I am going to get a little bit political here so try not get your panties in a bunch over these comments. I am trying to be objective and apolitical which is becoming an increasingly difficult thing to do these days. That said, I want to be clear that I don’t like Donald Trump personally. I think he’s actually a bad person. Still, I think some of his economic ideas are very interesting.
When I said that Donald Trump would likely win the Presidency back in 2016 I was mainly expressing my opinion that people in the USA tend to vote with their wallet. If the economy is doing well then people vote in the incumbent. If the economy is doing badly then they vote out the incumbent. And if the seat is vacant then they pick the person with the most relatable economic plan. I am oversimplifying, but I don’t think by much.
Anyhow, the reason I think Trump won is because Hillary’s economic plan was garbage – she was enamored with the idea of a budget surplus and never stopped to consider that running a budget surplus during times of weak economic growth might be a recipe for recession. And Trump’s economic plan actually made somesense. I am fairly certain he had no idea why it made sense, but it does. At least part of it does.
Trump’s economic plan can be boiled down to three big components:
Now, I’ve been pretty vocal about number 3 – I am not a full blown proponent of free trade, but protectionism is silly. As Joan Robinson said, no one is better off when we dump rocks in our harbors. Still, what Trump is doing with these “trade wars” is pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
