Commentary
President Trump has lamented the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States, and has rhapsodized about a new golden age for American manufacturing. As much as we might miss “the good old days,” it is never easy to turn back the clock. Today’s populists should heed the lesson from the failed experiments of socialism that top-down central planning falls far short of accomplishing a government leader’s economic goals. That’s not to say that government is powerless to assist the manufacturing sector. However, to do so, we need to understand natural market forces and to find policies that harmonize with them.
