The Trump Idiocy
by Tibor R. Machan

        So Donald Trump wants to keep "cheap" (foreign made) goods and services from reaching Americans! But the rub is that when barriers to trade are established, such as tariffs or quotas, folks are deprived of the chance to save and then purchase items they would like to have with the savings.

        Not only is this vicious but it is counterproductive. It prevents Americans from spending their funds on goods and services at home or elsewhere.  And that impedes commerce no less so than a highway bandit does. 

        Now one might believe that people in China or elsewhere will dump their "cheap" items in America, meaning they will just sell low here so as to keep us from buying American goods and services. But so what?  If we get the goods and services at a price lower than what they would cost otherwise, we are left with funds that we can spend on others products we want.  And that is all around a good result.

        The "buy American" mantra is silly because, in the end the funds we save by buying Chinese or Mexican or whatnot get pumped back into the marketplace.  Everyone wins, over the long haul.

        The approach of Trump and other advocate of trade restriction is probably motivated from a desire to seem supportive of American firms and workers but they are exactly who will be hurt from it.  They will have to spend more money on what they want, leaving them without the chance to save and spend on alternate goods and services.

        And, anyway, who are these people, Trump and his ilk, to dictate how we should spend our funds?  I personally want to engage in my own policy of wealth redistribution, earn funds and then spend them as I judge wise.  Why am I not the best judge of how my funds should be disbursed?

        Mr. Trump is, of course, riding high on a wave of displeasure with professional politicians. They are thwarting and not enhancing our well being.  Sure, they fancy themselves as some elite who knows-it-all. But that conceit is what unleashes dictatorships, meddling bureaucrats, and others who refuse to understand that people ought to be treated as sovereign citizens, not as royal subjects. 

        Mr. Trump's lame populism is no answer to them.  It is just a different version of the same top down management of citizens who ought to be in charge of their own lives, including with whom they will trade.

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