Making America Small Again

President tRump's intentions for improving the economy may actually include some useful preparation for the "high" of our first turning which is due to begin in about a decade. Assuming this next turning will entail a less complex, more fragmented society, rather than the Great America tRump is shooting for, the @RealGreatDivider may accidentally usher us into a transition to smallness.

Smallness, in this case, refers to the size of corporations. With trade wars and import taxes in the offing, U.S.-owned international manufacturers are going to suffer some setbacks. While these will cost jobs at home, especially in the South and Midwest, small domestic manufacturers will gain opportunities to fill the home market demand for various goods/substitutes at more competitive prices. The big company jobs lost in the process may shift to smaller companies, especially if layoffs provoke more entrepreneurship.

Photo by Jo Morcom

The Small Business Administration will have to play an outsized role in perpetuating that shift to some 700,000 small businesses created every year. Someone who started and ran an outlandish enterprise like World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) could be just right for the job. As one of the few women cabinet officials, former boss of wrestlers Linda McMahon is a good match for the other showman in the room.

Not that tRump, himself, isn't pro-small business. The Apprentice cast its competitors in entrepreneurial roles and tRump ostensibly selected winners. Picking talent; it's what he does. So far, he has made a point to reduce regulatory burdens on small businesses and to improve their financial situation through efforts to eliminate Obamacare and increase access to loans. Realizing how intent tRump is on encouraging entrepreneurship even helps explain why he felt compelled to ask for prayers for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Celebrity Apprentice symbolizes the way forward - we need a few million successful "apprentices" in order for small businesses to make up for the disruptions tRump is creating.

Whether these steps will be sufficient to avoid a recession in the next year or two is doubtful


but, it may make something of a recovery possible to a more regional or local, sustainable society. By then, we will be able to kiss tRump good-bye and welcome our country's new Green leaders.