Trumponomics

   We are watching the rapid return of an economic doctrine that was abandoned by many political and economic experts many years ago.
   Call it Trumponomics. It's a return to a fully free market with no government intervention, regulation or control of any sort.
   In the latest incarnation of the 19th Century practice of "laissez-faire" economics (from the French for "leave it alone"), the U.S. government is dismantling a series of social welfare programs, canceling tax benefits for low and middle income Americans while adding assistance for those at the highest income levels, abandoning protections for national parks to enable corporate access to natural resources, and more.
   The next target could be the federal minimum wage law, either by actively lowering it or by passively refusing to enforce it. Fortunately for many workers, most state minimum wage laws are already higher than the federal level. But don't be surprised if some states follow the conservative lead and refuse to enforce their own levels, or by not adjusting the minimum for inflation.
   It may well be true that government intervention in the private sector should be minimal, following the premise that "the government that governs best is the one that governs least." But it's also true that government can and should act where the private sector does not.
   Not mentioned yet in news reports is the possibility that the new administration will move to loosen labor laws in an effort to stifle unions that protect the interests of workers. Historically, an argument could be made that if companies treated workers fairly and paid them reasonably well, there would have no need for unions, organizing workers to demand fair treatment and reasonable wages.
   The term "regime" is sometimes used to describe a president's government and his administration. But "regime" is rooted in the Latin for for king.
   The behavior of the current occupant of the Oval Office is such that he fancies himself so important that no one should question him about anything, ever, and those who do not pledge total loyalty to him are soon fired.
   There have been several instances of that recently, and unless this self-delusional "king" is deposed, or persuaded to change his ways, American ideals are tarnished and the nation's goal of equal treatment for all is in trouble.