AndreasHG

Maybe a little less than a crash, but still a significant depreciation. This is what happened during Trump's presidency. The dollar was indexed to 100 at the beginning of his presidency. Only the pound of Brexit Britain, which was led in quick succession by Theresa “Brexit means Brexit” May, BoJo “oven ready deal” Johnson, Liz "Lettuce" Truss and, finally, the best of them all Rishi Sunak, did worse.

Today on the "failed" NYT.

This is the dollar performance during the Biden presidency. Not that this makes of him a good president. He wasn't and I am glad he was sent to a retirement house. But good for the dollar he was.

I'm sorry: I'm not so much old to remember those distant times. But I'm glad you made it this far.

There are people who are aware of the times they live in. And then there are those living in Lala Land. To each his own. Today FT first page.

The dollar continues its run to new lows. Just five months into the Trump II administration, the U.S. dollar has already lost against major foreign currencies as much as it lost in four years during the Trump I administration. Fortunately for our American friends living in Thailand, the Thai baht is going through a bit of a weakness. That’s why the dollar’s depreciation against the Thai baht since the start of the Trump II administration is relatively small: just 5.1%. But with 3.5 years left, Trump II is well on his way to achieving his MAPA (Make Americans Poor Again) goal, beating his remarkable first term feat, when the US dollar depreciated 16.8% against the Thai Baht.

LOL. This post did not age well! What Trump's "mistake" highlighted is how China and especially Russia are powerless in face of America's might. Russia literally threw Iran under the bus and then went to hide. If anything good comes out of President Trump's resolve, it will be the end Iran's trust in its "Axis of Upheaval" friends.

The Ayatollah's Iran has violated international law for decades, starting with the taking of American hostages in 1979 and continuing with the creation and financing of Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis responsible for indiscriminate attacks against the Israeli population and commercial traffic in the Red Sea. They have financed the criminal Assad regime in Syria and attempted to destabilize the monarchies in the Gulf by playing on sectarian divisions between Sunnis and Shiites. The time has come to present the bill to that bunch of incompetent, fanatical, ignorant mullahs who have been oppressing the Iranian people for 45 years.

LOL. The Iranian parliament is a rubber-stamp, puppet council devoid of any real power. The only real power holder in Iran is an arteriosclerotic octogenarian mullah who has spent 74 of his 86 years of life chanting "Death to America, Death to Israel", consistency being his only remarkable achievement. His unpopular, criminal, sectarian regime has been circling the drain for a while. It is time for the United States to form a coalition, finish the job, and free the Iranian people from the yoke that oppresses them. I have had the privilege of doing business with Iranians. Wonderful, educated, well-mannered people. They deserve much better than a government of fanatics and illiterate mullahs. Long life to Israel, Long life to Ukraine, Long life to the USA!

It's hard to say who was more stupid: the trillionaire who spent $288 million to get a pedophile elected to the White House, or the president who put a "poor guy" who's gotta a ketamine addiction "problem" in charge of DOGE and of the future of millions of American families. To give such a public display of utter stupidity would be unforgivable in any civilized country, starting from Thailand. It is the demonstration that to Make America Great Again we shall not start from Washington DC but from the American voters. More specifically from the education they have received and still receive in schools, colleges and universities. Third world education produces third world citizen-voters. And the result is for everyone to see.

LOL Accusing Trump to appear in Epstein files a difference in opinions? This is not opinion. This is a damning indictment. Trump accused by Musk of being a pedophile. Is this what an intelligent man does when experiencing a "difference of opinion"? What kind of "intelligent men" are you used to hang out with?

No, thanks, but I'd like to see your face right now... ...start tightening your belt, my friend: that's what happens when an idiot gets elected to the highest office in the land.

LOL, since you like graphs what do you think about these ones? Unlike the USDX, which is calculated on a basket of currencies (euro (EUR), Japanese yen (JPY), Canadian dollar (CAD), British pound (GBP), Swedish krona (SEK), and Swiss franc (CHF)), some irrelevant to US trade, heavy weighted on the euro (57.6% of the basket) and missing the Chinese yuan and the Thai Bath, my graphs show the exact evolution of the USD against some major currencies. During Trump first term, during Biden term, and during Trump second term to date. For each term, 100 is the value of the currency in USD on the starting day. Are you still laughing? Well, I am. LOL

It'll be cheaper to buy a flight ticket to Canada or Mexico and buy and iPhone there. Actually, Apple may launch a promotional bundle flight + Acapulco holiday + complimentary iPhone for a cheaper price.

In articles published by the Financial Times and other financial publications, authors highlight how the US Dollar just had its worst week "since President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs announcement rocked markets at the beginning of April." In the five days ending yesterday the US dollar lost over 2% of its value, 0.9 per cent on Friday alone, against a basket of peers including the euro, the yen and, crucially for our American friends living in Thailand, against the THB. This should not come as a surprise. Given the current administration fixation with the trade imbalance, and the tools available to rectify it, the safest way to achieve tangible results is to reduce the spending power of the American people. And what better way to reduce imports and boost exports if not the depreciation of the US dollar? As I posted before, the first Trump term saw the US Dollar lose a staggering 13 to 15% of its value against major currencies and a staggering 20% against the THB. But this second term is different because the decline in the value of the US dollar is happening faster and more dramatically than ever before. "“Lingering fears over the quality of US asset markets and the threat of de-dollarisation are continuing to weigh on the dollar,” said Chris Turner, global head of markets research at ING", writes the Financial Times. And "“Renewed investor concerns over the US fiscal outlook, alongside speculation that the Trump administration is seeking to weaken the dollar in discussions with other countries, have contributed to the sell-off,” said Lee Hardman, senior currency analyst at banking group MUFG.". Concluding by writing "Analysts at RBC BlueBay Asset Management said they expected the dollar weakening to continue as investors look to hedge their exposure to the greenback in the short term and rethink a “structural overallocation” to the US in the longer term." And while our American friends in Thailand prepare for a future of belt-tightening, there’s bad news for our Americans friends back home too. With 20- and 30-year treasuries interest rate exceeding the 5% mark for the first time in 18 years and with a total value of outstanding US Treasury securities of $27.089 trillion, a 0.1% change in the interest rate costs the American taxpayers a staggering $27.1 billion. Soon however, Americans will start assembling the popular iPhones locally and, who knows, maybe exports to Thailand, China and Vietnam will start too. Everything, in order to Make America Great Again. Dollar notches biggest weekly drop since tariffs sell-off over US debt fears (https://www.ft.com/content/04deb2ec-5bb1-4c7c-94bb-6f62582a0032).

Writes the Washington Post "President Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday morning at increasingly dim economic forecasts that have cast his policies in a harsh light and clouded what he had hoped would be a valedictory marker of his 100 days in office. He has blamed the Federal Reserve. He has expressed anger at what he has described as unfair trade policies of the past, and bluntly said that Americans may have to stomach paying more and getting less. And, more than anything, he has blamed his predecessor. “You probably saw some numbers today,” he said at the start of a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “And I have to start off by saying, that’s Biden; that’s not Trump.” In the meanwhile, the Global Times (a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily) mocks the Trump administration publishing an article stating "There is really no need for China to waste time until the US takes substantial actions. But if the US wishes to engage with China, at this stage, it is not necessarily a bad thing for China either. [...]. Moreover, judging from the current game, China remains calm and clear-headed, always firmly in control of the initiative in both dialogue and confrontation". Adds The South China Morning Post (a daily newspaper published in Hong Kong and subject to the strict scrutiny of the Chinese Communist Party) "Trump’s claims that trade negotiations are under way have been repeatedly denied by Beijing, including most recently on Monday when Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said “there have not been any calls between the two presidents recently”." "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC News last week that engagement with Beijing continued, then suggested that China’s denial was intended for its domestic audience. “I think they’re playing to a different audience,” Bessent said. “We have a process in place and, again, I just believe these Chinese tariffs are unsustainable." "Last week, Chinese Finance Minister Lan Foan criticised the trade war during a Group of 20 ministers meeting in Washington. But Lan concluded his trip without an official dialogue with any US counterparts." "Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was considering reducing tariffs on some Chinese imports to a level of 50 per cent to 65 per cent." In the meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the video below as a message intended primarily to the foreign audience in all countries hit hard by Trump's tariffs. That Trump, a wannabe master of the deal, has put himself against the wall is, at this point, an understatement. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/30/trump-economic-policies-criticized/ https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202505/1333227.shtml https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3308635/trump-believes-good-chance-china-trade-deal-us-envoy-says-no-talks-under-way

That was then. In today's America social media feed people with s**t they end up believing. Harrisfan is a typical product of X Corp. (née Twitter). He and his ilk are products that will cost America dearly, not realizing how brainless, zealot and manipulated they are. Social media have made mainstream what was once the preserve of sectarian, fanatical, antisocial and marginalized groups: indoctrination. I am proud to say that I still pay for most of the information I read, and have no X account. In exchange for my money I demand to get quality information (starting from having access to "both sides of the story").

Russia’s ‘Ghost Detainees’: The Investigation That Cost Viktoriia Roshchyna Her Life Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was pronounced dead in Russian captivity in October 2024, after being secretly held for months in Russian-occupied Ukraine and a Russian prison. In February 2025, her body was repatriated; the body showed marks of torture and was returned without some organs. Viktoriia wrote about the occupation regimes the Russians and their local collaborators were putting in place, about the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and about the terror: how Russia was snuffing out resistance by detaining, threatening, beating and killing thousands of local civilians. “Viktoriia was the only reporter who covered the occupied territories. For her, it was a mission,” Sevgil Musaieva, her editor at online news outlet Ukrainska Pravda said. “She was the bridge between Ukraine and those territories who provided this critical information about life [there]. After she disappeared, there is no coverage of what is happening.” Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories, with Moscow admitting her detention only the following year. For more about Vika's story: https://forbiddenstories.org/russia-detainees-investigation-viktoriia-roshchyna/ https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20250429-forbidden-stories-viktoriia-project-ukraine-war-russia-occupied-territories-viktoriia-roshchyna

The USA has not an export problem. The USA main exports are goods, services (it's where the US excels and has no match, like it or not. They're financial services, but also media, social media, software, etc.) and greenbacks. The greenbacks are the debt the US owes to foreign countries. Sometimes they are dollar bills, sometimes treasuries, sometimes Tesla shares bound to be worth nothing in three years from now.

The dollar devaluation makes Americans poorer and foreign goods more expensive. It is a good thing because poorer Americans will have less leverage to borrow and consequently will consume less. We should thank Trump. He is no "idiot" because of this. The idiots are those among his voters who assumed that MAGA meant they were going to be better off. They are not. MAGA made them poorer, force them to consume less, become more sustainable, and planet Earth has reason to rejoice because of it. Long life MAGA!

I agree with regards to the debt. Americans spend too much in relation to their GDP. This helps the American economy grow but it is not sustainable. However: 1. I never heard that, to remodel his toilet, someone takes down the neighbors' house in the process, nor that 2. someone requires neighbors to pay for the remodeling of his own toilet. There are two ways to orderly deal with debt: a. defaulting b. restructure, spend less and save more. Trump pretending that foreign countries will pay the bill of American largesse can only fool the rednecks living into the depth of the Midwest who voted for him. Educated Americans know perfectly what the ways out of debt are.

This is not about the United States trying to bully China. This is about an incompetent and reckless president trying to fool his voters.