Five Warning Signs That Someone Is Trying To Bring Down Our Economy

Over the past century, our country has been through just about every iteration of economic growth and decline imaginable – from times when everyone was working, to periods of high unemployment, from boom times to recession, from high prices to low. Through it all, we've developed a pretty good road map of what works economically and what doesn't.

Today, we'll look at a purely hypothetical situation: what would it take for someone to bring down our economy? It's doubtful that we'll ever see policies this counterproductive, but it would be helpful to see what they'd look like just in case.

If someone wished to bring down the economy, the place to begin would be the Federal Government's Budget – they'd keep spending like there's no tomorrow. A clever marketer might call such a move "beautiful." Still, the reality would be that another huge budget would lock our economy into a debt spiral, where the need to finance the government would eventually crowd out the private sector's need for capital.

Continuing government spending at record World War II levels would be the first indication that someone wanted to bring down the economy.

The second move someone would make, if they wanted to bring down the economy, would be to raise taxes. Oh, they wouldn't call it raising taxes, that's how George Bush senior became very unpopular, and lost his election. No, a clever politician who wanted to bring down the economy would find a way to raise taxes, and call them something else, say Tariffs. He might even go before the Supreme Court and argue that they're a "regulation," just to avoid the tax raiser label. Nevertheless, something that puts revenue in the US Treasury while taking funds from American consumers sounds just like a tax.

Raising taxes would be the second way to see someone who wanted to bring down the economy.

Another thing that someone would do if they wanted to bring down the economy would be to find clever ways to add even more to government spending, and the best vehicle for this extra spending would be "emergency" military spending. Here, there are so many options, the War in Ukraine continues to be a welcome home for US Dollars. A clever ploy here would be a two-step funding, send money to NATO, then instruct NATO to send funds to Ukraine. And just like that, the US isn't funding Ukraine; NATO is. Ingenious.

Of course, Israel is always willing to accept US aid, put in a little extra military help, and no one in Congress will argue. Finally, the best way to really boost "emergency" military aid would be to get us into another war. Venezuela would be a good target, don't you think?

"Emergency" military spending would be an excellent way to increase the country's debt spiral and help bring down the economy – and it has the added benefit of being nearly impossible to stop.

Another way to bring down the economy would be to block domestic workers – take away some of the farm labor and domestic help that make up much of the economies of the Southwest US, places like Texas and California. The reality is that farmers in these regions rely on alien workers, and no matter how they got there, those farms are a vital link in those economies – take the workers away, and the farms can't bring in the harvest. (Note: we're NOT talking about non-workers).

Any policy that targets workers is another way to bring down the economy.

One of the best ways to bring down the economy is to apply sanctions liberally. This strategy goes well beyond merely imposing a tariff; sanctions aim to halt trade altogether. It would be a direct blow to global trade, threatening to cut off or curtail large segments of the economy. Imagine if the world's largest, most significant trading economy suddenly halted trade with targeted countries. It would, in short order, become a contagion, counter-sanctions would be put in place, and the worldwide commerce would slow. It is not speculation; it's what happened in the 1930s when the US imposed more modest tariffs. For an economy built on trade like the US, this would be devastating.

If you should hear someone talk about applying sanctions, look out! Perhaps what they're really trying to do is bring down our economy.

Conclusion

Of course, today's discussion is purely hypothetical. I'm sure nothing like this will ever occur in this country. But if you should ever see these warning signs, watch out! Someone may be trying to bring down our economy.

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