Maybe I'm just a man living in modernity but I find it hard to imagine adverts that aren't omnipresent. It kinda just seems like that was the direction it was always meant to go towards and where it is most effective

Replace omnipresent adverts with omnipresent propaganda posters

Berlin in the 30s actually did away with them and it's interesting how that turned out

lel

What do you think killed Mercantilism's influence and usage by European powers from the 1700s-1800s?

Mercantilism is actually an ironic term

Speaking of which, what do you think of Adam Smith's criticism of it?

I know you used another term

But they fit in a similar category of Economic Nationalism of some kind

Considering mercantilism was a term invented by merchants agitating for the government to end tariffs whilst saying it was merchants who wanted tariffs

Free trade is the real mercantilism so to speak

Afaik Ricardo was even a Sephardic tribal and son of a stockbroker

I don't buy Adam Smith's critique of mercantilism

Nor Ricardo's developed model of it

Mercantilism was wrong to assert that wealth is simply hoarding more gold inside your country by not importing stuff and that's about it regarding the valid criticism

In practice mercantilism helped develop various industries in countries

Clearly we must support the most obsolete economic theory of Bullionism

Speaking of which

Once industry develops, would free trade then be beneficial after that or should tariffs stay?

No it's better to keep the tariffs unless you definitely want to get rid of an industry to free up manpower for something else

You shouldn't at all remove industrial tariffs if there's an abundance of labour

Though even a shortage of labour could be good

Because it'd incentivize automation

If I recall, the only reliably nationalist business entities are normally those dependent to the reactionary state for its survival, like those who need tariffs, or perhaps subsidies.

You basically should treat corporations as fiefdoms and enforce their fidelity to the state

They're institutions unto themselves

You shouldn't let institutions be dominated by foreigners or subversives

Basically what China does

Keep them on a short leash

If Jack Ma decided to get uppity we'd see Ali Baba and whatnot get new leadership quickly

If the Communist Party of China just disappears magically, do you think all the big business enterprises of China will become strong supporters of more economic liberalization?

Afaik when a factory produced faulty baby formula and it lead to deaths the entire corporate board and even some workers got executed

Idk how further economic liberalization in China would look like

I could see them supporting a neoliberal democracy

But it could also end similiar to Russia

Since a shitton of corporations are state owned and would be privatized

Unsurprisingly, due to the Coronavirus, some are calling this the beginning of the death of the CCP, unsure whether or not this is accurate but I always speculate what will happen if the CCP dies.

The CCP atm is on a trajectory towards more centralization and autocracy
Unless Xi Jingping drops dead I doubt it'll just die

One party states sometimes have a tendency to become more democratic though so if he does go away it's an open question

I'm actually hoping that democratic dissidents cause another Xinhai type situation in China to kickstart another warlord era

That'd be ideal