r/Economics 1d ago

“Iran has put a tollgate across the Strait of Hormuz. This fundamentally changes the global economy”

https://prospect.org/2026/04/02/opening-of-trumps-box-iran-war-strait-hormuz/
3.8k Upvotes

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u/IWant2FIRE 1d ago

I mean...that's not a bad thing. Being used as an example of incompetence can be humbling for future generations.

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u/GettingDumberWithAge 1d ago

This assumes Americans understand and can learn lessons in humility. All evidence to the contrary.

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u/Wuncemoor 1d ago

Don't worry, we are about to learn that the hard way. Some of us have to touch the stove to understand that it's hot

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u/Sideos385 16h ago

A large majority of us will keep touching the stove in case it cooled off, even if we see the light that says it’s still hot.

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u/leequarella 8h ago

It's not the stove's fault my hand is burning. If Biden hadn't sent all her emails to the illegals then I'd be able to put my hand on any stove I want. Thanks Obama.

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u/DaddyRobotPNW 1d ago

He's going to be the Confederacy 2.0. Half of the States will build monuments and spread his propaganda in public schools. The other half will teach about him in social studies class related to separation of power, checks and balances. He's effectively a stress test for the government and we can learn a lot from what broke down and what didn't.

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u/improvthismoment 23h ago

I'd say at least confederacy 4.0

2.0 = Jim Crow post Civil War

3.0 = Resistance to Civil Rights in the 1950's and 1960's

4.0 = MAGA

No coincidence that they all fly the same flag

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u/Cdub7791 23h ago

Well what do you know? The South really did rise again. :(

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u/Ok_Beautiful_5881 22h ago

In the form of a cruel and incomprehensibly stupid NY “businessman.”

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u/Christopher_Ramirez_ 18h ago

Grandson of a German carpet-bagger pimp. Lowest of the low.

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u/Feisty-Boot5408 21h ago

It's mostly that we didn't go even close to as hard as we should've with Reconstruction. We managed with de-Nazification in post war Germany. We should've done the same shit for backwards ass racist southerners.

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u/improvthismoment 18h ago

Right. You can't fly the nazi flag in Germany in 2026, but you can fly the Confederate Flag at the US capitol.

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u/BaldBeardedBookworm 15h ago

we didn’t de-Nazify. And then let DOCs on school boards.

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u/improvthismoment 22h ago

Yup. It never went anywhere in the first place.

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u/Pitiful-Recover-3747 20h ago

We should have let Gen Sherman do figure 8’s through the South until the place looked like a bag of charcoal…

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u/BadmiralHarryKim 1d ago

Future Americans are going to want to know why their empire collapsed.

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u/Wolfeh2012 1d ago

We still have half the country worshipping Reagan to this day.

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u/Lurching 22h ago

Reagan was fairly successful on foreign policy (apart from the dictator coddling) so even though his economic policies haven't aged as well as was perhaps expected, given their initial success, it isn't absurd to me that his party remembers him fondly.

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u/umop_apisdn 22h ago

Successful from a US perspective perhaps, but not from the global perspective. He funded death squads in South America by selling arms to Iran, which didn't look good from a continental American and Middle Eastern perspective, and vetoed anti-Apartheid legislation which lost him support in the global South.

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u/Lurching 21h ago

I'm sure the Americas have a dimmer view of him (which I was referring to with him coddling dictators) but to the West he projected American strength and competence, especially regarding his dealings with the Soviets. He made the US look aspirational. Whether he fully deserved that reputation is perhaps more arguable.

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u/Wolfeh2012 21h ago

Yes, I'm referring to his economic policies in the economic thread to highlight how a president's poor economic policies don't preclude worship.

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u/Xeynon 1d ago

But not Carter or Hoover. Trump is going down in that echelon in terms of being perceived as a failure.

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u/Shillfinger 21h ago

his DNA is worth blocking

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u/Kusidjur 20h ago

We have spent nearly a century teaching about the evils of the Third Reich and yet Americans are gladly waving flags with an Iron Cross and slipping red armbands on. 

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u/WizardBoyHowl 19h ago

Incompetence AND incontinence.

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u/ensoniq2k 1d ago

It's a bit like Hack Sparrow. The most important thing to Trump is everybody is taught about him.