• I don’t grasp basic economics. Can someone help me understand what Japan selling these US Treasuries would mean? Doesn’t someone else have to buy them?

    • Japan holds a trillion dollars of US debt in the form of bonds. If they sell the bonds, it increases the supply and lowers demand so to be more attractive the bond interest rates must increase. If the interest rates increase it means that the US must pay more towards paying down the national debt that it currently does. That means US interest rates will increase and the average American will have to pay more in loan and mortgage payments than ever, causing people to abandon homes and cars, and the value of the US dollar will crash. This will lead to a new depression.

      • Good summary, only one correction:

        It will lead to an even worse Great Depression.

        Great Depression 2.0 is already unavoidable in the US, even if Japan doesn’t dump US Bonds.

        Japan (and others who would soon follow) dumping US Bonds would just pour cement over the grave we’ve already dug ourselves into.

    • The crude idea is that it makes US bonds less desirable, meaning they have to increase the interest rate on them, costing the US a lot of money

    • The US used its soft power to pump the dollar, part of that was selling bonds to other countries to help secure its place as the reserve currency. Japan is threatening to dump that pump.

  • What a degenerate abasement of the levers of policy : “cards” and “big things”.

    We reap what we sow.

  • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksdeleted by creatorEnglish
    1 year

    So if I believe that the US won’t go bankrupt it might mean a good opportunity to buy US bonds at a high interest rates…

    • The interest is the price if the risk.

      It’s not about “believing” which way it’s going to go, it’s whether or not you want to be paid to accept that risk.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksdeleted by creatorEnglish
        1 year

        I would be extremely surprised if it happened but so much surprising shit is happening with the US at the moment…

    • 1 year

      Good luck finding a trillion dollars. This tool is also used by the EU, South Korea, Canada and China. Good luck finding 7 trillion dollars.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksdeleted by creatorEnglish
        1 year

        You can buy bonds without having to buy all of them, they’re part of a diversified portfolio.