Japan says its $1 trillion in US Treasuries is among tools for trade talks
c/world · u/schizoidman@lemm.ee · 218 points
c/world · u/schizoidman@lemm.ee · 218 points
u/FauxPseudo@lemmy.world · 8 points
What an unfortunate thing to happen on free dozen eggs night.
u/anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 4 points
And the dear leader is incapable of reasoning. Treasoning however…
u/Kecessa@sh.itjust.works · 5 points
I would be extremely surprised if it happened but so much surprising shit is happening with the US at the moment...
u/Kecessa@sh.itjust.works · 6 points
You can buy bonds without having to buy all of them, they're part of a diversified portfolio.
u/null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 points
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.
u/clutchtwopointzero@lemmy.world · 3 points
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u/Pringles@lemm.ee · -2 points
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.
u/sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 points
Wow, I am rarely corrected that things are _**even worse**_ from an economic standpoint than I asses they are... I am so very used to being called a hysterical paranoid doomsday fetishist.
9 trillion rolling over in 2025 huh?
Hwoahboy, we are fucking screwed.
... Good luck.
u/SpontaneousCombustion@lemmy.world · 3 points
But it’s even worse than that. The US has to rollover about 9 trillion of debt in 2025. Someone has to buy these bonds and if Japan or China are reluctant, it likely means higher interest rates to be offered in order to secure the sale.
https://finbold.com/9-trillion-of-us-debt-will-mature-in-2025-should-investors-be-worried/
u/sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 10 points
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.
u/MuskyMelon@lemmy.world · 51 points
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.
u/clutchtwopointzero@lemmy.world · 41 points
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u/stormdelay@sh.itjust.works · 15 points
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
u/CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world · 5 points
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.
u/Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 44 points
That’d be a reasonable tool. Unfortunately, we do not live in reasonable times.
u/gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works · 30 points
Loooooooooool
This is the geoeconomic equivalent of using the canned sunshine. And I can’t say it’s not justified.
u/john_lemmy@slrpnk.net · 25 points
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?
u/Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca · 15 points
What a degenerate abasement of the levers of policy : "cards" and "big things".
We reap what we sow.
u/Kecessa@sh.itjust.works · 3 points
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...