Trump changes his tune on the economy

[Ol Janx Spirit]

39. Tariffs are just a form of economic warfare. As such they can do a lot of different things....

...including allowing "infant industries" to grow or even keep other countries from influencing your society. And until WWII America had some of the highest tariff rates in the world. But to your point: that was an entirely different world. It wasn't until post WWII that everyday America really developed an apatite for mass-produced products from all around the world. By the mid-1950s the shopping mall was on the rise. The next 70 years would see a worldwide industrial effort to get a dizzying array of products in front of consumers. Tariffs do not make nearly as much sense in this new world of interconnected manufacturing and consumerism. Our economy is now based largely on consumer spending by the middle class. It feels very much like we just went to economic war with our own economy out of a misguided belief in an economic world that no longer exists.