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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYou know what has actually been decimated? Your bank account....
President [REDACTED] keeps telling us that the U.S. military has "decimated" Iran's military. And while the modern abridged definition of decimated means severely reduced in number, destroyed, or heavily damaged, the actual meaning is derived from the Latin decimatus, meaning "to take the tenth"--referring to a Roman military punishment where every tenth man was killed.
While it is not the brag he thinks it is to say 'we have destroyed 10% of Iran's military,' there is something he alone has actually destroyed 10% of: your net worth.
Through his idiotic tariff regime, his destruction of jobs through misguided immigration policies and efforts to reduce the federal workforce, his tax cuts paid for by making healthcare inaccessible to millions which raises the cost of healthcare for all, and now his idiotic war of choice in the Middle East which is making fuel much more expensive and destroying the value of your 401K and investment accounts, he truly has probably taken at least 10% of what you had before he strutted back into the White House like a demented Foghorn Leghorn on Adderall.
Even though he doesn't know the actual meaning of the word, President [REDACTED] has definitely decimated some things. Unfortunately, they are OUR things...or were....
onenote
(46,160 posts)Yes, a year into his term, the market irrationally reached 50,188 and in the past six weeks its dropped almost 8 percent from that high. And yes, his decisions have set the economy on a course for further damage.
But for folks with money in the market, the overall picture is not a 10 percent decline in their net worth. Yet.
Ol Janx Spirit
(1,030 posts)...had sensible economic and military policy carried the day as it did during the Biden Administration the DOW would have continued on a generally upward trajectory rather than loosing 2,400 points in the last three months. The offset between where we would be versus where we are now is probably well over 10%.
And the recovery is always slower than the slide which only compounds that delta going forward.
In addition, that money does not have as much value in times of inflation--especially when events cause sudden increases in high-demand commodities like fuel.
My point--obviously--is that barring stupid decisions by this Administration you would be considerably wealthier today than you are now.
And sure, people with the luxury of long-term investment horizons can shrug it off and know it will eventually come back, but for businesses raising capital for investment in their processes or people counting on their portfolios for day-to-day income it is a major issue.