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What's really going on with the Stock Market [1]
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Date: 2025-04-04
Donald Trump’s entire career can be summed up as a real estate scam, and it’s not even subtle. He operates like a mafia crime boss, using the opaque nature of real estate pricing and financial systems to enrich himself while leaving others to pick up the pieces. The scam is simple: real estate asset prices are not liquid, meaning their value can fluctuate wildly, depending on both “real” market conditions and mercurial good-old-boy club machinations. This allows Trump and his ilk to manipulate the numbers to suit their needs. For example, on the same day, a commercial building in Manhattan might be worth $20 million at the tax office and across the street be valued at $80 million at the bank.
The banks don’t care because they’re part of the club—a closed circle of wealthy elites who rely on each other to keep the system running. They’ll accept these inflated values because it’s existential for them; the scam must continue, or their own house of cards collapses. Trump borrows against these fictitious values, pays interest (which is real cash), and keeps the scam going. He doesn’t even need to pay off the principal because he rarely sells properties—selling would reveal their true value, which is often far lower than what he claims. If it goes bankrupt he sticks it to the taxpayers. In 2008 we saw this scam unravel in spades. The taxpayers ate the elite’s gambling losses, you know, “for the greater good.”
Trump’s obsession with lowering interest rates ties directly to this scam. Low rates mean cheap borrowing costs, which allow him to keep inflating his empire without facing financial consequences. This isn’t about economic growth or helping Americans—it’s about perpetuating a system that benefits him and his cronies at everyone else’s expense. Trump’s motivations aren’t purely financial; they’re deeply personal too. He has an almost pathological jealousy of Barack Obama, whose intelligence and achievements highlight Trump’s own shortcomings. Obama attended Harvard, while Trump barely scraped by as a D-plus student at Penn. This chip on Trump’s shoulder drives much of his behavior, especially when it comes to economic policy.
Obama inherited a financial crisis which the FED responded to by lowering interest rates to zero —and kept them there in a policy known as ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy). While this move was controversial, it had tangible benefits for the economy. Much of the money funneled into the system ended up in fracking, leading to a boom in U.S. oil production. In just ten years, oil production doubled, reversing what many thought was an irreversible decline. This wasn’t just asset stripping; it was real investment with long-term payoff.
Trump looks at Obama’s success during this period with envy but lacks the competence or vision to replicate it in any meaningful way. Initially, he resorted to attacking Biden’s economy which was total bullshit; Biden left Trump with a great economy that had masterfully and successfully navigated a soft landing coming out of the COVID crisis.
Therefore, Trump needs to create a financial crisis on his own. Why? Because he doesn’t control the FED. If he can create enough chaos, he believes he can force rates down and restart his grift. This isn’t just theoretical; it’s already happening. Trump has been laying the groundwork for years, criticizing Biden while pushing narratives designed to destabilize markets and sow discord among Americans. His endgame is clear: create enough economic strife that people turn back to him as some sort of savior while he lines his pockets with taxpayer money through bailouts and real estate schemes.
This scam isn’t new, it’s the oldest trick in the book, but Trump has perfected it like no one else. He is the undisputed heavyweight champion of exploiting low-interest-rate environments for personal gain while leaving ordinary Americans to suffer the consequences. And let’s be clear: this scam is deeply rooted in privilege and exclusion. It’s a Club: a mafioso-style network of wealthy white men who keep outsiders locked out. If you’re Black, poor, or reliant on public education, you’re not getting through those doors.
Trump doesn’t care about rebuilding America or fostering economic growth for anyone; he cares about preserving this exclusive club where he and his buddies can continue their grift unabated. While Obama used low interest rates to spur manufacturing and infrastructure development — albeit around asset-stripping industries like fracking* — Trump sees no such opportunity for broader economic benefit. For him, it’s all about personal enrichment.
The social fallout from Trump’s schemes is equally devastating. By pushing America toward economic instability and hyper-polarization, he creates fertile ground for his “re-election” bid in 2028 (and beyond). He thrives on division, using culture wars and economic despair as tools to rally his base while ignoring those who suffer most from his policies — like elderly Americans who rely on Social Security checks that may stop coming if government agencies collapse under his chaos-driven agenda.
Trump knows exactly what he’s doing when he stokes these fires of discontent. By weaponizing poverty and desperation among his supporters, many of whom are armed and ready for conflict, he creates a militia-like atmosphere that further destabilizes the nation. He throws them red meat in the form of cultural grievances while encouraging them to point their guns at perceived enemies instead of addressing systemic issues.
This isn’t just political theater; it’s calculated destruction aimed at consolidating power for himself and his allies while dismantling democratic norms piece by piece. Trump has already floated ideas about staying in office beyond another term, a clear indication that he views himself not as a president but as an autocrat-in-waiting.
The consequences of Trump’s actions are dire: economic depression, social unrest, and a nation teetering on the edge of authoritarianism, all so one man can keep running his real estate scam without accountability. It’s not just immoral, it’s dangerous for everyone who isn’t part of his exclusive club (or even for them, if history should be any guide here).
In three years’ time, when Trump ramps up his campaign efforts again, expect more chaos, stock market crashes, government dysfunction, and widespread suffering, all engineered to make him look like America’s only option for salvation. But make no mistake: this isn’t salvation; it’s exploitation at its most brazen.
Trump doesn’t care about America; he cares about himself, and everything he does reflects that reality in stark terms. If we don’t recognize this now and take steps to prevent him from regaining power, we’ll find ourselves trapped in an endless cycle of grift-driven governance where ordinary people pay the price for one man’s greed and ego-driven ambitions.
The nation deserves better than Donald Trump, but whether we rise above his schemes depends on whether we’re willing to confront them head-on before it’s too late.
* Obama and Fracking: I have a lot to say on this if anyone is interested, perhaps in the comments.
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