The Beginning of the End

In his “Liberation Day” speech on April 3rd, Trump began in earnest to restore the American economy and American industry

The shot heard round the world

In the war of freedom vs Collectivism, Trump fired a “Fort Sumter” shot at those who have been looting the American economy for over two decades. (Longer than that actually, but let’s say since 9/11.) The attack on Fort Sumter by the Confederacy in 1861 marked the beginning of the Civil War (1861–1865).

I have trouble listening to Trump’s speeches – he rambles on, utters incoherent sentence fragments, takes complete credit for situations that many people are involved in, and ignores the negative effects of his policies. But in this speech, he outlines tariff policies that are absolutely necessary to restore an economy that has been eviscerated from the inside out.

The US trade deficit last fiscal year was $1.22 TRILLION dollars. How is that possible? After WW II, when the US produced 60% of all goods in the world economy, we could afford to ignore tariffs placed by other countries on our exports. But the US is now, by far, the largest debtor nation in the world, with a government deficit of $37 trillion, and with 2- to 3-trillion annual budget deficits into the foreseeable future.

This insanity has to stop.

I read the transcript of Trump’s speech and agreed with all of it. The goal of the new tariff policy is to restore balance in worldwide trade. For too many years the US has been subsidizing the economies of other nations, to the detriment of American workers and a hollowed-out manufacturing sector.

Trump was diplomatic in this speech, saying correctly that U.S. Presidents of both parties allowed our massive deficits to happen. George Bush and Barack Obama presided over the exfiltration of thousands of factories, with good paying jobs, to China, Mexico, and S.E. Asia. This was done gleefully by the globalist millionaires who saw the opportunity to use cheap Third World labor and fatten their balance sheets.

This can no longer continue if the US wants to have a real economy, not one based on accounting tricks and government spending.

The fake economy

Even though the US supposedly has the world’s third largest manufacturing base, much of our economic “productivity” is based now on printing fake money by the trillions. If Elon is to be believed (I see no reason why he would lie about it, and no one has contradicted his statement) that is why Trump fired the Treasury paymaster, who wrote checks for over $4 Trillion with no Treasury account tags attached. This means that no one can trace who the money was sent to because no one knows which account it went to. This is a joke. Everyone in the world has some accounting system, no matter how primitive, that outlines where their money is going.

The U.S. government is a gigantic, open air Grift that is being systematically looted, almost exclusively by people in the US. The massive trade deficit is a big part of the problem.

When the United States achieved its independence, it immediately imposed tariffs against the great economic powers of the world, chiefly England, in order to develop our domestic industries. This was the economic policy of the US up until the early 20th century, when tariffs were lowered and the Income Tax was established. China, after it was admitted into the WTO in 2001, did the same thing.

The goals of Trump’s tariff policy

The goal of Trump’s tariff policy – called a “trade war” by the mindless idiots in mainstream media – are 5-fold:

1. Bring manufacturing back to the United States to create well paying jobs. The US still has the largest pool of skilled workers in the world, so this is feasible.

2. Encourage direct foreign investment in the United States. This is already occurring. Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s premiere high-end chip manufacturer, is building a $200 billion plant in the US to avoid tariffs. According to Apple, it will spend $500 billion in the US over the next 4 years, in manufacturing facilities in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington. Nvidia is also investing hundreds of billions of dollars over the next four years in U.S.-based manufacturing operations.

3. Lower long-term interest rates to reduce the cost of debt repayment. This is vital because in FY 2025 the interest on the national debt – money we have already borrowed and must pay back – is $1.13 Trillion! That is over $200 billion more than the entire Pentagon budget. The higher interest rates go, the more money it takes to repay the debt.

4. Shift the U.S. economy from fake financial engineering, accounting tricks, and money printing to the manufacturing of tangible goods.

5. Lower the value of the dollar to support exports. A lower dollar means U.S. exports are cheaper for other countries to purchase.

Number 5 is the heart of the trade deficit problem: other countries don’t want to purchase U.S. goods, but they want us to buy their exports. In 2024, the US had a $157 billion trade deficit with Mexico, a $100 billion trade deficit with Canada, a $113 billion trade deficit with Vietnam, and a $274 billion trade deficit with China.

A trade deficit of $113 billion with little Vietnam? How does that happen?

The trade deficit with China is much larger than $274 billion because the CCP sets up their manufacturing plants in little countries like Cambodia and Vietnam, where they can exploit even cheaper slave labor than they have in their own country.

Many countries cheat the system in order to lower the price of their exports to the US – the world’s largest national consumer market. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), for example, practices predatory capitalism that distorts trade: The CCP, as is well-known, steals U.S. intellectual property; the CCP massively subsidizes its state industries, taking losses for years if necessary until their foreign competitors go out of business; it engages in currency manipulation, wage suppression, and labor rights violations. These predatory policies have led to the closure of many U.S. manufacturers and the loss of millions of U.S. jobs.

OK, that’s why Trump instituted higher tariffs. But the US will only impose HALF the tariffs on other countries that they do to us. Far from being a “trade war,” it is a very fair realignment of a totally imbalanced trade system that exploits the American economy, and American workers and taxpayers. The US is violating no World Trade Organization rules.

Trump understands that our own leaders have allowed this to happen. He states that if the US were in a similar position we would do the same thing. He doesn’t blame anyone for taking advantage of the U.S.’ crazy trade policies. He understands that U.S. companies make much of their money via arbitrage, not producing and selling goods themselves. This comes from the short-term mindset of “maximizing shareholder revenue” quarter to quarter. A U.S. company will contract production out to foreign firms (send its manufacturing overseas to take advantage of cheap labor), then import the product back into the US. This displaces American workers and kills off American companies, all for short-term profit.

I support this trade policy even though my life savings are invested in the stock market. If stocks continue to crash I lose 90% of my savings. I am putting my money where my mouth is. And if more inflation occurs I am the loser as well, because I’m a senior living on a fixed income.

The End Game (warning: conspiracy theory!)

So what happened after Trump made his speech? The stock market crashed on April 3rd, down 1,697 points. On Friday the 3rd it crashed even more, down over 2,200 points.

This may be a calculated operation by the globalists to take down the stock market and crash the U.S. economy. These psychopaths finally see a way to take down Trump once and for all, and they will do it even if the United States crashes too. This conspiracy theory is not really so crazy. They tried to kill the guy twice, before the 2024 election. Trump knows where all the bodies are buried.

If there is a globalist plan to depose Trump (there always is), here’s what it might look like:

1. Crash the stock market by selling everything. Keep doing this until the clamor for impeachment reaches a frenzy.

2. Impeach Trump. With markets collapsing, there will be enough Republican votes to reach the 67 required to get him out of office. The Democrats have 47 votes and they will all vote en masse for impeachment. All that is needed is 20 Republican votes, and there will be little problem finding them. The UniParty is mostly Democrat, but there are plenty of weak-ass Senators in the controlled-opposition, fake Republican Party who smell blood in the water.

3. After Trump is impeached, the globalist’s operative in the White House, J.D. Vance, takes over as President. He works to appoint a globalist Republican like Senate Majority leader Thune, as VP.

4. All of Trump’s EOs are canceled, a new globalist Cabinet is appointed (quickly approved by the new UniParty coalition in the Senate), and The Grift continues until the U.S. financially implodes under a massive, unpayable debt burden. Or a second civil war begins. Either of these scenarios is acceptable to the globalists.

Even if this plan is implemented, I’m optimistic it won’t work, for two reasons.

1. Trump’s plan to restore the U.S. economy is already working. Yes, the stock market is crashing but this plan, I believe, is more supportive of the bond market, which is much bigger than the stock market and the source of all U.S. government borrowing. Despite all their bluster, eventually most countries in the world run by adults will agree to a more fair and balanced international trading system. It’s already begun as Vietnam and India are considering the lowering of their tariffs vis-a-vis the US. Trump will renegotiate with Canada and Mexico separately to restore trade balance in North America.

The goal of Trump’s tariff plan is to LOWER tariffs all over the world.

2. Even if the U.S. economy collapses, the solution will be a worldwide debt amnesty. It will be the only solution to avoid world chaos. Wipe the slate clean, erase the quadrillions of worthless investment bank derivative securities, wipe the debt clean from all Third World nations to the globalist IMF and World Bank, and pay off those who invested in U.S. securities.

A complete global financial reset.

Everybody starts over with a clean debt slate.

My guess is that plans have already been made for this.

The handwriting is already on the wall: the U.S. financial sector must collapse under the insane money printing policies of the current idiots in both parties in Congress, who can only agree to raise debt ceilings and deficits and to spend even more. Trump and Musk are trying to halt this process with DOGE and the exposure of the massive grifting and corruption within the federal government, but that might fail because only Congress has the Constitutional authority to spend. Neither the Executive branch nor the Judicial branch can do a thing about the self-centered, irresponsible children in Congress.

We’ll see what happens with the stock market in the coming weeks. If the crash continues, scenario 2 might occur, but in my mind scenario 1 is far more likely. Even though the U.S. Congress is the dumbest institution on the planet, there are too many smart and sane adult humans out there who won’t allow civilization on planet earth to collapse.

Postscript – The Grift continues

In case you thought grifting was reserved only to the federal government, check this story out. Apparently grifting off the government is also alive and well at the state level:

Minnesota food bank CEO steps down as legislators question her $721,000 salary.

Oh boy.

“Allison O’Toole, CEO of Second Harvest Heartland, earned $721,000 in total compensation in 2022—even as the nonprofit has lobbied for taxpayer funding and warned of rising hunger across Minnesota, where 26% of households with children are food insecure, according to its own research. Now, as O’Toole steps down after six years at the helm, lawmakers are raising questions.”

This is Clown World. This woman was receiving an outrageous salary for six years before somebody in the legislature noticed? Maybe Congress is the dumbest outfit in the country, but the Minnesota legislature is a close second.

“Records show Second Harvest brought in roughly $260 million in total revenue in 2022—with over $6 million coming from government grants, according to a report in the American Experiment. And it’s not just O’Toole earning well into the six figures at the food shelf.

“Several executives at Second Harvest earn over $300,000 annually, with at least seven staffers making between $140,000 to $280,000 per year, according to the 2022 tax records. Despite the high salaries, Second Harvest Heartland has maintained a strong presence at the Capitol this session, requesting public funding to address what it calls record-breaking demand for food assistance. [This is the essence of The Grift. While ripping off massive subsidies from the government, NGOs and their entitled, self-indulgent “executives” lobby without concern for more money from the taxpayer.]

“Altendorf also pointed to what she sees as a deeper issue. She says the nonprofit hired a “voter engagement coordinator” in 2024 to conduct get-out-the-vote efforts—something she calls “a huge conflict of interest” for an organization receiving taxpayer dollars. “The public is waking up to the money funneling system happening within the Minnesota state government,” Altendorf said. “And I’m hearing loud and clear—taxpayers have had enough.”

So – not only do these NGOs rip off the taxpayer, but they use that money for political activism instead of their stated mission (to eliminate hunger). But what do people like the former CEO of the food bank care about the sweaty deplorables who supply their funding? Those uneducated working class primitives and middle class desk jockeys deserve what they get!