The Trump administration hasn't even been inaugurated and none of his high-profile appointments have been confirmed yet, somehow, our country's treasury is being strip-mined at an incredible pace as if the burglars in the bank vault just heard the alarms go off and their stuffing their bags double time.
Trump has been making quite a few announcements which give us some perspective on how he intends to govern. One thing he has made very clear is his intention to use tariff wars in an extremely misguided attempt to maintain the dollar status as the worlds reserve currency.
Tariff's are used when a country is no longer competitive; anytime they have been used in the past it has led to economic pain for American businesses and this will be no exception. BRICS countries aren't going to to just sit there and do nothing, they will respond. In fact, China has already responded by blocking critical resources needed for defense and technology companies here in the US. that's quite a problem for local manufacturers who use those materials:
"The Chinese government has announced that it will no longer issue export licenses for rare earths such as gallium, germanium and antimony to the United States. This marks a new chapter in the technological war between the world's two leading powers."
Inflation is another effect from Tariff's and that is VERY local for merchants here in America. Inflation is already the number one problem according to a recent poll of small business owners published by the NFIB despite the unrelenting gaslighting by the Federal Reserve and media hacks who claim it is under control.
For all of Trump's bravado about protecting the dollar, it is our own unrestricted money printing that has buried the dollar status. Printing our way to prosperity is a failed policy and it always has been. Every new dollar printed from thin air dilutes the existing pool even more creating a toxic death-spiral that no Tariff's or bravado can remedy.
Here is an interesting take:
"Reflections on Hubris and the Looming Extinction of the Fiat Dollar as Reserve.
As we reflect on Trump’s bluster about imposing 100% tariffs on BRICS nations for daring to chart a course away from the dollar, perhaps he should direct his attention to a more pressing concern: the numbers staring us all in the face. More than $36 trillion national debt and over $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. A debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding 123%, built on a fiat Ponzi scheme so reckless it makes Monopoly money look like a sound investment.
The U.S. dollar wasn’t dethroned by BRICS. It was undermined from within, betrayed by unchecked money printing, inflation, and weaponized sanctions wielded like a cudgel against half the globe. A dollar depended upon credibility as a means of exchange suicided itself. This isn’t the cunning of a financial hegemon; it’s the flailing of a system that abused its own credibility until none was left. A “mighty” dollar? No, a cursed relic, unraveling under the weight of its creators' hubris.
And while Trump clings to his empty threats, the BRICS markets are rapidly growing, expanding into the future with dynamism and opportunity. In stark contrast, the U.S. market... when adjusted for real inflation is shrinking, bleeding vitality with every misstep and every policy blunder. This isn’t checkers, Donnie, and it’s certainly not Texas hold ’em, where you can bluff your way out of a terrible hand. You’ve got to think a few moves ahead and right now, it’s painfully clear that Washington has no endgame, only doubling down on monetary suicide.
100% tariffs on BRICS? Not a problem. In fact, the emerging economic powerhouses of BRICS+ would welcome them with reciprocal sanctions on the dwindling U.S. manufacturing sector, if it can even produce competitive goods anymore. While BRICS nations build the markets of tomorrow, America clings to its fading economic dominance like a ghost haunting the ruins of its own making.
Let’s be clear: the U.S. has chosen to play monetary-economic Darwinism, and the result will be an expedited extinction of its fiat currency. This is no external conspiracy; it is a reality authored by decades of retrograde hubris, policy blunders, and a failure to adapt to a world that no longer tolerates the weaponization of money. The dollar’s demise isn’t just probable, it’s inevitable.
Trump’s threats are hollow, as flimsy as the “mighty dollar” he claims to defend. And the rest of the world? They’ve already moved on. Economic Darwinism, indeed."
- Gerry Nolan
I couldn't have said it better.
"As of Nov. 21, the U.S. national debt broke $36 trillion. It took over 200 years to hit $1 trillion – then just 40 years to shatter $36 trillion. That’s much more than just a massive number. It’s an obligation – and it matters even more than you might think…"
America is now in a dangerous phase of printing debt, expanding debt and extending debt. We can extend and pretend all we want but the consequences are already here and Tariff's won't help us. In fact, they will make it much worse than it already is.
"The US federal government has the biggest debt in the history of the world. And it’s continuing to grow at a rapid, unstoppable pace.
Annualized interest on the federal debt exceeded $1 trillion for the first time this year and is shooting higher at an exponential rate."
Meanwhile, the signs are everywhere that demand is on life support:
"U.S. credit card debt recently surpassed $1.14 trillion, a new record, while growing at unprecedented speed. Compounding the problem, APRs on credit card debt are also at record highs, well over 20% on average, with certain cards reaching APRs of over 33%. That’s not far away from payday loan APRs."
But the band just keeps playing while rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic economic collapse at our doorstep:
"Payroll data and job openings have also been revised downward this fall. All sorts of bullish economic beats have been quietly revised to misses. It appears that the Biden administration broadly exaggerated economic statistics in an attempt to make the economy appear healthier than it truly was."
Remember when I told you that despite the Federal reserve cuts interest rates would continue to rise?
"the Fed admitted that despite its rate cut, the interest rate on credit cards at the end of Q3 - two weeks after the Fed cut rates - rose more than half a percent from average rate at the end of Q2, from 22.78% to 23.37%, a new all time high!"
Finally, there is one piece of not-so-bad news for small business owners who may have been a little lackadaisical in their new finCen BOIR filing:
"Big news - FinCen BOI reporting has been delayed indefinitely.. A federal court out of Texas issued a sweeping order saying the government may not enforce a January 1 filing deadline."
The "big news" is that you won't get fined for not reporting beneficial ownership on January 1st - YAY!! Most business owners I speak with didn't even know this was a thing until I told them. This was (and probably still is) a massive burden and power grab that forces all business owners to report or face fines including LLC's that some folks run from their living rooms.
In case you're wondering...this is the person who has been pushing this hard:
American business owners are targets for extinction by our own government. No serious analysis of government policy can arrive at any other conclusion. Sure, there will be winners and losers but the ultimate goal is less choice, less freedom, less independence and more control.
Here are some interesting links from last week:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/huge-small-biz-break-judge-suspends-enforcement-fincen-reporting-requirement
https://www.birchgold.com/featured/36-trillion-debt/
https://rudy.substack.com/p/all-roads-lead-to-inflation?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ba27z&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/12/03/the-looming-debt-crisis-is-america-following-the-path-of-collapsed-empires/#more-355432
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/last-hurrah-credit-card-debt-explodes-higher-despite-record-high-aprs-savings-rate
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/12/04/a-reset-for-america/#more-355525\