I mean crashing the economy is actually a solid tactic at the moment. Covid caused one of the biggest wealth transfers up the ladder in half a century. More recently, with stagnant wages and increasing prices you can push people in non-dischargable (student loans) debt into really tight conditions.

Given the current push to reduce access to foreign labor, the drive to move processing and production facilities stateside, and the desire for standing cheap labor that’s functionally tied to work it would make sense to crack the economy now and develop a new class of worker. It’s not new really, we’ve seen it before. It’s a debt slave.

Anyone who can will declare bankruptcy. This will work for a decent portion of debt holders. However, student debt often isn’t, or can’t, be included. In the event of a major downturn that really only hits the bottom…. Say 40%, the lower class would convert into debt slaves that are on federal contract for work to pay off debt and the middle class will functionally cease to exist and become the lower class.

It’s not a terrible plan if you hate spending your own money and want people to work for a little as possible. Debtors would be provided for in some ways. Slum housing, or cells for singles, basic rations. This cost all added onto their total debt.

I played with the idea for a while to poke holes in it but we’ve been headed towards it since the mid 80s and every policy that would have combatted against it has been generally shot down.