Not sure if serious. Recession is almost certain, and the only fiscal "stimulus" that's likely to come is tax cuts. Will probably turn into a depression. But even the Great Depression had a huge amount of fiscal stimulus and progressive reforms to help get out of it. Not to mention, the crashing of the economy appears to be purposeful:
There's probably multiple motivations. He serves a motley-crew of white christian nationalists, oligarchs (many with very fascist ideologies themselves), and himself. I think he's kinda acting like a power-broker/deal-maker for many different people (similar to his buddy Epstein). The numbers don't make sense because they don't really matter if the goals are to 1) cause the world to lose faith in the US 2) can be used to negotiate things like de-dollarization 3) can be used to solicit bribes from politicians and businesses. If they really want to bring manufacturing back to the US, the dollar must be unseated as the world's reserve currency, and there must be very bad stagflation so that we get enough inflation and depressed wages so people are desperate enough to work for roughly the same real wages as Chinese factory workers. If the US is less dependent on other nations for things like manufacturing, the US can do things like invade countries, set up slave and death camps, etc, with less consequence. And the chosen oligarchs get to rule over their own fiefdoms of oppressed workers.
He tariffed countries with no people and trade deficits of thousands of dollars, and tariffed Ukraine.
We live in a capitalist society (unfortunately). Rich people hoard their capital during recessions, which means fewer job openings. I graduated HS during the 2008 recession, and it took me 6 months of applying everywhere I could to get a temp job in a factory paying minimum wage (and no benefits or any job security at all, of course). It was literally hard to get a job at McDonald's or Wendy's. IIRC, it took nearly both of Obama's two terms for the job market to recover to what it was. So yeah, you may be able to find a job after a lot of hunting, but everyone's so desperate they'll accept anything. The way things are going with deregulation and all that, I wouldn't be surprised if company-towns make a comeback (which, incidentally, is kind of like the corporate city-states people like Peter Thiel, who worked with Musk and groomed JD Vance, openly talk about).
I think a lot of them are ideological psychos. Saw an interview with Forbes magazine founder, and he's giddy about these tariffs because he thinks they'll enable tax cuts. I don't think he cares if his shares tank or whatever, as long as he doesn't have money "taken away" from him to help the poors.
Meh, I think it's fine and good for countries to specialize and be dependent on each other. Keeps the peace through mutually assured economic destruction. Global upticks in isolationism preceded the World Wars. Also, it just makes sense, because different countries have different resources, and their populations are differently skilled.
I've been unemployed for months (very hard finding a job right now) and may not be able to afford to pay my mortgage soon. Thinking about buying an old RV once I need to start dipping into my investments to pay my bills, because my investment money won't last me long with my high mortgage payments. I'm probably a bit "underwater," so will probably need to just "walk away" from my mortgage if I can't find a job. Half my investment money is currently in gold, maybe 5% in European defense stocks, and the rest in cash. My investments were mostly in tech a couple months ago, but I felt like the AI bubble was going to pop soon, and there's no way the economy will be good during the self-coup that's happening right now. I do have some food and water stored in case of some kind of disaster. Probably need to get some dental work done while I can. Also stocked up on ammo in case something crazy happens, like roaming death squads, so I can go out fighting. Might put another 10% in gold today; not really sure if we're going to experience monetary deflation or inflation yet; could see it going either way, depending on the Fed, fiscal policy, and if countries start abandoning the dollar.
I think I first saw it mentioned about a month ago. I think there's about 1 protest planned per month from the 50501 and Indivisible groups. There's also a "continuous" protest in DC starting on May Day. Seems like there are TeslaTakedown protests every week in my area (though quite small).
He wants to use tariffs (which act like a flat-tax) to lower income tax on the rich. There's speculation he's also doing something like the "Mar-a-Lago Accord," which involves devaluing the dollar (causing inflation). If wages don't rise with the inflation (which they don't want), US labor will be more competitive, so people can work in factory jobs with pay analogous to current Chinese factory workers.
I could not renew online (not sure why it wouldn't let me). You need an appointment in my state now. Before this change, it was an all-day affair. I.e. get there before it opens, stand in an extremely long line that wraps around 3 sides of the building, and stand in line for most the day (in the extreme heat, in the summer).
And, I guess it still took most the day even with an appointment too.
It disenfranchises many voters. I know several people who don't have valid IDs. I was almost unable to to vote last November because my ID expired, and all my local DMVs were booked for many months. Had to set an appointment 3 months in the future at a DMV 50 miles away from me to get an ID just before the election.
I think most of these protests were properly permitted (I know my local one was). Protestors in residential areas would likely get arrested for stuff like disturbing the peace, even if they stayed on public property such as roads. They'd probably try to charge the organizers for something too, which is probably why they aren't being organized. But, I agree there should be protests at these people's homes regardless.