You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

I’m not sure what to call the new era we seem to be entering – but I am sure it will make people poorer.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Don't have an account? Create Account

Let’s start with some basics.

Imagine you inherit a thriving department store chain. Rather than listen to experts on consumer trends, supply-chain logistics, human resources, etc., you instead opt to go with your gut. Rather than follow market research or anything like that, you prefer to just hire your friends and do business with vendors who flatter you or sell stuff you think is cool.

Under such a “system,” you might make some good business decisions, but odds are very strong that you’ll more often make bad ones. The rep from the Pet Rock supplier who gives you a “World’s Greatest Businessman” award gets his products in the store window.

I chose a department store for this analogy because that’s precisely how U.S. President Donald Trump thinks about international trade, and the American economy in general. He sees America like “a department store, and we set the price. I meet with the companies, and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price.”

Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond.

By........

© Toronto Sun