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The tariffs are being paid by Americans. Why is that a surprise?
(discuss.online)
Video and source: https://xcancel.com/dieworkwear/status/1951851958559703117#m
Most of the population in the US is about to recieve an object lesson in the global nature of modern manufacturing.
This goes well beyond where the raw materials for the final product are sourced from.
Machine components such as bearings. PPE and the polymer feedstock for ear plugs. Wire. The insulation for the wire. Semiconductors. Cutting tools. Etc.
There probably are domestic sources for a lot of these things, but that comes at a premium.
During COVID, I was biting my nails. I still wonder how close we came to global manufacturing collapse due to JIT failure.
If manufacturing collapses in the US, it will take decades to dig out of that hole. It could be something small like the lack of a plasticizer addtive. For the want of a nail and all that.
What's really scary, is that whether or not the tariffs go through, suppliers have already drastically reduced imports. They did it months ago when this bullshit started. It's just now starting to have an impact and will do so for months even if TACO bactracks today.
Commander Orangey McFucknutts may potentially crash manufacturing and the economy with it. It could be a Humpty Dumpty. I don't think most people understand how bad that would be. Starvation, widespread foreclosures and reposessions. Great Depression level stuff, but most of us aren't farmers anymore.
I wonder if this is why Epstein has suddenly, finally, become such a big deal. (Think about it, now it's news even though the facts being reported have been public knowledge for a decade.) It's the billionaire class warning him to knock this shit off.
Buckle up, it might get a little rough.
"It’s the billionaire class warning him to knock this shit off." I'm pretty sure the oligarchs threw their weight behind the fascist in the end was in hope of getting a 2007 style crash where they could buy up what little they do not already own for pennies on the dollar.
The fascist destroying worker rights (hell, anyone but CIS Het white men's rights) and setting up an army with no oversight was just gravy for them all.
Right, they want a deep recession/small depression. They can fuck us even harder.
However, I don't think bringing down the entire house of cards would be beneficial to the billionaires that prefer living in the US. Sure, they can just move to their fifth vacation home in France or whatever. If their way of life is US-centric, they're going to discourage a complete crash.
It seems that a lot of billionaires enjoy underage sex slaves, and those are easier to come by in a crashed economy where people are desperate. Also easier to get organ transplants, allowing these ghouls to live well past their allotted lifespans.
Depends on what you mean by a complete crash. Equites crash, property values cave, massive unemployment, these are good for the oligarchs.
Now if the paper markets freeze or securities jump to double digits, they are looking at the USD losing (some of at least) its status as the reserve currency. That would hurt their fortunes on paper, but they would outright own enough physical wealth it wouldn't matter that much. And as you pointed out, they can just move somewhere else or live in fortified palaces and travel in armored cars or aircraft? This is getting a bit Gibson-eqsue now, a bit hyperbolic on my part perhaps.
I suppose that's what the crypto is for.
Yeah, the crypto will (in theory) allow them to not even give a fuck about the US as far as the stability of the dollar is concerned.
By complete crash, I guess I mostly mean the economy is a smoking crater. Manufacturing grinds to a halt due to tariffs. Liquidity dries up. It takes decades to rebuild from that, it arguably took WWII to undo the Great Depression. An important difference is that most people were still farming when that happened. If we had a depression on that scale today, my gut says it would be much worse. Arguably, it would be apocalyptic as the US standard of living rapidly dropped to a third world standard.
So, yeah, billionaires would totally be fine. However, they wouldn't be able to visit their hometown, go shopping, spouses and kids would bitch. Even a billionaire likes ice cream.
The Epstein thing is totally a hunch on my part, but it's a strong hunch. Chump is fucking up things he doesn't have the capacity to understand. It's fine if he rapes kids or puts them in concentration camps, but a billionaire's concubine starts bitching about a boutique store or whatever, it becomes a billionaire problem.
Which is pretty fucking sick. Hoping the parasites are inconvenienced enough to maybe prevent famine.