Hacker News: wesapien

New comment by wesapien in "Iran hit more U.S. military targets than has been reported, satellite images"

wesapien — Thu, 07 May 2026 01:47:44 +0000

If only other countries just gave away their sovereignty then we wouldn't have to preemptively take away their sovereignty because if we don't then they will do it to us. If we don't instigate war then it will come to us and our stocks won't go up and contracts dry up.

New comment by wesapien in "America's Geothermal Breakthrough"

wesapien — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 04:45:26 +0000

One of the problems with the data center boom is its use of fresh water. How does geo-thermal plants use water and how much?

New comment by wesapien in "Trump's global tariffs struck down by US Supreme Court"

wesapien — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 06:21:42 +0000

The cover story for tarrifs was re-Industrialization. The facts are that they are used more as another rent seeking maneuver, a street rat style protection racket or a means to coerce. Sell the theory but do something else.

New comment by wesapien in "'The old order is not coming back,' Carney says in speech at Davos"

wesapien — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 02:42:07 +0000

It's an admission that the decades of preference falsification and praise of the emperors clothes is not worthy anymore. Carney hints that the same pressures that kept the dysfunctional Soviet system is similar to the same pressures that keep the dysfunction of capitalism, Neo-liberalism (religion) as well as Neo-classical economics (theology).

New comment by wesapien in "De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)"

wesapien — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 23:03:13 +0000

Most think that the cracks in the financial system started to appear after 2008 (global financial crisis) and become truly visible after the financial system was weaponized through the seizures of Russian central bank USD reserves. It setup a precedent that it happened once it could happen again to some other country.

Cheers to you for mentioning Triffin's dilemma. In my opinion, the dilemma is in the ability of the host country to be able to make "good use" of the exorbitant privilege. The financial system was not only used against other states but against its own people. Instead of developing the country and building equity through the middle class, it cannibalized its own.

New comment by wesapien in "De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)"

wesapien — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:50:00 +0000

Blackrock released a document you can download that outlines their 2026 outlook. A key point there was: "We go underweight long-term US Treasuries." A sign of bearishness on USD due to fiscal policy.

https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/insights/blackrock-inves...

New comment by wesapien in "Street Fighter II, the World Warrier (2021)"

wesapien — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 03:19:37 +0000

I was there 2 years ago. I went inside one of the multi storey gaming places in Akihabara. The old school (90's and older) era games are a small section in one floor when there is 6 storeys of gaming.

New comment by wesapien in "AI adoption linked to 13% decline in jobs for young U.S. workers: study"

wesapien — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 03:19:26 +0000

Late Stage Capitalism. The real paper clip maximizers are the Silicon Valley and Wallstreet bros we met along the way.

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 03:05:31 +0000

If you got time, this is IMO a very good critique of the recent events by senior Americans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594yN8rxIJo

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 06:33:16 +0000

Tarrifs can be useful in protecting your players in an new industry. In specific situations not using it like carpet bombing.

Thomas Sowell who is 94 has some wisdom to share: https://x.com/HooverInst/status/1907630250135273527?ref_src=...

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 05:25:51 +0000

Read up on 1900s world history and what path dependency is. The dollar is the reserve currency because the USA won the title of world power near the end of the first of half of the 1900s. It was formalized in the Bretton Woods agreement in 1944. The US helped win the war and gained enormous trust and goodwill around the world which it has slowly been squandering since then. POTUS hit the turbo button just a few months ago.

The PRC has strict controls of their money because that is how they can became the factory of the world. They played the hand that were dealt with and battled adversity and they are reaping the rewards.

The president said today that the US trade partners and allies/friends have been taking advantage. You can easily verify if that is true or false. US capitalists moved production overseas to make more money at the expense of the local workers. That's the scam.

New comment by wesapien in "Why I don't discuss politics with friends"

wesapien — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 03:33:00 +0000

Timur Kuran writes about this idea (preference falsification) in "Private Truths, Public Lies".

He explains that its this idea that had kept the Soviet Union (this bad idea/system) from dying sooner. People thought it was the system of oppression but in reality it was people who hated the system showed approval. https://youtu.be/xzjqjU2FOwA?si=aTG0GnJKVDoK_-qb&t=819

"Accordingly, for all the hardships of life under communism, they remained politically submissive for years on end." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preference_falsification

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 01:19:38 +0000

Fake, no not at all. Look around your where live. Think about who, where, and how those things were made. Scam? From whose perspective? There is only one global reserve currency. For all intents and purposes, that is the crown and heavy is the head that wears it. Sure it feels like a scam for anyone outside of the 1% or the political class or the plutocracy.

The world followed the lead and it just wanted reciprocity (exclude the enemies of course). What seems fake to you and who is getting scammed by who?

New comment by wesapien in "Why I don't discuss politics with friends"

wesapien — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 23:33:18 +0000

I think the outcomes achieved for domestic vs foreign is another interesting angle. The degradation of purchasing power of working and middle class is have been consistently getting worse.

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:27:14 +0000

It's only one of the key levers of power of the USA. No biggie. You give people money represented by paper but mostly bits/bytes in exchange for other peoples materials and labor. Can you unpack what kind of stuff you're talking about? Are we talking about nascent industries? This stuff, who are you going to sell it to ?

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:53:29 +0000

The political class and plutocrats always wins regardless of the election outcome. The two party system guarantees they come out unscathed regardless of their jousting.

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:44:25 +0000

https://x.com/_PeterRyan/status/1907879785151475801 Protectionism is like child rearing. You're trying to protect the young (industry) so they survive to adulthood. The tarrifs are too broad. How the hell are you going to sell goods from HCOL area to the rest of the less affluent world? Even if some countries could afford it, how are you going to get goods across burned bridges?

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:35:58 +0000

It's the elite wealth pump. Capital is a non-state entity but through corporations was granted person hood by states without a social contract. Trickle down economics was a complete scam and Richard Cantillon has the receipts for it.

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:28:54 +0000

The US has a very high standard of living as a whole. In order for it to compete with others, it must become "as poor" as others. You simply can't undermine your trading partners and not disrupt your privilege as the global reserve status.

New comment by wesapien in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

wesapien — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 14:25:46 +0000

Does that matter as much as citizens united?