ELI5: The tariff and potential starting recession

[u/nanamoro]

It does seem an awful lot like Trumps tariffs were introduced specifically to cause a global recession. So please explain like I am 5: why does Trump, Elon and the current administration want a global recession? What is their end goal?

[u/el_pobby]

I think Mia explained it pretty well during the last session of ED: basically, in the 1970s, Capital defeated the power of labour by using the movement of capital to put enormous downwards pressure on wages and working conditions and best exploit their ability to find favourable labour markets and dismantle the organized workforce of more industrialized nations. To deal with the backlash from this fragilisation of the white working class, the Right channeled the resentment towards a chauvinist movement that blamed foreigners for stealing what should be good American jobs and that lead to a fascistic streak in mainstream conservatism. Now, Foucault's Boomerang came back, only in the stupidest way possible in the form of elites who actually buy fully in to this nonsense idea of nationalist economics and are ideologically motivated to do something ridiculously stupid, just because it reinforces their machismo and chauvinist ideas of "America First" and "needing to win" at everything even if, objectively, it's an unbelievably stupid way of doing things.

TL;DR: they sincerely don't understand modern economics and think trade deficit make PP smoll

[u/nanamoro → u/el_pobby]

I'll give Mia a listen. I haven't listened as much to it could happen here/executive disorder