{"id":85046,"date":"2025-08-21T01:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T01:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85046\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T01:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T01:43:10","slug":"oceangate-and-the-trump-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85046\/","title":{"rendered":"OceanGate and the Trump Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Looking at the various economic indicators from the last few weeks, I haven\u2019t been able to stop thinking about the OceanGate submarine disaster. Because it sure looks like the American economy is headed toward an implosion.<\/p>\n

You may remember the OceanGate story from two years ago. The company was founded by a charismatic rich guy named Stockton Rush. He was convinced that he had figured out how to build a cheap commercial submarine. He was warned by experts\u2014over and over\u2014that his designs were dangerous and would fail. He ignored the warnings and sold trips to the Titanic on his little sub, Titan.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, safety just is pure waste,\u201d Stockton Rush once said. \u201cI mean, if you just want to be safe, don\u2019t get out of bed. Don\u2019t get in your car. Don\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another interview, Rush said, \u201cI\u2019ve broken some rules to make [Titan]. I think I\u2019ve broken them with logic and good engineering behind me. The carbon fiber and titanium, there\u2019s a rule you don\u2019t do that. Well, I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

But of course, most rules\u2014especially in engineering\u2014exist for a reason. As the OceanGate sub began operation there were many warning signs that its design was compromised. For instance: Employees reported that when the craft submerged they could hear audible pops, the sound of the carbon fiber in the hull delaminating.<\/p>\n

On June 18, 2023, the OceanGate vessel submerged carrying five people. At a depth of 10,978 feet it imploded in a fraction of a second. That rule about not mixing carbon fiber and titanium? It turns out that generations of smart engineers were right and the rich idiot was wrong.<\/p>\n

The OceanGate disaster instantly killed Stockton Rush. It also killed some ultrawealthy people who had paid $250,000 each to ride in his death trap and should have known better. But it also killed a 19-year-old kid\u2014the son of one of those wealthy people\u2014who had was reportedly \u201cterrified<\/a>\u201d about getting on the sub but did it to please his father. It is heartbreaking.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the Trump economy.<\/p>\n

Every serious economist has warned that Trump\u2019s economic program is dangerous:<\/p>\n

Tariffs are harmful to economic growth. Inflation is lurking. The massive expansion of government debt puts pressure on the bond market. Corruption functions as a tax. Screwing around with economic data creates uncertainty and adds risk premiums to transactions. Canceling infrastructure programs out of ideological spite is wasteful.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a rule that functional governments don\u2019t do any of that. Well, Trump did.<\/p>\n

And over the last few weeks the sounds we\u2019ve been hearing in the data are the American economy delaminating and heading toward failure. Let\u2019s take a listen, shall we?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Shutterstock) Looking at the various economic indicators from the last few weeks, I haven\u2019t been able to stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-85046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}