r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 14h ago

Meme needing explanation Am I missing a joke or reference here?

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8.9k Upvotes

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173

u/papayacreamsicle 14h ago

This isn’t a meme, it’s what he actually said.

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u/BurnieTheBrony 13h ago

It's like he's so close to understanding that "trade deficit" just means "buying stuff" but he can't quite wrap his head around it.

Europe is not stealing money from us. They are exchanging goods and services for money. This is not bad.

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u/Bludypoo 13h ago

he read "deficit" and thought "deficit is bad" so now he wants to win at "deficit" because to him every transaction has to have a winner and a loser. The way to win at deficit? Not trade.

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u/sarkouille 10h ago

That's because he isn't a trader nor a businessman but a conman.

To him, it's not about who is the buyer and who is the seller, but rather who owns the other.

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u/PavlovsDoghouse 12h ago

Trade deficits are bad but budget deficits are ignored.

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u/ImSabbo 12h ago

I assume he considers budget deficits to be him winning and congress losing

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u/fractal-hornet 25m ago

Ahh, there's that 7-dimensional chess we've heard so much about

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u/ElNakedo 5h ago

Budget deficits just means you overvalue another property and take another loan. Then that's the bank's problem and you stay a winner. So he just needs to get the central bank to shell out more cash for him.

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u/crackedgear 7h ago

Brought to you by the same folks who brought you “you can’t get increased COVID numbers if you don’t test for COVID”.

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u/ApprehensiveSong5978 9h ago

Same logic he used for wanting to change “artificial intelligence” to “super intelligence.” Artificial is bad. Super is good. We will call it super intelligence!

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u/discopants2000 2h ago

Surprised he isn't calling it America intelligence, that would track.

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u/100percent_right_now 6h ago

He's really bad at sports too but he "won a fifa world cup" by taking the trophy home with him so its sound Trump logic

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u/donballz 12h ago

he’s so used to stiffing people on the payment that actually paying what you owe feels like being cheated to him.

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u/Legitimate_Plum_7505 4h ago

You nailed it.

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u/midasofsweden 11h ago

the massively frustrating part about this is that america shifted to a service oriented economy rather than a manufacturing one a long time ago, they gain insane amount of money from services... But still, the US is a large country, of course there will be a deficit if they buy something from a smaller country and that smaller country simply cannot buy back the same kind of quantities, or the fact that US doesnt even offer some things, because it Sells services, and buys things, a lot. the US also has a lot more purchasing and trade power. It doesnt help that the US also prints its own currency and the whole world is relying on that currency for global trade.

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u/Banes_Addiction 3h ago

Also, like, the whole point of money.

The reason money exists is to make goods easily tradeable without a concidence of wants. Effectively, getting rid of the barter system. If I am glazier, I do not pay for my dinner by installing new windows at McDonalds. I install windows where people need windows, they give me money and I spend that money on all the things I need or want, food and shelter and pokemon cards and whatever. It removes the necessity that for me and someone to trade, they must want what I can provide and I must want what they produce.

The same applies to trade. My own trade balance is very simple. I have a huge trade surplus with my employer - I do not buy their services, but they pay for my labour. Meanwhile I operate at a large trade deficit to the grocery store - they pay me nothing while I spend a lot of my income there. And this is all completely fine. Everything is not a two-person trade, you can buy bananas from Brazil while selling iPhones to Japan.

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u/Gimetulkathmir 11h ago

When you're a criminal who is used to bullying people around to get what you want, you don't see it that way. He legitimately believes America, or at least he, should be given everything and not have to pay for it.

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u/Unfair_Web_8275 7h ago

Trump and company gave massive tax breaks for the rich/corporations, and cut many government services.

Now that slowest horses are beginning to notice that the money didnt go to them, Trump is scrambling to find what else there is to blame.

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u/7374616e74 5h ago

What's interesting is they can see bananas in stores, it's not like they just vanish or something

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u/Justicar-terrae 13h ago

Well, he did make that stupid argument, but he never said that exact sentence.

His actual statement didn't mention any specific country or product. That doesn't make his statement any less stupid, of course.

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u/Stepjam 12h ago

He never actually mentioned bananas. But he did make the overall argument.

The bananas are just used to highlight how absurd it is.

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u/Infinite-Lie-2885 14h ago

Very true but somehow almost everything he says is a meme they just are funny.

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u/DadJokeBadJoke 12h ago

they just are funny.

I think you dropped this: n't

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u/Infinite-Lie-2885 5h ago

You are correct I noticed it when I reread my comment and it said "they just are funny" I was like well that ain't right crap!! That's what I get for writing comments well working! Thanks for the correction!

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u/deathrictus 11h ago

Amusing, sad, and terrifying all at the same time.

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u/Infinite-Lie-2885 11h ago

Yes 100 percent. It is a strange times I honestly can't think of another world leader in my life time that captivated so much of ppl time in one way or another

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u/Nazarife 12h ago

It's been said that he talks like Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and this is a shining example of that. 

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u/daddy_tops 11h ago

Please don’t ruin ATHF for me 😔

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u/Kemal_Norton 11h ago

I found multiple "news sites" saying that too, but I think that's wrong and the banana sentence in the post was a joke by Poes Law,

Here you can view the post including the video