Professor Bill Schneider (REUTERS) Commentary: Trump’s economic plan leaves everything up for grabs

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump laid out his economic plan in Detroit on Monday. “I want to jump-start America,” Trump announced, “It can be done. And it won’t even be that hard.”Is it a coherent plan? Don’t kid yourself. He’s a deal-maker. Trump’s stands on the issues are just starting positions. Everything is negotiable.The real-estate developer has already shifted his views on income taxes. Last year, Trump proposed four tax brackets, with a top rate of 25 percent for the highest income-earners. Now it’s down to three brackets with a top rate of 33 percent.Trump used to call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants to the United States. Now he sayshe wants to ban immigrants “from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism.” That’s a broader ban (France?), but without a religious test that critics found offensive.Trump changes positions all the time. But his supporters don’t seem to care. Why? Because he’s not a politician. He has no fixed ideology. “I like being unpredictable,” he boasts. If Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton changes her position on anything — the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, for example — she is instantly branded as untrustworthy. She’s a politician. She is expected to have convictions. Trump has only instincts.His instincts pulled him in two different directions on Monday. On the one hand, his speech, which he read from a prepared text, was aimed at satisfying anxious conservatives.Click here to read the full article.