Let’s talk about the economic collapse and recession that aren’t happening

 I continue to be optimistic about Trump’s economic plans, an optimism I retain despite the doom-and-gloom predictions from the left and the right, and one supported by today’s stock market improvement. (And no, Ben Shapiro isn’t a secret NeverTrump grifter; he’s a guy who genuinely wants Trump to succeed but is panicking about the economy. He’ll be happy soon.) Despite the hysteria, Trump is bringing sanity to the market and fairness to world trade.

There are actually two intertwined strands here. One is the stock market, and the other is trade. The latter affects the former, but they are still two different things.

The stock market has become morbidly obese over the years, fed on the sugary diet of fiat currency—that is, government-printed cash that has no relationship to the actual wealth of the economy. As with a person, when you’re fed on a non-nutritional diet that bloats you without building you, eventually, you will collapse. The stock market was riding for such a fall. If one thing didn’t trigger the “health crisis,” another thing would.

Internet meme; creator unknown.

The second strand, of course, is world trade. As we all know, in the wake of WWII, America was the last nation standing. Its subsequent trade policy had two theories driving it: The first was that European nations needed to thrive economically, lest we see a repeat of Germany’s economic collapse in the 1920s and subsequent embrace of Hitlerism. The second was the feeling that America could afford to be generous because it was the economic giant in a room full of what were effectively economic kindergarteners. If Europeans and others wanted to impose tariffs on all things American to protect domestic trade...whatever.

Then, beginning after Nixon went to China, America added another theory to its economic policy: China could be weaned away from communism by tasting the sweets of the free market.

What America hadn’t banked on is that China would go from communism, not to liberty, but to fascism. Fascism is a socialist ideology that allows for an ostensibly market-based economy but one in which the state still controls all things. America also hadn’t anticipated China’s mass cheating in the form of slave labor, government subsidies, and intellectual property theft.

The pure free marketers contend that even China’s depredations benefit America because they mean lower-cost goods for American consumers. However, pure free marketers ignore the fact that China’s cheating also means that Americans eventually have no jobs to buy those cheap Chinese goods. The Chamber of Commerce types also ignore this problem because profit really is their god, as do the globalists who feel no ties whatsoever to America and dream of a one-world economy where everyone lives in happy servitude to a handful of wise elites.

Trump, who worked in the real world for a long time before becoming a politician, rejects all these theories. For decades, he has been upset about America’s declining trade eminence. The post-WWII years in Europe are long over, and China shows no signs of abandoning socialism, not when it is growing in power using fascism. As Trump sees it, all that’s left is America holding the short end of the economic stick.

So, Trump promised during his campaign to change that. And, unexpectedly for an elected politician, he’s keeping his promise.

Naturally, those with a vested interest in the status quo are unhappy. Their big claim is that Trump’s actions will cause a recession. However, even CNN has had to admit that (a) Trump’s pressure has forced dozens of countries to back off (currently almost 70) and (b) the stock market, having purged itself a bit during the panic, is already reconstituting:

US stocks off to major bounce back from their tariff doom spiral

After markets plunged over the course of the past three trading sessions, Wall Street investors were looking for any excuse to catch their breath ahead of another planned tariff escalation at midnight.

They seem to have found one — at least for now.

US stocks opened higher Tuesday, setting the stage for a rebound. The Dow rose 1,360 points, or 3.6%. The broader S&P 500 gained 3.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 3.76%.

Expect more of this bouncy-bouncy over the next few weeks as the markets adjust to Trump’s economic plans. Just like a person on a diet, it’s not a straight line; it’s a yo-yo as your body adjusts to the new caloric reality.

And what about those recession fears? Well, look at how NPR, in its doom-and-gloom analysis of a coming recession, defines it:

A recession refers to a period of decline in economic activity. It’s one of the four stages of the economic cycle: growth, peak, contraction (or recession) and trough.

Some analysts use a rough rule of thumb to identify recessions: Two consecutive quarters of decline in a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) — the broadest measure of economic activity.

But the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) — the nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that has become the semi-official arbiter of recessions — uses a somewhat squishier definition. It calls a recession a “significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months.”

But is that what we’re actually seeing now? The market had a panic attack but is recovering, there’s huge growth in the jobs market, and oil prices are dropping and inflation is falling, both of which ease pressure on consumers, allowing them to buy more and freeing up money for genuine economic growth. And, of course, there are the companies that are bringing jobs to America in exchange for the benefits Trump promises.

Does this sound like a “significant decline in economic activity”? The only thing that’s actually declined is the value of stocks—and those stocks had a value that was artificially inflated by the stimulus money that flooded the economy.

In sum, America’s one-sided “free trade,” with the other side being anti-American economic abuse around the world, is becoming true fair trade. And the overvalued stock market is normalizing.

Oh, and one other thing: Have you noticed that the same people shrieking about what a fall in the stock market will do to everyone’s investments were remarkably silent when Biden’s inflation destroyed older people’s life savings? Just sayin’.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/04/let_s_talk_about_the_economic_collapse_and_recession_that_aren_t_happening.html