has been running a floating exchange regime with free movement of capital since the Real plan was introduced in 1993/4.

The country has had current account deficits since 2008 - however, the amount of dollars held by the central bank has more than doubled during the period to some $370 billion today.

How was this possible? Well, in order to acquire dollars a country does not need to have a current account surplus. Local firms may borrow in dollars with a view to spending internally in the local currency (taking advantage of the lower interest rate in dollars). Then the central Bank can buy said dollars thus building up its foreign reserves. More foreign reserves can also be a boon for strengthening the exchange rate thus facilitating the repayment of the dollar loans taken by the local firms (these can also try to hedge the foreign exchange risk, of course).

The main point here is that dollars can be acquired via lending - even outside the U.S.

For instance, the very large Eurodollar market has London-based banks creating dollar deposits by lending to firms (including for export and import of goods and services) quite independently from the Fed and U.S. authorities in general. If, say, a Korean firm wants to import oil from Mexico it can pay in dollars after contracting a loan in the Eurodollar market (these dollars are not part of the U.S. money supply but they are otherwise indistinguishable from internal U.S. dollars).

One problem when writing about the hegemony of the dollar is that many people are still stuck in the Bretton Woods fixed exchange regime, with capital controls and convertibility into gold. But since 1971/73 the importance and size of financial account transactions in the balance of payments has dwarfed the current account. Spot transactions in foreign currency (after excluding other similar transactions such as foreign exchange swaps) stand at about $US 2 trillion a day, meaning 6 times the level of world GDP and 25 times larger than the total amount of world trade in goods and services. Thus, to look at dollar foreign exchange reserves through the eyes of the current account of the BoP can only lead us to mistaken ideas about the foundations of dollar hegemony in a flexible exchange rate, post gold standard international monetary system where open financial accounts are the rule.

Jose Guilherme said...

(Third time I try to post this comment, sorry if meanwhile the previous attempts get posted):

The references to Brazil in this thread contain some incorrections, IMO - and the Brazilian case is a useful starting point to dispel some myths about the way dollar reserves are acquired outside the U.S.

Brazil has been running a floating exchange regime with free movement of capital since the Real plan was introduced in 1993/4.

The country has had current account deficits since 2008 - however, the amount of dollars held by the central bank has more than doubled during the period to some $370 billion today.

How was this possible? Well, in order to acquire dollars a country does not need to have a current account surplus. Local firms may borrow in dollars with a view to spending internally in the local currency (taking advantage of the lower interest rate in dollars). Then the central Bank can buy said dollars thus building up its foreign reserves. More foreign reserves can also be a boon for strengthening the exchange rate thus facilitating the repayment of the dollar loans taken by the local firms (these can also try to hedge the foreign exchange risk, of course).

The main point here is that dollars can be acquired via lending - even outside the U.S.

For instance, the very large Eurodollar market has London-based banks creating dollar deposits by lending to firms (including for export and import of goods and services) quite independently from the Fed and U.S. authorities in general. If, say, a Korean firm wants to import oil from Mexico it can pay in dollars after contracting a loan in the Eurodollar market (these dollars are not part of the U.S. money supply but they are otherwise indistinguishable from internal U.S. dollars).

One problem when writing about the hegemony of the dollar is that many people are still stuck in the Bretton Woods fixed exchange regime, with capital controls and convertibility into gold. But since 1971/73 the importance and size of financial account transactions in the balance of payments has dwarfed the current account. Spot transactions in foreign currency (after excluding other similar transactions such as foreign exchange swaps) stand at about $US 2 trillion a day, meaning 6 times the level of world GDP and 25 times larger than the total amount of world trade in goods and services. Thus, to look at dollar foreign exchange reserves through the eyes of the current account of the BoP can only lead us to mistaken ideas about the foundations of dollar hegemony in a flexible exchange rate, post gold standard international monetary system where open financial accounts are the rule.

Calgacus said...

Magpie:But it has to pay its debts in USD.

True enough, usually. But these countries could just decide to not incur US dollar debts, and/or simply pay existing ones off if they have the currency, like Brazil. The sky will not fall.

Sure the oppressor(s) haven't been shirking their oppression job. Like the Geico commercial says (perhaps not in Australia) that's what they do. But the most potent weapon in the hands of an oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

Matt Franko said...

" But the most potent weapon in the hands of an oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."

c'mon where did you get that one? Doesnt make sense... what are you claiming that all these zombies are instead suffering under some numismatic form of Stockholm Syndrome? Please...

Lets go to Websters for 'hegemony': "Greek: ἡγεμονία hēgemonía, "leadership, rule") is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others."

So you guys are saying that somehow the US govt is going over to China and saying "you better seek to accrue $Ts of USD balances!" and China is saying "oh... ok US dont hurt us we will reluctantly accept your USD balances for our products!!! oh dont hurt us! we will comply!"

PLEASE!!!!!

Urban Dictionary on 'zombie':

"Scientific name Homo Coprophagus Somnambulus.

A deceased human being who has partially returned to life due to undeterminable causes. The brain retains base facilities, namely gross motor function. In its near-mindless state, it grasps no remains of emotion, personality, or sensation of pain....

Zombies operate on a fraction of the level at which our bodies normally function. Circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems are unaffected by reanimation.

Labored breathing, choking, and moaning are reflexive but no oxygen is carried through the blood. (Ed: maybe that is why the smog doesnt effect them????? "Hey you could take some of that surplus and buy some catalytic converters for your autos? ... ahhhh no that's ok we're good thanks!" )

The nervous system functions primarily within the brain and brain stem. Sensory reception is minimal at best and seemingly unecessary in the pursuit of prey (Ed: subsittute USD for 'prey' here thx).

The undead are incapable of fatigue and will persist at any cost."

They are USD zombies...

Critical Tinkerer said...

Matt

" is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others."

The connection is "or" it is not "and" as you presume. So it could be political, economic or military control. And it doesn't have to be absolute control.

That US is enjoying only economic and somewhat political dominance over China is a show that hegemony is getting weaker and weaker. US is loosing hegemony at the present..

but why does it have to be over China as you want to represent as only proof of US hegemony. US hegemony has a full control over many many countries of the world. I would guess around 50% of the countries US is controlling. Either militarilly (japan, EU wherever its bases are) politcally (EU, British Commonwealth, some in South America..) or economically (rest of the world trough debts in $US)

But you want to look only at China?

Matt Franko said...

Meanwhile the guy who just won the Presidency was running on a platform to defund the ROW of all accrued USD balances....

So how could it be "dollar hegemony!" when the preferred policy is to eliminate the ROWs accrued USD balances?

These people in power are Darwinists and see the ROW as accepting USDs as the US is "winning!" in some "survival of the fittest!" type global stochastic munnie contest...

Its like the normal humans in zombie-lore would start to think: "well... its nice to be wanted at least!"

Critical Tinkerer said...

Tom
" The choice was to let the companies default or else for the Central Bank of Russia to provide the foreign currency to the companies by drawing down it USD reserves."

But they stopped drawing down their reserves after only $160B used and instead choose to break the fix. The have left around $300B reserves.
this was the surprise to me that they used up so much of reserves before sttoping. Other countries stop much earlier before using up 1/3 of reserves. Usual is 1/10 when they stop.

Russia learned something very important there, but they still have to learn a lot about monetary policy before they catch up to sovereignety.

Critical Tinkerer said...

Matt
"So how could it be "dollar hegemony!" when the preferred policy is to eliminate the ROWs accrued USD balances?"
operative word here is "preffered" not "practiced"

But, true, Donald can finnish off US hegemony that has been on long decline, at least the political hegemony was on decline, there is economic and military hegemony use strenghtening at the present.

Matt Franko said...

"American Exceptionalism!" comes from Darwin... this meme rose right along side of Darwin from the mid 1800s...

Its "Survival of the fittest!" and the US is obviously "the fittest!"...

ROW is mindless USD zombies and the US PTB are mindless Darwin people who think they are "the fittest!" in some sort of global numismatic contest of nations...

When you come across two morons arguing, jumping in on the one side is not the move....

Tom Hickey said...

The US has nothing but technology to sell China because the cost of production in the US so much higher on ordinary goods other than agricultural (which is why Iowa governor Branstad is the new ambassador).

And the US refuses to sell technology to China because "national security."

So the only way that China can spend in the US to acquire US assets, and then there is public outcry about China buying up the country and taking over the US, so the government kills the deal.

Tom Hickey said...

Meanwhile the guy who just won the Presidency was running on a platform to defund the ROW of all accrued USD balances....

With tariffs.

Daft.

Tom Hickey said...

"Exceptionalism," Encyclopedia of the New American Nation

Tom Hickey said...

Walter A. Mcdougall, The Unlikely History of American ExceptionalismThe Unlikely History of American Exceptionalism at The American Interest.

Peter Pan said...

Americans are exceptional but this is not a compliment.

Calgacus said...

Matt Franko:c'mon where did you get that one?

Steve Biko. It amplifies the idea that everyone is their own worst enemy. Not always true, but very, very often.

Doesnt make sense... what are you claiming that all these zombies are instead suffering under some numismatic form of Stockholm Syndrome?

I think you are saying China and other savers in US Dollars are zombies? And maybe that this is in some way bad for the USA? This is nonsense. The China-US "free trade" relationship is mutually beneficial. If the US decides to not practice functional finance, that is entirely its fault. Blaming these "zombies" is another case of a person blaming others because he can't face up to the fact that he is his own worst enemy.

China, Japan, Germany - major relatively healthy societies that practice export-led economics are not zombies or really under anybody else's control. They can and do look out for themselves.

The states I refer to are the opposite of China or Japan or Germany "zombies", but ones who become dangerously indebted in foreign currencies, like the dollar, or cover the debts of local firms (like Ireland), or undergo austerity for no reason at all, when they actually could easily pay their debts. For instance Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina above. This is worse than a zombie -this is trying to get healthy by eating your own flesh, or giving it to zombies.

A very great problem, often the overwhelmingly important one, of countries like these, like so many in the "Third World" , like so many of the victims of the IMF is that they listen to the insane raving of the IMF and mainstream "economics". That's what I meant by their minds being oppressed. Greece was another example. They had a good offer - Tsipras chose economic suicide for Greece because he was so afear'd of Greece standing on its own two feet and was more comfortable with the narrative and role of victimhood.

Six said...

Watch the growth of Chongqing in the following video:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1174595849275593&id=1035840566484456

#notzombies

Jose Guilherme said...

Yes, the Brazilian case is particularly striking for its sheer absurdity.

The country issues its own currency so has zero risk of default on its sovereign debt issued is Reais.

And the government is a net creditor in dollars, because the $ 370 billions of reserves held by its central bank are larger than the $290 billion in dollar debt outstanding of all the public sector (government plus public sector companies).

And yet the country's congress - in the middle of a brutal recession that has seen GDP falling by almost 4% annually for 2 years - has just passed a constitutional amendment freezing budget expenditures in real terms at today's level for the next 20 years!

Very bad!

Calgacus said...

Jose: Glad for the confirmation. Didn't Rousseff cave in to the financial experts or the IMF a while ago? I think that is when the opposition saw weakness & attacked.

I wonder if they overdid it with that amendment, though. I'm hoping they're their own worst enemy too.