Why Hasn't The Economy Collapsed... Yet?

TL;DR

The US economy looks healthy on paper, but the growth is driven by unsustainable factors masking serious underlying damage.

Key Points

• 1.AI spending is papering over cracks: Tech infrastructure investment contributes ~2.5% to GDP growth, but it's almost entirely offset by businesses burning through pre-tariff stockpiles — if AI spending stops, numbers crash fast.
• 2.Trade "wins" are actually a liquidation sale: Of the $26B export growth, $18B came from selling gold (up 517%) and silver (up 2,800%) to wealth safe havens like Switzerland — other countries are pulling stored value *out* of America.
• 3.Consumer spending is being propped up by the sick and the wealthy: Most spending growth came from healthcare/pharma (people using insurance before losing it) and high-income households recklessly spending appreciated assets — neither is a sign of broad economic health.
• 4.Tariffs are hurting Americans, not exporters: A Kiel Policy Institute study tracking 25 million transactions found foreign exporters absorbed only 4% of tariff costs; American consumers paid the remaining 96%.
• 5.The dollar's 10%+ decline is hiding the real picture: Stock market gains look flat or negative in most foreign currencies, and dollar depreciation makes imports pricier on top of tariffs, worsening inflation for the world's largest net importer.
• 6.The economy's size is buying time, not immunity: Deep global financial entanglements mean collapse won't happen overnight, but they also mean recovery will be slow if countries, investors, and partners start routing around the US instead of through it.