Listen to what Trump says about it. He wants other countries to pay their fair share through the tarrifs and stop taking advantage of America and bring back American manufacturing. And if you assume that he is not lying and means what he says then the only real logical conclusion is that he is an illiterate moron with an understanding of economics that is less than that of a second grader.
The finance YouTubers will have you believe he's intentionally crashing the economy in a 4D chess move to force the Fed to lower rates so that the national dept can be financed at a lower interest rate.
And there's the theory that he's crashing markets so he and his rich friends can buy up things for pennies on the dollar and basically copy paste the oligarch structure that was formed in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I think any of the 4d chess theories are pretty dumb. The āthey crash it to buy it for cheapā is particularly stupid. Elon Musk is probably going to end up losing over $100,000,000,000 (if not way more) from this lol. Thereās no way this is going to be net positive for him. The āoligarchsā wealth is in the stock market so crashing it so they can buy things for cheaper is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The reality is just: Trump isnāt very informed and is stuck in the past. He rightly recognizes that free trade is a race to the bottom that ends with us losing jobs to essential slave labor in undeveloped countries. Buts heās also rash and stupid and belligerent so he canāt intelligently target the worst offenders and instead just indiscriminately tariffed everyone.
TLDR: Trump correctly identifies a problem (that other countries are disinclined to see due to the wealthy not wanting anything to change) but is also a stupid person so he puts forth a solution thatās even
worse.
"He rightly recognizes that free trade is a race to the bottom that ends with us losing jobs to essential slave labor in undeveloped countries."
This is offset by the other longstanding pillar of U.S. foreign policy, which was to encourage democratic governments in all countries. Much harder to race to the bottom if the slave labor can vote.
He rightly recognizes that free trade is a race to the bottom that ends with us losing jobs to essential slave labor in undeveloped countries. Buts heās also rash and stupid and belligerent so he canāt intelligently target the worst offenders and instead just indiscriminately tariffed everyone.
what is the right way to do it, im wondering? i dont get the sense that this even being a problem is widely accepted, let alone that anyone has an idea how to fix it
Wait, you donāt think businesses having the option to pay Bangladeshis 50 cents an hour is a problem for a low skill American worker looking to make a living wage in a similar industry? Come on bro. Would you be cool with us just removing the minimum wage? If not, what is the real difference between paying American workers slave wages vs. paying foreign workers slave wages instead? In a free trade world, there is no difference.
what is the right way to do it
Targeted tariffs on problematic countries and specifically aimed at hitting industries you want to promote back home.
So, imposing a huge tariff on Chinese electric cars might be fine if we were working to increase electric car production here, change our sourcing to get materials from friendly countries, etc. But Trump just put tariffs on everyone and everything. So all he has done is place a 10-40% sales tax on everything imported.
Americans will eventually get this stuff from American companies, but it will take several years to build up the production and, in the meantime, we will all suffer. And so will our allies who we are fucking over for no reason.
Wait, you donāt think businesses having the option to pay Bangladeshis 50 cents an hour is a problem for a low skill American worker looking to make a living wage in a similar industry?
i do, but thats not the sense i get from most of the people talking about the tariffs, they sound to me like they think theres not even a problem worth tackling.
Targeted tariffs on problematic countries and specifically aimed at hitting industries you want to promote back home.
makes sense. we'll see if thats what we end up closer to, or if he really doesnt have a plan to negotiate and just does want blanket fire
And there's the theory that he's crashing markets so he and his rich friends can buy up things for pennies on the dollar and basically copy paste the oligarch structure that was formed in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
To be honest I'm pretty sure he is too dumb to plan for this kind of things, but the gang around him are not. My guess is they now what buttons to press to influence him towards their designs.
I've never seen anyone as puppified and resigned as don. He has many masters, but based on exactly what he said, his main one runs this giant country on a continent to the east. Those poor russian soldiers!
I am hopeful that everyone on earth sends Zelensky help. Everyone, send your baddest ass mother fuckers and have Zelensky say, fuck your peace plans. We're going to just kill them all.
Trump, start Global Trade War, US Dollar Default with Mar-A-Lago Accords (swap US Treasury Notes & Bonds for zero-coupon 100 year bond that can't be traded) --> US Debt Goes Bye-Bye and US can start manufacturing again once quality of life and the US Dollar are lower than whale shit so we can competitively manufacture cheap stuff. WARNING: Some work may be "Pay Optional" #WINNING
And there's the theory that he's crashing markets so he and his rich friends can buy up things for pennies on the dollar and basically copy paste the oligarch structure that was formed in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
can anyone explain how theyre gonna do that when their assets are evaporating at the same speed as or worse than the market? what money are they gonna use for this
If their money isn't all tied in assets with fluctuating value, they can directly buy smaller companies. Or they can finance it with their Assets as collateral. even if their billion shares of TSLA fell 40% that's still a big chunk of change that can be borrowed against and used for buying more things at the bottom.
If their money isn't all tied in assets with fluctuating value
but it is.
Or they can finance it with their Assets as collateral.
they couldve done that at higher valuation of their assets, so this is only profitable for them if their assets tank significantly less than the market since they'll be paying a whole bunch of interest.
even if their billion shares of TSLA fell 40%
the above doesnt work then because the whole market didnt tank 40%, but TSLA did.
I honestly thought him trying to manipulate the economy and market would force Powell to adjust rates in time for the US to refi a part of the national debt at a better rate.
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u/DPMKIV 23h ago
It's called a FED bailout...
It theoretically should ease the free fall to prevent an all-out crash.