Explaining Capitalism To Trump

IT WOULD APPEAR that Donald J. Trump could use a basic lesson in free market capitalism, (as well as grammar, articulate speech, common courtesy, and a few other areas). Hardly surprising, considering that Trump has been bailed out of bankruptcy by the taxpayers no less then four times, clearly demonstrating a lack of business acumen, if not outright incompetence. The purpose of a business is to make money, what is commonly called "the profit motive". To achieve this, businesses which are successful respond to the demands of the market place, producing, distributing, and selling such goods and services as are in demand. This is called "the law of supply and demand" in fundamental economics, and was clearly articulated for the first time in modern history by Adam Smith in his seminal 1776 monograph: "The Wealth of nations". Obviously Trump, a graduate, shockingly, of the Wharton School of Economics at the U. of Pennsylvania, has never read Adam Smith, or if he has, failed to understand the material. General Motors is down sizing its business, laying off employees, closing plants, as a response to the law of supply and demand, according to which in current American market conditions, the consumer products made at these plants are no longer in sufficient demand to justify their continued production. When some aspect, any aspect of a business fails to be profitable, a well run business eliminates the source of the problem, and redirects production resources elsewhere. Trump, petulant that General Motors is damaging his promise to bring back jobs, create jobs, and all that rhetoric we heard so much of a couple of years ago, reminded the company that he is not happy with their decision, that America has done much for it, such as bail it out of bankruptcy about ten years ago, a move Trump opposed at the time, and has given the company, and all other businesses, a huge tax cut. The president seems to be forgetting that nowhere in any basic economics class are students taught that corporations should feel a sense of gratitude and obligation for favorable government policies, and should continue to invest in unprofitable production to repay the government for its kindness. But, how could one expect a man whose only business success has come through high stakes gambling, rather than true business building, to understand basic economics?