In this YouTube discussion, two speakers examine the severe economic impact of U.S. tariffs on small businesses and consumers. Speaker A reports a 30% drop in revenue for their own business due to disrupted imports and exports, noting that many firms have turned to high‑interest credit cards to cover operating costs. Speaker B confirms that small‑business owners are struggling, with credit‑card rates hovering around 28‑29%, which remain unchanged despite three recent Federal Reserve interest‑rate cuts that may only affect mortgages. Both agree that consumer spending is weakening, especially ahead of the holiday season, and they project a significant rise in bankruptcies—estimating a 15‑20% increase next year. The conversation underscores a feedback loop where tariffs reduce revenue, force reliance on costly debt, and amplify bankruptcy risk, threatening broader economic stability.
Chapters
Credit card debt. Let me ask you something. I think that the entire world has seen a decrease because of the tariffs in the United States. I don't think people understand, like, how the United States is, like, responsible for moving a lot of products globally. And so a lot of people depend on Americans, you know what I'm saying, in order to be able to make money in businesses. And so my business seen a 30% decrease in revenue. Thankfully, we're not in debt. But a lot of businesses got hit and they had to tap into credit cards to manage their bills and stuff like that because they couldn't get products in, imports and exports were shut down. You know how it was doing. So are you seeing this year, this Christmas, are people spending less and are, have you seen an increase in bankruptcies more than what you would normally see any given time of the year when the economy is stable?
Yeah, absolutely. Unfortunately, there's a lot of small business owners that have gotten hit, the tariffs and otherwise, and individuals aren't able to spend like they used to. So those small business owners are not getting the repeat customers that they're relying on. And like you said, they're putting things on credit cards and these credit cards are 28%, 29% interest rates, which are completely ridiculous. We got, we got the Fed is cutting interest rates a little bit. There were 3 cuts, I believe, this year. And there's going to be more in the future. But that's not really doing anything to credit card interest rates. Maybe it'll help with the mortgage. But, but the credit cards are just killing individuals, killing small businesses. I'm hoping people can have a happy holidays and then start 2026 off by getting rid of all this debt because it really is crushing the economy. It's crushing small businesses. And bankruptcies were up significant this year. We're estimating that they're going to go up another 15 to 20% next year as well.
Did you say 15% to 20% next year?
Yes, 15% to 20%, and that might be a conservative, um, because if there's a recession or some other event, because as you know, there's always craziness going on in the world and in the United States. So if something significant happens, it could be much worse than that as well, because there is just way too much debt in the system right now, and people I saw a stat, 77% of families are living paycheck to paycheck. That means if anything happens, if you get sick for a couple weeks, you're done. Fall behind on your rent, yeah, you're done. What are you, what are you going to do? It's a scary time. It is a scary financial time.
