I foresee that the BRICS economic bloc could do far more damage in the long term as those alliances will deny the West resources it needs to fuel its GDP and consumption.
Global GDP
U.S.: Finance Sector / Services - “Money Magic and Vapor”
Europe: Not sure - only Germany / France / Italy had any industry to speak of, and all have been hobbled
BRICS+: Ramping up, has actual Production - Real Tangible Goods
Decline of the U.S. GDP
1) Cessation of the “Petrodollar” - not the
de facto currency any more
2) Decline in use of the American Dollar as the reserve currency
3) Territories who have the stuff we need are collectively turning their backs on the west, can’t blame them.
1), 2), and 3) are all on a consistent, accelerated march forward.
To top it off, we haven’t really been using any “resources” to generate our GDP for like,…
…forever.
I suppose a rough sketch of U.S. productivity would be an amalgam of Detroit, South Dakota, and Connecticut - if you agree with what these states represent.
The U.S. Dollar’s “exorbitant privilege” was brought upon by our industrial base and prosperity remaining intact after World War 2 - we had the wealth and might, so we made the rules. With ongoing financial coercive measures and weaponization of tne U.S. Dollar against “enemies” leading to the weakening of concepts 1) and 2), I can’t think of anything else lending the U.S. Dollar any security (or value) other than the U.S. Military - but even towards this institution, the rest of the “Global South” (as represented by the BRICS+ nations) doesn’t really seem to care.
Money is, after all - a promise - with the guarantor assuring you that it’s worth something tangible beyond the value that’s printed.
When the guarantor turns out to be a lying cheat, a thief, and a bully - that money, and the
promise it entails - simply loses all credibility (moreso when printed unrestrained).
The consequences on our high standard of living will be painfully palpable and catastrophic in the next decade or so, perhaps sooner.