What is the difference between Donald Trump and manure?

One of them promotes growth.  That’s a joke.  I borrowed it off my 11 year old nephew who is a human compendium of Donald Trump jokes.  One area Trump’s definitely created growth in is playground jokes.  But is the joke true? 

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern... it's going to be only America first, America first” said Donald Trump at his inauguration. 

“America First” is a slogan that’s been reused many times but perhaps its most famous use was by the “America First” movement to keep the USA out of WWII by sympathising with the Nazis.  One thing was certain from Donald’s use of it though – his much vaunted plans to revive some form of Mercantilism or at least high trade tariffs.  Mercantilism was a widely popular political/economic system from the late 16^th to the early 20^th century when it died out because it was felt it may have led to colonialism, trade wars and even world wars. 

Returning to Mercantilism is a big departure from the policies of previous US Republican administrations who were wedded (with extreme fidelity) to policies of Economic Neoliberalism.  There are many views of “Economic Neoliberalism” but it generally means weak market control and low trade tariffs which couldn’t be further away from Donald and his Mercantilist policies of very high trade tariffs.  If you would like to learn more about Economic Neoliberalism read any left wing newspaper and you’ll find lots of articles about the “evils of Economic Neoliberalism”.  Strange then that they all seem to hate Donald Trump then when he’s doing what they’ve been pleading for someone to do for years – offering them an alternative to “economic neoliberalism”. 

It may be an old alternative but it is an alternative.  “There Is NO Alternative,” to “Economic Neoliberalism” the late Lady Thatcher used to say.  Or even “You can’t buck the market – the market will buck you”.  To the right wing of the 1980s “economic neoliberalism” wasn’t just a system it was a reality.  To them strict market control wasn’t just silly or inadvisable – it was literally impossible.  So this isn’t just a bit of a turn about for Republicanism and right wing economics – it’s a U-turn.

So how is the economy doing under Trump?  Well, for all his threats of harsh Mercantilism many of the tariffs he’s implemented are not as punitive as first feared?  He may act like a clown but Donald Trump does also have a degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania... 

The historical excesses of Mercantilism such as war and colonialism may be bad but there were also excesses of the as Economic Neoliberalist era.  Like as having no effective national controls on commodity markets at all so that you have to close every UK deep coal mine.  Of course it is often said that the mines became “uneconomic” but economics is partly a human creation?  Why did people vote Trump?  Bill Clinton said “it’s the economy, stupid”.  What he should have said was "it's stupid, the economy."