Trump's Triumph for Mercantilism

It is inevitable that the entire Economics establishment is critical of the new US tax regime that will [almost certainly] be approved by Congress today.

The package largely restores Mercantilism to fashion: that is, the idea that a country should build up its own commerce and industry, and only trade with others where there is an obvious advantage in doing so. It is significant that among the tax reductions there is a swingeing decrease in the tax on funds that are earned for the sale of intellectual property abroad. This can only strengthen the technology giants as exporters and earners, who will bring more of their overseas earnings into the USA for investment in new developments, the purchase of foreign intellectual property [UK beware!] and distribution in the USA as wages and dividend payments.

The Econocracy has been inculcated with the contrary view, that 'Free Trade' is an ideal to be pursued: as if any sane government would expose a country to imports from the rest of the world regardless of whether the prices charged are set deliberately to undercut - and ultimately to destroy - the native industry. The econocratic view has been prominent since 1766 [Adam Smith's year of publication] and predominant since 1890 [Alfred Marshall's Principles of Economics].  Britain's economic decline is pretty well coterminous with the adoption of Marshall's dogma in the universities between 1920 and 1940. That whole mindset needs to be swept away.

The great proof of the new Republican policies will be the extent to which the increasing US deficit supports growth of the US economy. If the economy is growing at a greater rate than the accumulated debt is growing, the ratio of debt to GDP will be declining, which will signify success and be the final proof of the extreme disutility of conventional Economics.

I am working slowly trough my text, and finding it a very depressing experience: the sheer pompousity of my style upsets me hugely: no wonder the last effort did not sell!