Capital

Trump was one of the early republicans to realize that the loss of manufacturing jobs hurt the country. His first attempt to reverse this process is to use tariffs but that is only a stop gap measure not a cure. Starting in the 1980’s the US, using its technological advantage, led to companies making huge profits which in itself is OK but what they did with the profits hurt the working people. Instead of investing in new factories they started using financial gimmicks to increase profits. New terms appeared out of nowhere, terms like venture capital, mergers and acquisitions and dividend by backs. The government cooperated by changing banking rules and reducing regulations on financial institutions. As profits rose manufacturing was replaced with financial activities and new ways to make profits by just moving money around. Even things like home mortgages were monetized. Changing tariffs is a simple task compared to changing the financial culture. This will involve changing rules to encourage manufacturing. Rules that will allow companies to make more profits by building things instead of using capital to make more capital.