I am convinced that this has always been the plan for this administration. To crash the American economy, push a whole lot of people into bankruptcy and then buy up the distressed assets for pennies on the dollar, further advancing the wealth divide and entrenching the power of the billionaires.
That many people will die because of their policy decisions is terrible but they are able to live with it.
The longer Trump's presidency goes on, the more I believe this, for these reasons:
Buying up Bitcoin.
Tariffing literally everyone, increasing inflation for Americans.
Pushing for lower interest rates despite higher inflation.
War with Iran to keep oil supply in shock, increasing inflation.
Pumping the AI bubble bigger, then actively trying to slow its progress.
What has Trump actually done to HELP the economy? He comes off as an idiot (probably is), but he's surrounded by economic experts who know better. Their silence makes me think this is the plan.
Trump himself is just a bumbling idiot that’s easily manipulated due to his gross stupidity and raging malignant narcissism. Entities like the Heritage Foundation and their billionaire backers are the ones calling the shots here and are ensuring that the MAGA base stays enamored by this charade via Trump. Trump gets to play POTUS while embezzling billions from the US economy. Miller, Thiel, Vaught, etc…are the ones who actually want to crash the American economy so they can buy it up and rule it under their techno-feudalism.
The actual experts (those who haven’t been purged), in my opinion, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either they speak up and therefore get purged or they stay quiet and find whatever futile method that’s left to stall this coup.
Remember, the GOP and right-wing backers of P2025 literally called this a revolution. They said this on live TV and said it doesn’t have to be bloody if the left stays quiet. It looks like they’ve won.
He did refer to the Gilded Age as when America was great. His pseudonym (when he used to call Forbes to inflate his own wealth) was Barron.
He named his child Barron.
England devalued the pound a couple times in recent history to tackle trade deficit and monetary debts. 1949 especially. There were rumours about this being a strategy and Russia pointed it out a while ago. It would make sense they go about it discreetly.
Honestly, between the pointless war with Iran and announcements like the 100% tariffs on generic drugs, I genuinely wonder what on earth is going on. Like, is he trying to make things as bad as possible for average people? Does he genuinely not think that there will be electoral consequences (obviously he'll try and rig the elections, but I doubt he'll be successful).
Who benefits from these policies? I know the consensus is that this is market manipulation, but even so, it just doesn't make any sense to me.
I really wonder about these decisions, because if I was a Democratic strategist and wanted to make the Trump admin do the dumbest things possible to ensure an electoral wipe-out, it would be hard to come up with a better plan than "start pointless war after promising not to" and "double drug prices for everyone."
What I see happening is a continuing devaluation of the USD. This will crush the USA consumer as the products that are imported are not readily available in the USA yet, OR they are available at a substantially higher cost.
I also believe that the USA will implement some sort of "shenanigans" and coercive roll over of shorter term bonds/Tbills into longer term. Basically "Hey Japan you do this or we will fuck you over on more tariffs etc etc". This approach was outlined in the Mar-a-Lago accord
The MAGA Republicans and to some extent the Democrats Americans keep voting into power are the kind of parasites who feel no loyalty to either country or people.
They owe assets all over the world and are in politics either only to exploit or also to enforce their own worldview onto unwilling people to satisfy their own ego or more sadistic desires.
If they drive up inflation it increases the value of their assets while their loans remain set.
If they crash economies they buy more assets on the cheap.
What they cannot abide is taxes on their assets and profits, higher rates on loans and regulation on their political influence.
Don’t forget that crashing the economy will unleash QE and money printing there by allowing asset holders to borrow at low rates against appreciating assets. Win-win
Then blame Sleepy Joe Biden and demand cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to balance the budget because of the deficits they helped bloat.
Not a surprising stat at all. Anecdotally (as a Canadian) anytime I’ve talked with a fellow citizen and they’ve said they’re traveling to the US they also immediately start justifying the choice and it’s almost always because the travel was planned before Trump’s threats. A 100% unforced error on the side of the Americans and one that could be fixed through Congress if they could find their spine. Don’t expect a reversal of these stats until Americans learn the power of Canada’s favourite word. Sorry.
An apology wouldn’t mean very much. Canadians are now prioritizing divesting from the States. Politicians are running on pulling Canadian investment out of the states and winning. At this point any trade deal made with the states isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. There’s zero appetite for investing in a state that threatens Canadian sovereignty. Turnover in the American government won’t change Canadians mind on this. All it takes is one election for MAGA to get back in and we’re back where we started. I think Canadians would rather their government invest in more predictable partnerships that we share common values with.
Yeah, no, we're not going back to the way it was. We saw very quickly how things can go badly. So we will move forward and make new friends and allies. We will find new places to visit and new ways to spend our money. We won't, we can't get complacent and trust the US again. We got stabbed in the back, by our friend. Repeatedly.
I mean, we'd still like to hang out with some of you guys, but you have a lot of work to do before we're willing to come over to your house again.
Unfortunately, this is probably only felt in border cities like Detroit, buffalo, Seattle... Etc. not US wide. I did read that Americans as well have stopped going to Canada and their spending their has dropped. I love Canada and we visit every year. I find most Canadians very kind compared to the black and white thinking here on reddit. I hope things will improve for both countries as we both have our unique sets of economic problems.
My understanding is that it’s countrywide. The border cities are feeling the pain because their economies are more disproportionately influenced by travel, but the reduced travel is being felt in warm-weather destinations as well. The further this drags on the less travel Canadians will plan to states like Florida, or Nevada to instead visit other options like Mexico or Cuba as those trips are planned years in advance compared with weeks or months like car trips are planned.
Also, from this news article, travel to Canada from Americans is up 4.4% YoY. As a Canadian I respect that you share no animosity towards the country or the people I think it’s important to recognize that many Canadians don’t feel that way. Primarily because this was started with no provocation designed to take advantage of a trading partner and because while the response from Canadians when our sovereignty has been up for debate is to make difficult choices with our wallets. Comparatively from the outside it feels that the American response has been to shrug your shoulders and hope congenital heart failure remains undefeated.
I don't think you understand the implications of the electorial
college. It has essentially rigged the game. Most are not shrugging but are votes do not count. Lots of the issues today have stemmed from things 100-150-250 years in the past.
Then how did Biden win? The truth is that a whole lot of Americans are politically apathetic and don't vote, as is historically common with democracies that fall into any form of authoritarianism.
Canadians know the American system as intimately as Americans do. We fully understand the electoral college. We also understand stand that the nihilism is part of the design, but you guys have tried nothing and are all out of options.
Tell me what the options are? You are criticizing Americans but it's really oligarchs who have exploited a political system and it's a disease that is spreading everywhere worldwide in its inequality. It really isn't as clear cut as you are making it out to be.
Protest, call your representatives, volunteer for other political parties, call undecided voters, get into community organizing, pick up a history book and read about how people fought previous authoritarian governments, and vote with your wallet. These are actual actions you can take, but at a minimum realize that no other be is coming to save you. The nihilism will freeze you in place and make it feel like taking action is hopeless. Doing anything other than asking a Canadian what actions you can take is probably going to do more to change your situation.
I have respect for the people of Minnesota. Not just for actually standing up to ICE, but they also had a general strike day and showed up to protest in the middle of the winter.
I do all of those things and so do many in the US. Plus, I am part of an instant runoff ballot group in my state. I don't know why you assume people here are not doing these things. Lots are. But you are painting a very complicated issue with broad strokes. The national issues are not easily resolvable without a complete government overhaul.
I highly doubt someone asking for ideas from Reddit is doing all these things. However, in the chance that’s true be consistent and keep going. It’s like someone saying they’ve tried every diet and still can’t lose weight. You’re either lying to yourself or you’re lying to the outside world. Also only about 66% of Americans voted in 2024 convince the 34% that are eligible but didn’t vote to change that pattern. People who are actually doing the work are not usually the ones acting like things are pointless.
I'm not saying it is pointless but I am realistic to the overall picture. Overturning all campaign finance reform has made things very unfair in the US. I would go on about the history of poll restrictions and gerrymandering but you have taken a pretty antagonist attitude. I have voted Democrat in every election since I could vote. I'm still doing what I need to do but I am not going to make myself miserable every second. We don't choose where we are born. And every country has its issues. I'm working on cleaning my side of the street-justice system in a southern us city especially helping black Americans getting a good defense. I can't worry or take responsibility for everything. That's ridiculous.
> I did read that Americans as well have stopped going to Canada and their spending their has dropped
Which is really dumb because of the exchange rate right now, I hop over to buy shit because it's not far from me and i'm literally getting a 30% discount on shit.
We went in May. The province we went to, PEI, everyone was incredibly vocal about the economic issues. I travel a lot and I think working class is getting shafted everywhere
All of this tariff idiocy and childish 51st state buffoonery has cost the US much, much more than whatever he and his administration thought they would ever get from trying to squeeze out of Canada. An absolute shit show.
arkofjoy | 4 hours ago
I am convinced that this has always been the plan for this administration. To crash the American economy, push a whole lot of people into bankruptcy and then buy up the distressed assets for pennies on the dollar, further advancing the wealth divide and entrenching the power of the billionaires.
That many people will die because of their policy decisions is terrible but they are able to live with it.
Concurrency_Bugs | 3 hours ago
The longer Trump's presidency goes on, the more I believe this, for these reasons:
What has Trump actually done to HELP the economy? He comes off as an idiot (probably is), but he's surrounded by economic experts who know better. Their silence makes me think this is the plan.
zedazeni | 3 hours ago
Trump himself is just a bumbling idiot that’s easily manipulated due to his gross stupidity and raging malignant narcissism. Entities like the Heritage Foundation and their billionaire backers are the ones calling the shots here and are ensuring that the MAGA base stays enamored by this charade via Trump. Trump gets to play POTUS while embezzling billions from the US economy. Miller, Thiel, Vaught, etc…are the ones who actually want to crash the American economy so they can buy it up and rule it under their techno-feudalism.
The actual experts (those who haven’t been purged), in my opinion, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either they speak up and therefore get purged or they stay quiet and find whatever futile method that’s left to stall this coup.
Remember, the GOP and right-wing backers of P2025 literally called this a revolution. They said this on live TV and said it doesn’t have to be bloody if the left stays quiet. It looks like they’ve won.
Concurrency_Bugs | 2 hours ago
Yeah those are good points
ScoffersGonnaScoff | 2 hours ago
He did refer to the Gilded Age as when America was great. His pseudonym (when he used to call Forbes to inflate his own wealth) was Barron.
He named his child Barron.
He absolutely desires this.
css555 | 3 hours ago
But this time he is not surrounded by any experts.
GuelphEastEndGhetto | 2 hours ago
England devalued the pound a couple times in recent history to tackle trade deficit and monetary debts. 1949 especially. There were rumours about this being a strategy and Russia pointed it out a while ago. It would make sense they go about it discreetly.
circuitloss | an hour ago
Honestly, between the pointless war with Iran and announcements like the 100% tariffs on generic drugs, I genuinely wonder what on earth is going on. Like, is he trying to make things as bad as possible for average people? Does he genuinely not think that there will be electoral consequences (obviously he'll try and rig the elections, but I doubt he'll be successful).
Who benefits from these policies? I know the consensus is that this is market manipulation, but even so, it just doesn't make any sense to me.
I really wonder about these decisions, because if I was a Democratic strategist and wanted to make the Trump admin do the dumbest things possible to ensure an electoral wipe-out, it would be hard to come up with a better plan than "start pointless war after promising not to" and "double drug prices for everyone."
PolloConTeriyaki | 3 hours ago
Yet poor people will vote for him because they love being dumb and love being punished.
mhizzle | 3 hours ago
I find it amusing anytime ppl think Trump has any kind of plan
zedazeni | 3 hours ago
Isn’t that exactly what Project 2025 calls for? They’re not secretive about their desire to implement techno-feudalism in America.
DL505 | an hour ago
What I see happening is a continuing devaluation of the USD. This will crush the USA consumer as the products that are imported are not readily available in the USA yet, OR they are available at a substantially higher cost.
I also believe that the USA will implement some sort of "shenanigans" and coercive roll over of shorter term bonds/Tbills into longer term. Basically "Hey Japan you do this or we will fuck you over on more tariffs etc etc". This approach was outlined in the Mar-a-Lago accord
Ezpz_commentz | an hour ago
The MAGA Republicans and to some extent the Democrats Americans keep voting into power are the kind of parasites who feel no loyalty to either country or people.
They owe assets all over the world and are in politics either only to exploit or also to enforce their own worldview onto unwilling people to satisfy their own ego or more sadistic desires.
If they drive up inflation it increases the value of their assets while their loans remain set.
If they crash economies they buy more assets on the cheap.
What they cannot abide is taxes on their assets and profits, higher rates on loans and regulation on their political influence.
Retired-Yam8988 | 41 minutes ago
Don’t forget that crashing the economy will unleash QE and money printing there by allowing asset holders to borrow at low rates against appreciating assets. Win-win
rectalhorror | 2 hours ago
Then blame Sleepy Joe Biden and demand cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to balance the budget because of the deficits they helped bloat.
ICLazeru | 2 hours ago
More needless loss from the completely unnecessary shotgun of tariffs aimed at our own feet.
US won't get a sweeter deal than it had for a long time, maybe ever.
Marijuana_Miler | 2 hours ago
Not a surprising stat at all. Anecdotally (as a Canadian) anytime I’ve talked with a fellow citizen and they’ve said they’re traveling to the US they also immediately start justifying the choice and it’s almost always because the travel was planned before Trump’s threats. A 100% unforced error on the side of the Americans and one that could be fixed through Congress if they could find their spine. Don’t expect a reversal of these stats until Americans learn the power of Canada’s favourite word. Sorry.
Gen_Sherman_Hemsley | an hour ago
An apology wouldn’t mean very much. Canadians are now prioritizing divesting from the States. Politicians are running on pulling Canadian investment out of the states and winning. At this point any trade deal made with the states isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. There’s zero appetite for investing in a state that threatens Canadian sovereignty. Turnover in the American government won’t change Canadians mind on this. All it takes is one election for MAGA to get back in and we’re back where we started. I think Canadians would rather their government invest in more predictable partnerships that we share common values with.
lopix | 37 minutes ago
Yeah, no, we're not going back to the way it was. We saw very quickly how things can go badly. So we will move forward and make new friends and allies. We will find new places to visit and new ways to spend our money. We won't, we can't get complacent and trust the US again. We got stabbed in the back, by our friend. Repeatedly.
I mean, we'd still like to hang out with some of you guys, but you have a lot of work to do before we're willing to come over to your house again.
ZenX22 | 21 minutes ago
I'd be skeptical of anyone who still says they planned travel before Trump's threats, it's been a year and half already lol
evabunbun | 3 hours ago
Unfortunately, this is probably only felt in border cities like Detroit, buffalo, Seattle... Etc. not US wide. I did read that Americans as well have stopped going to Canada and their spending their has dropped. I love Canada and we visit every year. I find most Canadians very kind compared to the black and white thinking here on reddit. I hope things will improve for both countries as we both have our unique sets of economic problems.
Marijuana_Miler | 3 hours ago
My understanding is that it’s countrywide. The border cities are feeling the pain because their economies are more disproportionately influenced by travel, but the reduced travel is being felt in warm-weather destinations as well. The further this drags on the less travel Canadians will plan to states like Florida, or Nevada to instead visit other options like Mexico or Cuba as those trips are planned years in advance compared with weeks or months like car trips are planned.
Also, from this news article, travel to Canada from Americans is up 4.4% YoY. As a Canadian I respect that you share no animosity towards the country or the people I think it’s important to recognize that many Canadians don’t feel that way. Primarily because this was started with no provocation designed to take advantage of a trading partner and because while the response from Canadians when our sovereignty has been up for debate is to make difficult choices with our wallets. Comparatively from the outside it feels that the American response has been to shrug your shoulders and hope congenital heart failure remains undefeated.
evabunbun | 2 hours ago
I don't think you understand the implications of the electorial college. It has essentially rigged the game. Most are not shrugging but are votes do not count. Lots of the issues today have stemmed from things 100-150-250 years in the past.
Ezpz_commentz | an hour ago
Then how did Biden win? The truth is that a whole lot of Americans are politically apathetic and don't vote, as is historically common with democracies that fall into any form of authoritarianism.
Marijuana_Miler | an hour ago
Canadians know the American system as intimately as Americans do. We fully understand the electoral college. We also understand stand that the nihilism is part of the design, but you guys have tried nothing and are all out of options.
evabunbun | an hour ago
Tell me what the options are? You are criticizing Americans but it's really oligarchs who have exploited a political system and it's a disease that is spreading everywhere worldwide in its inequality. It really isn't as clear cut as you are making it out to be.
Marijuana_Miler | an hour ago
Protest, call your representatives, volunteer for other political parties, call undecided voters, get into community organizing, pick up a history book and read about how people fought previous authoritarian governments, and vote with your wallet. These are actual actions you can take, but at a minimum realize that no other be is coming to save you. The nihilism will freeze you in place and make it feel like taking action is hopeless. Doing anything other than asking a Canadian what actions you can take is probably going to do more to change your situation.
I have respect for the people of Minnesota. Not just for actually standing up to ICE, but they also had a general strike day and showed up to protest in the middle of the winter.
evabunbun | an hour ago
I do all of those things and so do many in the US. Plus, I am part of an instant runoff ballot group in my state. I don't know why you assume people here are not doing these things. Lots are. But you are painting a very complicated issue with broad strokes. The national issues are not easily resolvable without a complete government overhaul.
Marijuana_Miler | 37 minutes ago
I highly doubt someone asking for ideas from Reddit is doing all these things. However, in the chance that’s true be consistent and keep going. It’s like someone saying they’ve tried every diet and still can’t lose weight. You’re either lying to yourself or you’re lying to the outside world. Also only about 66% of Americans voted in 2024 convince the 34% that are eligible but didn’t vote to change that pattern. People who are actually doing the work are not usually the ones acting like things are pointless.
evabunbun | 27 minutes ago
I'm not saying it is pointless but I am realistic to the overall picture. Overturning all campaign finance reform has made things very unfair in the US. I would go on about the history of poll restrictions and gerrymandering but you have taken a pretty antagonist attitude. I have voted Democrat in every election since I could vote. I'm still doing what I need to do but I am not going to make myself miserable every second. We don't choose where we are born. And every country has its issues. I'm working on cleaning my side of the street-justice system in a southern us city especially helping black Americans getting a good defense. I can't worry or take responsibility for everything. That's ridiculous.
zergling- | an hour ago
I live in Hawaii, Canadians still visit but not in the numbers we saw in the past. If its happening here, it must be happening nation wide.
fenderputty | 2 hours ago
Florida too though mane.
lopix | 43 minutes ago
> I did read that Americans as well have stopped going to Canada
This Canadian has noticed a TON of US plates around Toronto this summer. One particular highway, I swear 20% of all cars have US plates.
There are WAY more American visitors than normal, or at least it sure looks that way from what I am seeing.
Just_Curious_Dude | 30 minutes ago
> I did read that Americans as well have stopped going to Canada and their spending their has dropped
Which is really dumb because of the exchange rate right now, I hop over to buy shit because it's not far from me and i'm literally getting a 30% discount on shit.
evabunbun | 25 minutes ago
We went in May. The province we went to, PEI, everyone was incredibly vocal about the economic issues. I travel a lot and I think working class is getting shafted everywhere
plingding | an hour ago
Trump spends a dollar to make a dime.
All of this tariff idiocy and childish 51st state buffoonery has cost the US much, much more than whatever he and his administration thought they would ever get from trying to squeeze out of Canada. An absolute shit show.
lopix | 41 minutes ago
This Canadian family used to vacation in the US once or twice a year.
This is the first year we're not going. It doesn't feel safe. We don't feel wanted. We have been insulted and threatened.
So we're traveling in Canada. We're keeping our money here, supporting our own economy. We don't buy US booze any more, we check labels when we shop.
Sorry guys, but Trumperoo said that you don't need us. So we're putting that to the test.
We'd love to come back, but you guys have to get your shit straightened out.