[owenmarshall]

The USD is the reserve currency of the world. The US maintains this status quo through a combination of soft and hard power: stir the pot a little and ambassadors tut-tut. Stir a bit more and your politicians have their US bank accounts frozen. Stir too hard and the USS Gerald R. Ford sails up off your coast and asks you to reconsider democracy. I'd be surprised if this status quo is challenged by another country for years.

What I think is far more interesting is what happens internally: the US is a powder keg of economic and racial inequality and our leaders are either throwing lit matches at it or gently disapproving of those doing the throwing. If COVID cases and deaths keep increasing I can't see how we continue without structural changes.

[mD5pPxMcS6fVWKE]

Doesn't work against China and Russia ... doesn't really work even against Venezuela.

[owenmarshall]

Oh, don't get me wrong: long term the petroeuro is coming – unless it gets upstaged by the petroyuan. With luck it doesn't come with too many bodies.