By Paul Wallis
July 16, 2025
DIGITAL JOURNAL
Tariffs on metal imposed by US President Donald Trump are hitting small businesses like Independent Can very hard - Copyright AFP RYAN COLLERD
When discussing the dumbest, most unnecessary economic situation in modern history, sometimes you have to tell the tale like a story for kids. Think Henny Penny for Hedge Funds.
Far too often, upon a time in a little country called They’ve Forgotten Who They Are, the technically insolvent citizens and corporations conscientiously decided to send themselves broke.
They figured out innovative ways of charging themselves far more money than they will ever have for everything. Irresponsible people told them this was wrong for years.
Fearlessly, they continued to send themselves broke. Rents, food, healthcare, housing, you name it; they bankrupted the next two generations just in case there was a risk of prosperity.
Then a great Light of Reason, a dazzling orange-hued Sacred Ignoramus, found the formula for success.
It was amazing:
Base everything you do on a single sentence, non-existent ideology.
Destroy your own credibility just in case someone thinks you know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it.
Ensure that nobody in the country is on speaking terms with anyone else in the country.
Fire everybody who knows what they’re doing.
Sabotage all businesses at all levels.
Make sure nobody has any money and pay yourself a fortune which you then lose.
Ignore the cost of living.
Borrow to the point of absurdity and beyond.
Refuse to admit there’s a tomorrow, let alone a next week.
Then trash any hope of doing business with anyone else on a sane basis by infuriating everyone with whom you do business.
The quaint little extremely broke country of They’ve Forgotten Who They Are also had the luxury of a net 3-digit drop in average IQ in six months. With expectations lowered, everything was great.
It’s nice to occasionally write something motivational.
Now, let’s talk about US inflation. The tariffs are starting to bite, as everyone said they would. Increased prices for imports mean that the volume of imports must go down proportionally.
This is real inflation. That real money comes out of your assets, and it’s not coming back. Unlike the more cosmetic forms of theoretical inflation, this is where profit margins go to die. America’s been living from paycheck to paycheck for years. Massive gouging is destroying real wealth faster than it can be created.
Now, the invulnerable big money is seriously vulnerable.
The real value of your money is what it can buy.
If your billions are suddenly worth peanuts, is that good or bad?
You’d expect an academically underachieving house brick to understand this, wouldn’t you?
The US importers don’t really have a choice. Nor does the distribution network. They have to cover the cost of tariffs.
Their profit margins have been assassinated by tariff rates. You don’t just tack on 20% to your prices and expect nothing to happen. Your sales volumes must go down.
For Main Street, where you pay bills and eat and breathe, it’s worse. Say your personal net wealth went down by 30%. You had a budget that more or less worked. Now, you’ve got an ongoing 30% hole in your budget across the board.
This isn’t “capitalism”, “free enterprise”, or “the survival of the fittest”.
It’s sure as hell and acne not democracy, either.
It’s suicide.
There are no excuses.
You were, as usual, told what would happen, and as usual, it’s happening. Do some sales and margins projections for once in your severely undereducated lives.
What are your book values for 2Q 2025? How about 3Q 2025? Why didn’t you shut this down before it started?
You’ve just flunked Economic Reality 101.
__________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
Tariffs on metal imposed by US President Donald Trump are hitting small businesses like Independent Can very hard - Copyright AFP RYAN COLLERD
When discussing the dumbest, most unnecessary economic situation in modern history, sometimes you have to tell the tale like a story for kids. Think Henny Penny for Hedge Funds.
Far too often, upon a time in a little country called They’ve Forgotten Who They Are, the technically insolvent citizens and corporations conscientiously decided to send themselves broke.
They figured out innovative ways of charging themselves far more money than they will ever have for everything. Irresponsible people told them this was wrong for years.
Fearlessly, they continued to send themselves broke. Rents, food, healthcare, housing, you name it; they bankrupted the next two generations just in case there was a risk of prosperity.
Then a great Light of Reason, a dazzling orange-hued Sacred Ignoramus, found the formula for success.
It was amazing:
Base everything you do on a single sentence, non-existent ideology.
Destroy your own credibility just in case someone thinks you know what you’re doing or why you’re doing it.
Ensure that nobody in the country is on speaking terms with anyone else in the country.
Fire everybody who knows what they’re doing.
Sabotage all businesses at all levels.
Make sure nobody has any money and pay yourself a fortune which you then lose.
Ignore the cost of living.
Borrow to the point of absurdity and beyond.
Refuse to admit there’s a tomorrow, let alone a next week.
Then trash any hope of doing business with anyone else on a sane basis by infuriating everyone with whom you do business.
The quaint little extremely broke country of They’ve Forgotten Who They Are also had the luxury of a net 3-digit drop in average IQ in six months. With expectations lowered, everything was great.
It’s nice to occasionally write something motivational.
Now, let’s talk about US inflation. The tariffs are starting to bite, as everyone said they would. Increased prices for imports mean that the volume of imports must go down proportionally.
This is real inflation. That real money comes out of your assets, and it’s not coming back. Unlike the more cosmetic forms of theoretical inflation, this is where profit margins go to die. America’s been living from paycheck to paycheck for years. Massive gouging is destroying real wealth faster than it can be created.
Now, the invulnerable big money is seriously vulnerable.
The real value of your money is what it can buy.
If your billions are suddenly worth peanuts, is that good or bad?
You’d expect an academically underachieving house brick to understand this, wouldn’t you?
The US importers don’t really have a choice. Nor does the distribution network. They have to cover the cost of tariffs.
Their profit margins have been assassinated by tariff rates. You don’t just tack on 20% to your prices and expect nothing to happen. Your sales volumes must go down.
For Main Street, where you pay bills and eat and breathe, it’s worse. Say your personal net wealth went down by 30%. You had a budget that more or less worked. Now, you’ve got an ongoing 30% hole in your budget across the board.
This isn’t “capitalism”, “free enterprise”, or “the survival of the fittest”.
It’s sure as hell and acne not democracy, either.
It’s suicide.
There are no excuses.
You were, as usual, told what would happen, and as usual, it’s happening. Do some sales and margins projections for once in your severely undereducated lives.
What are your book values for 2Q 2025? How about 3Q 2025? Why didn’t you shut this down before it started?
You’ve just flunked Economic Reality 101.
__________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
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