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Comment by nilkn

7 days ago

This comment is good, yet it also reflects a lot of what I dislike about political discourse online.

You've identified a potential severe negative consequence of a change or new policy, but you write as if this is a guaranteed logical corollary and there is no scenario where this consequence does not materialize. This creates an alarmist rather than genuine and analytical tone.

Describing tariffs as a "decapitation strike" feels hyperbolic and even perhaps conspiratorial. Saying this guarantees Chinese hegemony is exaggerated and ignores all the other equally (if not more) significant factors influencing both American and Chinese trajectories. Applying Dalio's broad thesis to tariffs specifically is a stretch -- tariffs may exacerbate tensions Dalio describes, but they aren't necessarily the coup de grace to hegemony.

Basically, you're highlighting real risks and issues, but packaging them in language that overstates their likelihood and doesn't take into account any other factors at play simultaneously. If your goal is to paint a doomsday picture of the future, this works well. If your goal is to understand the impact of tariffs on the world, there's too much emotion and speculation and not enough hard analytical work here.

Yeah, the whole "decapitation strike" talking point betrays a serious bias. It also implies something which no evidence is provided for. The idea that foreign actors got someone elected, then managed to get that person to implement a specific strategy that rapidly destroys the dollar as a reserve currency, all for the benefit of the foreign actor, is quite the stretch.