iPhones, Tariffs, and the Blackout Drunk Driver of the Global Economy

iPhones, Tariffs, and the Blackout Drunk Driver of the Global Economy

If someone wanted to tank prosperity with style and speed, this might be the masterclass.

Let’s talk Apple. The promise was to bring back jobs—you know, the ones we offshored to keep costs down and profits up. But here’s the inconvenient truth:

The average Apple assembly worker in China earns $500/month.

The average Apple employee in the U.S. doing higher-value work like design or retail management earns $200,000/year.

Because Americans love wearing Nikes—but not making them. We outsourced the low-wage work to make room for innovation, investment, and higher-wage jobs. And it worked—until now.

If Trump’s tariffs stick, your $1,000 iPhone could shoot up to $2,300. Building one in the U.S.? Try $3,500. The market knows it too—Apple stock has taken a dive, erasing enough value to equal the entire worth of Walmart in just three days.

And it’s not just phones. 80% of Christmas toys come from China. With these tariffs, half of those disappear under the tree. Ninety percent of U.S. households are budget-constrained, so this doesn’t just mean fewer toys—it means economic pain felt everywhere from Main Street to Wall Street.

Add in global supply chains scrambling to bypass the U.S., and what do you get? A country once seen as the stable heart of the world economy now being treated like the unpredictable friend no one invites to dinner anymore.

Because let’s be honest: America Inc. is now being captained by someone who’s blackout drunk at the wheel of the global economy. And the rest of the world is bracing for the crash.