"Tariffs? Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Progress"
For a generation, we've watched the "economic can" get kicked down the road. Today, our children inherit a staggering $36.7 trillion national debt-roughly $107,000 per American citizen. Left and right alike decry this burden, yet nothing changes. Why? The fix demands pain too steep for most politicians to stomach. But Donald Trump isn't a politician. He's not here to punt the problem.
Trump's tariffs are a bold wager to halt the debt's runaway growth-currently $36.7 trillion-and then reverse it. The bet? Manufacturing returns to American soil, bringing good-paying jobs with it. Picture the ripple effect: a broader tax base from thriving businesses, higher worker incomes fueling revenue, and tariff proceeds chipping away at the debt.
"No pain, no gain." Yes, we'll feel the sting-chiefly inflation on foreign goods hit by tariffs (call it "tariffed," a new verb for a new era). But American-made products could see deflationary relief. Early on, retirement portfolios and stock markets may dip, only to rebound as companies expand, new ventures emerge, and foreign investors-eyeing our shrinking debt and surging economy-shift capital from faltering global markets to ours.
Will Trump's tariff gamble pay off? If it does, our kids win big. If it flops, we risk joining Europe and the West in a modern Great Depression. I'm willing to ride this bet through the 2028 election. The alternative-abandoning it-guarantees we'll share in Western civilization's collapse.
Bring on the pain. Our atrophied economic muscles are ready to flex.
