The world economy rides on the back of the American middle class

The world economy rides on the back of the American middle class.

Most people have no idea that global trade only exists because the U.S. Navy keeps peace on the seas. For decades, it has patrolled international waters, suppressed piracy, and kept rogue nations in check, not just to protect America’s economy, but to protect everyone else’s.

That protection is paid for by the American middle class.

And while America was busy keeping global shipping safe, their own manufacturing was yanked out from under them and shipped overseas. They stopped defending their own future and started defending foreign industries instead.

That burden has been enormous. Now the middle class is shrinking. They’re not having enough children. They’re burning out mentally, emotionally and physically. Productivity is going down. Vice is killing millions. They’ve been carrying the cost of securing the global economy for decades, and no one stepped in to lighten the load.

This is Atlas shrugging. What Trump is doing with the tariffs is simple. He’s forcing other countries to start paying their fair share of what the American middle class has carried alone for more than 75 years. He’s removing the weight, piece by piece, before the people holding it up finally collapse. And if that happens, it’s not just a social or economic shift—it’s a catastrophic, global unraveling.