…or, “Why are we continuing to act like the Cold War is still a thing?”
Four score years ago, the United States brought forth a new economic system, dedicated to the proposition that we would rebuild the world from the wreckage of the Second World War and stand athwart communism. For 40 years, that system worked. Germany and Japan, economically devastated, got rebuilt. In return, the United States accepted persistent trade deficits and the gradual hollowing out of our manufacturing base. The logic was coherent: we needed these allies secure and prosperous.
Then the logic expired in 1989, but we never stopped. For the past 30 years, we’ve been running the same policy for no reason at all. That’s the mistake.
See how Trump is undoing the years of economic mismanagement by the U.S. government.
If he (and his successors) can pull this off, it will be one of the most consequential (and beneficial) acts ever to grace this nation.