Recently, we have learned that President Donald Trump was perfectly happy to send the American economy to a recession with his trade war – but not a depression. Let it sink for a moment. The president knew that his proposed prices could land in the intensive care unit, but he did not want us to die.
If Trump was tried for the murder of our economy, it would be as if his lawyer supports himself to the judge that he should be tried for second degree murder, rather than the first degree. “Your honor, we admit that the president absolutely plans to fight our life of life. But he never wanted to kill us. I swear. ‘
Since the announcement of Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2, we have learned a lot about who the president is ready to sacrifice and for what. It was perfectly happy to eliminate our retirement accounts overnight. He had no problem increasing the prices of everything, from gas to shopping, including clothing, including strollers and car seats. The fact that it was willing to lead the country to a recession means that it also did not hesitate to add millions of Americans to the ranks of the unemployed.
During the years of economic growth that we have seen since the cocovid-19 pandemic, it is possible that Trump and his billionaire cabinet have forgotten what a recession may look like. The rich may be able to browse an economic slowdown while their investment portfolios take a hit. But for the families of the working class across the country, the recessions are devastating and the effects of the scars are durable.
After the housing accident in 2008, millions of families lost their jobs and their homes. Parents could not feed their children or allow themselves the necessary medical care and found themselves buried by debt. Children whose parents have been dismissed had a disturbance in their education and development and continue to feel the reverberations today. Co-editors who obtained their university diploma during this crisis still have lower income than their peers who graduated a few years earlier or later. People do not give themselves up by magic of recessions in a few months, or even a few years.
But a recession made by Trump could be everything and worse. First, families generally get prices for a recession, as demand is lagging behind. But it is quite possible that we can see high prices, and even shortages, throughout a Trump recession because of his prices. This toxic combination – higher unemployment, lower growth and higher inflation – is called “stagflation”, and it makes the work of the federal reserve to manage interest rates and fight further slowdown. And although recession always reach small businesses, it could be an event in terms of extinction for companies that do not have the same power to negotiate agreements with giant world suppliers and wholesalers as their larger counterparts.
Meanwhile, because Elon Musk has spent the last three months to Galeter the administrative state with its so-called ministry of government efficiency, Americans who lose their jobs or see income reductions will have more trouble accessing the crucial safety net programs on which they can generally count when the times are difficult. Due to the Social Security Administration Cups, the Department of Health and Social Services, the United States Department of Agriculture, and even more, families who need health coverage, food aid and social security checks are already confronted with delays. This backlog will only grow as the need increases during a recession.
And the Congress Republicans have just advanced a budget that would reduce funding from Medicaid and Snap (food assistance), two security network programs that will be essential for millions of Americans during a recession.
Although recessions generally increase inequalities, it could be even more unequal than usual. The Americans of the working class will support the greatest number of price increases and job losses, while the richest Americans are about to benefit from billions of dollars in tax alternatives that the Congress Republicans are working to extend later this year.
From Trump to Musk via republican legislators, we get an intensive course in what is happening when the Conservatives obtain the keys to our economy. The level of chaos, mismanagement and self-inflicted damage is surprising. It is not a surprise that the Americans feel the buyer’s remorse. Public approval of Trump management of the economy is only 37%.
Trump is perhaps the first president of history to deliberately put the American economy in recession. Once this happens, it would be difficult for even a qualified manager of the economy to ensure that economic devastation does not take place too deep. References can take their own lives, in a spiral down faster than you think – and as he shows us, Trump is not a qualified manager of the economy.
