Disclaimer: not an American and I have little interest in politics, my question/opinion is solely a financial one.
So everyone is blaming Trump for the recent drop in the stock market, and losing them money, and yes, if you look at the small picture this is due to the tariffs.
But this also contradicts something that people constantly say. "Time in the market beats timing the market" (implying that the stock market should average out and trend up over time, so it's better to slowly invest over time you should be better off).
If we read this and agree, then it seems we have nothing to worry about, because $600 ($SPY as an example) was the true value based on fundamentals and the economy over all, then eventually it will reach that price again.
But I think the big issue is that it should never have been valued that high. After COVID, which was a legitimate reason for a drop in the markets worldwide, the US Government (or the Federal Reserve which acts independently to the elected Government I believe) printed off and invested trillions and trillions of dollars into the stock market, and also gave out money, which a lot of bored people used to invest in the stock market.
This, and the coinciding tech boom caused by people working from home and being at home more often, created a generation of people who think that the stock market is an unlimited money glitch which only ever goes up with absolutely no consequences, and now they are shocked that it isn't the case after all.
So while Trump's tariffs kicked off this recent drop, is it something that has been coming for a long time and is way overdue? Had it not happened, and the market value had continued to increase, would it not be even more severe when something else caused a sell-off?
After all, if $600 is the true value of $SPY then should it not quickly recover as it's now so obviously undervalued. So while this may be self inflicted, and cannot be compared to the drop due to COVID, is it completely irrelevant to the true issue at hand, which is a bubble that was going to burst eventually?