History Nerds, This Is Your Super Bowl

History Nerds, This Is Your Super Bowl

Okay, if you’ve got a minor in history and a major in economic trauma, congrats—this is your time to shine. Because what’s happening right now with tariffs? We’ve done this before. And spoiler: it ended very badly.

So let’s rewind to 1930, when politicians thought tariffs were a genius idea the first time. The economy was already shaky—yes, the 1929 market crash was big, but workers were struggling long before that. Sound familiar? Roaring GDP, rich getting richer, everyone else treading water. Basically the 2020s in sepia tone.

Enter Senator Reed Smoot and Rep. Willis Hawley, who cooked up what would become one of the most disastrous economic policies in U.S. history: the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.

Now here’s the kicker: Economists begged President Hoover not to sign it. Henry Ford, a Nazi-sympathizing industrialist and the Elon Musk of his day, also begged him not to sign it. Literally got on his knees. Still, Hoover listened to the party line, signed it, and boom: global trade collapsed by two-thirds.

So yes, the market crashed in '29, but it became a Great Depression because of this tariff spiral. Businesses failed. Unemployment skyrocketed. International retaliation crushed our exports. And Hoover’s reward? Tent cities named Hoovervilles and a one-way ticket out of office.

Now fast forward to today: Trump is playing the same game, but in reverse. He crashes the market first, then throws tariffs on top like gasoline on a fire.

The bad news? We could be staring down another decade of economic chaos. The good news? The last time this happened, voters remembered who lit the match.

Smoot? Gone. Hawley? Gone. Hoover? Hooverville.

And maybe, just maybe, history's about to rhyme one more time.