I'll keep this short and sour. This is a warning about the probability of extreme economic pain from a situation none of us alive have ever seen before. The unreasonably aggressive tariffs, combined with the strategy behind them, are coupling with a host of other factors
* Unreasonably high US debt
* Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Israel-Gaza conflict
* Intensifying climate change crisis
* High levels of civil tensions in the USA
* Weakening trust in political institutions
* Surging interest rates
* Dwindling reliability of the USA (extremely low levels of trust)
* Recent expedited weakening of the US dollar
* *Among many others - each compounding the risk*
I've broken down the strong-holds that keep the USA as a global superpower into seven pillars:
1. Economic strength
2. Military power
3. Technological innovation
4. Global soft power (cultural influence)
5. Political influence
6. Resources and geographic advantage
7. Human capital/immigration
I don't want to lead your thoughts any further, although I'm happy to have further discussion in the comments. Think clearly about each of the seven pillars above and think about the last ten years and how the events/experiences in the recent past have possibly impacted each pillar.
Which of these pillars are most at risk, and which events caused this?
Which pillars have not yet been impacted, what could weaken them?
It's way easier to imagine that the USA will always be a global superpower, but it's not realistic. The reason it's so hard for most people to accept is because they have only a surface level understanding of history (I admit that this describes me) and all of us alive have only ever known the world with the USA as the global superpower. I strongly encourage skepticism and critical thinking, challenge all assumptions - including mine.