Day 100: So Much Winning
So, how are you doing America? Enjoying all that winning? As NBC News reports:
The U.S. economy contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, the first negative reading since 2022, according to an initial measurement released Wednesday by the Commerce Department.
The decline in gross domestic product was fueled by a massive surge in imports, while other parts of the U.S. economy showed signs of slowing. Consumer spending climbed 1.8%, the weakest pace since mid-2023. The report also showed inflation remained firm.
Retail egg prices, or the prices paid by shoppers, have climbed over the early months of Trump’s term, meaning household budgets have been slammed by worsening egg costs, the economists said.
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻
The sad thing is that I know how the worsening economic picture under Trump will play out. Indeed, I got a glimpse of this recently when an acquaintance complained about the price of eggs but blamed it on Biden, despite prices being lower under Biden. Trump vocally campaigned to bring those prices down as soon as he took office. Now, the uber-mensch is powerless because of the actions of his supposed brain-addled predecessor.
Isn't it funny how that works?
This is one of the hallmarks of a cult; the ability to believe that the cult leader is both powerful and powerless. It all depends on the situation, of course. When something good happens, it is the result of the actions of the powerful cult leader; when something bad happens, the cult leader is powerless to stop it from happening, so he isn't to be blamed. That mentality is what George Orwell termed double-think, and cultists are quite adept at it. This is why it is so difficult to "de-program" a cult member: logic is less of a geometrically straight line and more of a trans-dimensional wormhole. Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway once approvingly referred to this mindset as a way of offering "alternative facts."
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻
Be that as it may, the US economy is now officially teetering on the edge of a deep abyss. This is quite the accomplishment as Trump 2.0 inherited the strongest economy in the world and ran it into a ditch in a mere one hundred days, for reasons I suspect aren't even clear to him outside of some sort of deep psychological scar that compels him to ever attack and destroy as proof of his superiority. In other words, the same mentality as a middle-school bully.
I don't believe Americans really appreciate how bad things will become. As with Trump's disastrously chaotic first term, Americans have forgotten the empty shelves and wildly inflated prices of the COVID pandemic that raged at the end of that term due to Trump's mismanagement. They have forgotten about scrambling for toilet paper and being unable to find a laptop for work or school. Yet all that and more is heading our way once again:
As the New Zork Times relates:
The number of massive container ships carrying metal boxes of toys, furniture and other products departing China for the United States has plummeted by about a third this month.
...
By late May or early June, consumers could start to see some empty shelves, and layoffs could occur for retailers and logistics industries. The major effects on the U.S. economy of shutting down trade with China will start to become apparent in the summer of 2025, when the United States might slip into a recession, said Torsten Slok, an economist at Apollo.
“U.S. consumers will within a few weeks see empty shelves in clothing stores, toy stores, hardware stores and retail drugstores, and higher prices of the goods that still are on the shelves,” he said.
Molson Hart, the chief executive of Viahart, a toy company, wrote on X: “It’s almost like we’re speeding towards a brick wall but the driver of the car doesn’t see it yet. By the time he does, it’ll be too late to hit the brakes.”
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻
The short-term results of this disastrous and reactionary trade war will be economic destruction. I am curious about the long-term effects, though. Could there be a silver lining to these storm clouds?
I recently came across an interesting video about how America is a consumer economy on steroids. Most first-world economies have a healthy consumer base but the American economy is far beyond what is seen in other nations. We don't consume as much as devour.
The video asks an intriguing problem: "What happens to a consumer economy if all the consumers are broke?" I would extend the question. What happens if that habit of consuming non-stop is broken by an extended shortage of goods? What happens when mega-consumers go cold turkey? As with an addict, will it break the habit? Or will the addiction resume as before or, perhaps, even worse than before, when the crisis passes?
I don't know the answer to that long-term question, but I am hopeful that reduced consumerism and the resultant consumer debt (which is at record highs) will occur. That is the only good thing I can see coming from this.
Don't misunderstand, I am not anti-consumerism. People work hard for their money and deserve to use their wages to buy things that bring them pleasure. There is nothing wrong with that. But as any glimpse at the ads on television will affirm, we are now in a period of predatory consumerism. America is awash with unscrupulous salesmen selling "magic beans." We are wasting billions on overpriced junk. This is something I discovered after cleaning out a bunch of closets. I was stunned by the amount of money I wasted buying stuff that gave me a few weeks of pleasure and then was forgotten as the newness wore off. It was a lesson I won't soon forget.
Perhaps the coming market collapse will help others learn that same lesson? Perhaps they will see how they are being duped out of hard-earned wages with slick ad campaigns selling junk at a 300% markup?
If that occurs, there might be another beneficial effect: the breaking of the abusive practices of the very corporations and CEOs that have empowered MAGA and Trump. An America that doesn't consume doesn't need much of what Tesla, Amazon, or Target are selling. Wouldn't it be deliciously ironic if the same rapacious corporations that were co-conspirators with Trump were destroyed or damaged by this regime's policies?
🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻
Related to the above discussion is this report that Microsoft will be significantly increasing the pricing for their Xbox entertainment consoles despite the current generation being over four years old, an age that usually sees a price cut:
Microsoft is raising the prices of its Xbox Series S / X consoles, Xbox controllers, and even some new Xbox games around the world. Starting today, Microsoft says it has adjusted its recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers, with the Xbox Series X being bumped by $100 to $599.99. Microsoft is also planning to adjust the pricing of some of its new first-party Xbox games this holiday season up to $79.99.
Microsoft’s Xbox Series S (512GB) model is moving from $299.99 to $379.99, a price hike of $80. The Xbox Series S 1TB model is moving to $429.99, and the Xbox Series X digital edition will now be priced at $549.99, with the 2TB galaxy black special edition model now an eye-watering $729.99.
As plenty of gaming journalists have pointed out, such pricing puts it out of reach of many in a hobby dominated by a younger, less affluent demographic.
The market can only bear so much before something breaks. I suspect Microsoft, which contributed millions to Trump's inauguration fund, might learn this quite soon.
🔺🔺🔺🔺🔺
Comments
Post a Comment