because what we call “the economy” is entirely disconnected from the day to day living of average Americans. People towards the bottom like myself feel like the economy has already crashed, but the line keeps going up somehow.

The second reason we have seen less damage from Trump’s tariffs than expected is that many of the highest ones are not fully in effect

The entire point of the tariffs was to extract bribes and other signs of loyalty from the businesses that would have suffered most in exchange for indefinitely delaying their implementation (or carving out exceptions).

Of course they’re not fully in effect yet. People paid him for his inauguration and ballroom and stuff. Plus some golden trophies. And that’s just what’s out in public.