politics

Give it some time. Whether intentional or unintentional, Trump has been teeing up economic collapse, and things are likely to come unglued in late 2026. Right-wingers have been harping on "the deficit" for decades, while doing nothing but increasing it. You can maintain a 2% budget deficit indefinitely so long as your economy grows by 3%. However, Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" boosts the budget deficit to ~6%, and ~1/3 of U.S. debt matures in 2026 and will have to be rolled-over into new, higher rate bonds. However, notwithstanding the rapidly approaching massive growth in the cost of debt service, Trump's policies are shrinking the economy.

It is well known that population growth = economic growth, as each additional person contributes their labor and needs to buy food, housing, clothing, transportation, etc., etc. Conversely, shrinking the population by kicking out people contributing to the economy causes it to shrink, and Trump is kicking out people that help produce food and work in construction, not only shrinking the economy but also boosting the costs of production, contributing to inflation.

In addition, tariffs shrink foreign trade, and levying outrageous tariffs on other countries invites retaliation. Look at what has happened to soybean farmers with respect to China's purchase of soybeans and alcohol distillers with respect to Canadian purchases of alcohol.

While all of this sets the stage for a future financial crisis, in the same that a household maxing out its credit card debt, rolling it over each month on new credit sets up a personal financial crisis, as eventually you run out of credit cards willing to underwrite your risk, there is reason to believe that the crisis will come sooner rather than later. This is because Jerome Powell's term as Fed Chairman is up in May of 2026, and Trump will definitely put in a lackey that will do whatever Trump wants, rather than what is prudent for the U.S., and Trump has made it crystal clear that he wants the Fed to lower interest rates to juice the economy.

So what is going to happen is that there will be low demand for U.S. government bonds to refinance the debt, forcing higher rates to compensate for the risky financial position the U.S. is in and also forcing the Fed to buy them, effectively printing money. Add in the fact that the world no longer sees the U.S. as a reliable partner, and it will destroy the dollar, further reducing it's demand and causing a massive inflation spike, and a financial crisis at a level not seen since the Great Depression, with bank runs, etc. There is a reason that gold is in the greatest bull market of all time, and continues to make new all-time highs. It's because central banks are shifting away from dollar assets (central banks now hold more gold than U.S. treasuries), and individuals are looking to protect their assets. We will likely have a "melt up" (massive stock market spike) as people scramble to get out of dollars and into harder assets, and then a collapse. I expect gold to top $8K in 2026. Buckle up, because we're living in interesting times!

I feel like people using this analogy are forgetting that fevers don't always break. Sometimes they kill you.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. That which can be gained can always be lost if we grow complacent, which we did.

the top 10% are still doing fine, and the top 20% are more or less still seeing improvements and are relative stable lives.

nothing will change until the top 10% start being affected. because they account for over half of all consumer spending and are all the mangers, decision makers, business owners, etc. most of these people trend democratic actually, but they are Biden style democrats who want things to keep going as they are above all else.

it's about economics really, not politics.

Yeah, but you can imagine what it would be like if they were.

If they put as much effort into waking up as they do into protesting then all the rest of the world will hear is snoring.

Nothing will change until we start asking why people don't bother to vote, instead of fruitlessly balling our fists, shitting our diapers, and whining that it's not fair that so many people choose not to vote.

You can moan all you want about non voters, but brow beating people will only drive them away from your side faster. The truth is non voters don't vote for real reasons, primarily because they don't think either side represents them. You can whine and moan that people need to think more strategically, but no amount of crying will change the fact that a good chunk of the electorate simply doesn't share your values and approach to voting. Some people vote strategically, some only when they feel they can truly support a candidate. Screaming at people, "you simply have to approach voting the way I do!!!" won't convince anyone.

People have different values and priors, and they do not owe you their votes. In a democracy, saying "I can't stand either of these monsters. I don't care what happens, I'm not participating, a pox on both your houses!" is a perfectly valid choice. A core principle of democracy is that we're allowed to believe different things, and brow beating people will not get them to support you.

Don't blame non voters. It's intellectually lazy and a cop out meant to prevent Democrats from making the hard changes necessary to actually appeal to this population of non voters. Trump managed to mobilize millions of non voters. He didn't do so by whining at them and telling them to vote strategy. He did it by inspiring them and convincing them he was looking out for them. It was all lies, but it worked. If you want to mobilize non voters, you need to find ways and policies that actually appeal to them. Simply complaining about non voters will not work, just as it hasn't worked for the last 40 years.

And while I'm sure you're already typing a comment telling me it's my fault Trump got elected because I didn't vote, you're wrong. I did hold my nose and fruitlessly vote for the Cheney lover, for all the good that did. I just have enough humility to realize that those who don't vote have very good reasons for doing so.

It's Robert Reich, he's worth paying some attention to.