President Trump has responded to news of the first contraction of the US economy since 2022 in an entirely predictable manner: blaming former President Biden.
Normally, I do give the benefit of a doubt for the first year or so of economic news under a new President no matter which party. Policies do not usually have time to have that kind of effect so quickly. It’s great when you can point to a President you don’t like and say “see, the economy went down”, but it usually doesn’t work that way.
Not this time. Trump moved so fast to break so much that he gets to own the whole thing. Doubly so when the Fed’s predictions had been pointing downward when they had been pointing upward before Trump took office.
I’m pretty sure it’s because he has a hard-on for the gilded age when McKinley was president and virtually all federal income was from tariffs rather than income tax. Trump wants to get rid of income tax altogether, for what I trust are obvious reasons, and replace that revenue with taxation on those who buy products, meaning tariffs. Rich people and corporations will pay essentially no taxes at all, but if you want to buy a car, an appliance, a home, or even food, the price will be jacked up to cover the tariffs he’s implementing.
It was the Gilded Age, a time of rapid population growth and transformation from an agricultural economy toward a sprawling industrial system, when poverty was widespread while barons of phenomenal wealth, like John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, held tremendous sway over politicians who often helped boost their financial empires.
“We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That’s when we were a tariff country. And then they went to an income tax concept,” Trump said days after taking office. “It’s fine. It’s OK. But it would have been very much better.”
Normally, I do give the benefit of a doubt for the first year or so of economic news under a new President no matter which party. Policies do not usually have time to have that kind of effect so quickly. It’s great when you can point to a President you don’t like and say “see, the economy went down”, but it usually doesn’t work that way.
Not this time. Trump moved so fast to break so much that he gets to own the whole thing. Doubly so when the Fed’s predictions had been pointing downward when they had been pointing upward before Trump took office.
huh, I’m getting to the point where i can recognize genai instantly from just the thumbnail, neat
It’s a particularly bland style
AI, I need a picture with Linux red hat…
I’m sorry sir,
Or ma’am,
Both,
it seems I’m not allowed to show images of people with red hats. Would you like images of small cats instead?
?
It’s important to note why he did the tariffs.
It wasn’t because there was an economic trade imbalance.
It wasn’t because he thought they were unfair.
It was because it is essentially the only non-military weapon he has and he wanted to look powerful.
It was because he wanted to alienate our allies under the direction of Putin.
It was because he wanted to feel like a big man. He wanted to show the world he was a dictator.
It was a selfish, dick-measuring move.
I’m pretty sure it’s because he has a hard-on for the gilded age when McKinley was president and virtually all federal income was from tariffs rather than income tax. Trump wants to get rid of income tax altogether, for what I trust are obvious reasons, and replace that revenue with taxation on those who buy products, meaning tariffs. Rich people and corporations will pay essentially no taxes at all, but if you want to buy a car, an appliance, a home, or even food, the price will be jacked up to cover the tariffs he’s implementing.
I disagree.
He did the tariff BS in order to tank the US economy, so that the elite wealthy can buy/consolidate/privatize at rock bottom prices.
His regime was all by design. And all is going according to plan.
And he can claim he’s cutting taxes, because to him the tariffs aren’t a tax which is a load of bull.
Yep. There is a direct cause and effect here. He owns this shit.
He was handed a GREAT economy and he fucked it all up.
Plus he’d be claiming all the credit if it were better
And triply so when the effects of Trump’s shit “policies” were entirely predictable and warned about in advance.