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Feb 10, 2025 · ryangtanaka

The "Reset Button"

There's a chance that some good might actually come out of the Trump presidency - but probably not in the way people think. Right now most Americans agree that the economy is the biggest problem but there's honestly not much the president can do about that since the problem is too massive for one person to handle.

So in these situations, what typically happens is that the person in power looks for scapegoats - immigrants, foreign nations, intellectuals/creatives, and the poor are popular options but when things get dire the elites will turn on each other to avoid taking the blame.

We've already reached that point a while ago (attacking political elites is routine, but you can look at the war on woke-ism as an attack on the cultural elite), and you can think of a lot of expositions that are happening right now as preparation for the finger-pointing that's inevitably going to happen when the crap really hits the fan. Everything to get you distracted from the reality that a carton of eggs are probably going to hit $10+ this year - as they say, when the poor go hungry, they will eat the rich.

As power consolidates, so does fear - nobody wants to be what's on the menu for lunch, after all. But, at the same time, we might get a glimpse into the (ugly) truths that the folks in power typically keep hidden from view. And in that messy process, we might get some forced reforms that might end up being "good" in the long run.

But I don't think that most Americans are buying the theatrics happening in politics in culture right now. Everyone knows that economics is where the biggest problems are at - and we've yet to see people like Trump take an aggressive stand against the economic elite since he's very much part of that system, too. So it's going to have to be "forced" - which, in practical terms, means a market correction large enough to hit the "reset button" on the economy itself.

When that happened during the Great Depression, FDR took that opportunity to enact reforms in the banking system that became the framework for the modern economic systems we know of today. The system has since regressed, and is probably in need for a reboot - but for that to happen, it has to become politically feasible - which it won't be, until stock prices start tumbling down. Trump is not a "solutions guy" by any stretch - he's great at the finger-pointing game but if you want him to fix something, that's not gonna happen. I just hope the Democrats have reflected on their approach by 2028 and put forth someone viable next time since they do have an opportunity to do something historic there, assuming they can get act together by then. (Times like these I'm glad I'm an independent and no affiliated with any political party, really.)

Unfortunately for the folks (probably most folks) who saw this coming, it's of no comfort since most of these problems were entirely preventable with good policy and common sense ideas. But here we are, waiting for the pillars to crumble, one by one, hoping in the wake of things we can rebuild something better. Problems don't become "problems" until they start affecting those at the top, after all - and sometimes, the only thing you can do, is wait.