Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on Fox Business to discuss some very important current issues in the world of finance, banking and trade.
Bessent begins by answering questions about the U.S. government taking equity interests in companies that come to the U.S. for support. Bessent then notes the potential for the Trump administration to construct a taxpayer stake in Fannie and Freddie, before the Treasury Secretary moves on to talk about the trade issues with India. WATCH:
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Posted in Auto Sector, Bailouts, Banking and Finance, Donald Trump, Economy, European Union, India, Trade Deal, Uncategorized, US Treasury, USA
I applaud everything that PDJT and his team are doing, but when are we going to see a reduction in food prices. Are the US food companies gouging us blaming the tariffs? Most of the food stuff is made here in the USA.
just paid 2.39 for radishes, they were like 99 cents to 1.39.
Radishes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, Lol.
Looking at the posts above, it appears to be about food prices, not which crop grows the easiest. Come on, Harry, be better.
The post I commented on is about radishes, learn how to read before you tag others.
No it is a discussion of food prices. Harry is suggesting a much less expensive solution in about 3 weeks. I appreciate his solution over your unkind comment. Be better is basically a personal attack with no target behavior correction designed to stop discussion. That’s a pretty ugly comment for a tree branch sitter.
History: When the NEW World Order decided that the USA would be a service economy, Obama et. al. decided that all service jobs needed higher minimum wage jobs. Well the service economy lives off tips, etc and Obama and his company of fools decided that minimum wage needed to rise to unbelievable rates to help support the transition away from labor & manufacturing jobs that were growing overseas. So, there we go…..higher wages instead of higher thinking skills jobs. The cash register takes the money and tells the cashier how much change to return and sometimes, the cashier still can’t figure out how to give change. Nutshell explanation. P.S. This New World Order crap began under old George W. Bush and is still carried out by the Bush family today.
It just came to the US under George W Bush, the organization’s and ideas have origins centuries older.
Spanky your underwear is too tight. Lighten up – we all know the issue, flogging a joke is well jeepers. By the way, radishes will literally grow in an asphalt parking lot. I cannot grow veggies in red clay, just trees. I favor the red with white coloring radishes, really good as a snack.
The point Harry was making is the increase in even the easiest veggies to grow.
We need Mr. Powell to get out of the way
Come on Spanky23, everyone here eats food, unless we have a AI bot in the crowd. Be blessed.
Are they grown in California where Gavin Newsome cut off the water to farmers possibly?
Don’t we have to wait for the farmers to finish growing it?
Finish growing what? The growing season is just about done. Jars of ready to eat tomato sauce is up about $2.00 per jar. WHY?
Fl is cranking up for our season. Year round for some things.
Because the Fed Res Notes in circulation are worth less and less with each new Note printed or digitized and dumped into circulation – it takes more Notes to buy the same item today than it took to buy it last month. The Notes are not actually money – they are I.O.U.s and you have never been paid in actual money in all your working life. Read this – it should set your hair on fire:
returntojoeshamburgershop.pdf
That National Debt doesn’t actually exist. It is all Odious Debt. The books have never been balanced. In a debt-credit system each debt has an equal answering credit, a zero-sum. The National Credits have been carefully kept from view and they are far higher than the debt because each I.O.U. is left in circulation acquiring more credit against it. See here:
joeshamburgershop.pdf
Sundance explained years ago why food prices have nothing to do with domestic growing seasons or whether yields were up or down in any year. It’s all now under the control of global multinational corporations who’ve bought up everything including many farms. They set prices both here and in foreign markets. When they want more profits they raise prices. Prices will rarely drop unless demand drops, then it’s only temporary because the corporate masters will shift products away from low demand areas to higher demand markets. None of it is designed to benefit consumers.
Most of what we were taught in school back before the 1980s about supply and demand and prices is obsolete since we have been operating under globalism for about 25 or 30 years.
Yup.
So how is this Capitalism then?
How is the free market running this show?
“Free market” is a grossly misleading and misunderstood term.
With so many government laws and regulations affecting so much of the market economy, it’s already a “regulated semi-free market.” But then we have the globalist multinational corporations that have bought up everything from local stores to local chains and combined them with national chains. They bought up farms and put them under corporate control; controlling seed usage on farms by prohibiting the use of seeds from crops grown from corporate developed hybrids.
Free markets largely disappeared when the government allowed the globalization of U.S. industry and agriculture from the 1980s / 1990s on forward. There is limited “free market” economy where corporations haven’t yet intervened.
Look at what’s happened to the healthcare and veterinary industries. It’s disgusting.
It’s still capitalism but with far too much leveraging by big money — which we can assume (of course) is The Tool of the globalist despots.
This right here. Large-scale socialism propped up by the still remaining non-socialist economies, i.e., primarily us poor sap US citizens. Not the illegals, not the elected government officials, not the corporate owners, we, the poor sap US citizen, fools.
And the U.S. consumer pays the optimal price.
Why is the tomato sauce on the shelf still $2 per jar?
Think it through: When were the tomatoes planted, and what did it cost to plant them? Then think what happened next, and next, and next.
Then think: what will have to happen – and when – for the costs associated with putting the tomato seed in the ground, on through to putting the can on the store shelf, for the price to go down?
If all goes well (and the farmers have a good crop) prices will go down some in the first year, more in the second once fundamental changes are in place.
I mntioned only labor and energy in another post – then there’s the interest on agriculture production loans to factor in. And that’s tied to interest rates Trump is trying to lower and the fed is trying to sustain with a chairman who needs to go. Some of that trickles down to inflated food costs.
Many moving pieces – another is cost of compliance with regulations and frivolous taxes built into the $2 price tag on that can of tomatoes. Everybody who touches that tomato at any step along the way is getting dinged, and has to recover the associated cost.
The sense of comfort and satisfaction in growing just one plant to beat back just a little of the cost for food, meanwhile, is worth it.
And you need to include the part of it that GB Bari outlines above.
Most vegetables are easy to grow in Florida, but the bugs are nasty. Our summers are rough on many of them, but the rest of the year, they love it here. North of Florida, there is actual winter and most vegetables don’t grow well frozen. There are greenhouses to the rescue but that may be more expense and bother than one is up for.
I put in an asparagus patch, added cucumbers, zuchinni and spaghetti squash to tomatoes, herbs, green onions and peppers this year. I experimented with a potatoe from the health food store in a grow bag – turns out it was a purple one. It not only grew, it grew out of the bag and into my soil and took over part of the yard. I do not know why the potatoes do not have bugs but the cucumbers, squash and tomatoes have too many. I even grew some radishes. The only things that like the dead of summer are the hot peppers, even my cucumbers were scalded.
I thought only my bell peppers were saving me money, but Walmart had organic cucumbers for over a dollar a piece. And the spaghetti squash are $4/5 for a small one. It all saves some money but there are start up costs.
Tomatoes are by far the most labor intensive plant I grow. They have to be trellised, they attract the most bugs, they need even watering (can’t do that if it rains) and they have to be trimmed. Everything else I can let grow unless a leaf miner attacks, then, that leaf has to go. Tomatoes attract the most bugs.
Fertilizer, replanting, irrigation, seed costs, etc. You name it, the farmer has to deal with it.
Prices on just about everything were raised during the Covid plandemic with authorities citing shortages due to supply chain problems. I have not noticed the price of pretty much anything, especially food, to go back down or get close to pre-Covid prices. There may be a few exceptions but Covid seemed to be an excuse to set new permanent pricing floors for most everything.
These are the prices that I believe have become part of the economic baseline. We are never going back to pre-Covid prices in most things. Sad, but, true, all those stimmy checks have called and we are paying for them now. However, under Biden, we had continuously rising inflation. That has stopped and at least for gas in most places, dropped back down to more normal levels. Everything is not going back to pre-Biden levels, but some things have and some things will as the changes make their way through the food chains.
you already have seen cost cut.
prices were supposed to have us kneeling for harris right now.
look close and see if you dont see this.
think of everything they did to destroy our oil and food logistics … he made us bitch about prices not flying down, with us forgetting we apmost were buying food via submission to the gov.
thats how good we got it.
we can bitch again versus being only one via having to, to get food from the gov rations
What did you mean by what you just wrote?
I’m bewildered, confused. Please explain.
What he is saying is that if Heels up harris was elected with weird Walz, prices would need a ladder to be read on the shelf. Not viewing you missed a famine, is never calculated.
Oil hasn’t fallen far enough for most things. Beef will not return to normal anytime soon either so help not yet coming. Hopefully more in the next 6 months as prices just made another jump.
Meat is going to become an unaffordable delicacy in coming months. I have NEVER before seen the likes of what is going on at livestock sales and private treaty sales. Prices are tripled and in some cases quadrupled. Meat, already borderline for average folk is going to soar.
Well yeah, there has been a war on cows and we are paying for it. Part of the issue is that producers cannot go in and out of cows like pigs or chickens. None are easy to go in and out of but cows are the hardest. The life cycle is longer and you need more inputs, more land. Cattle producers pushed out of business in numerous ways usually don’t come back.
This will not be a permanent rise, ranchers have begun rebuilding their herds. That takes a couple of years, one for the pregnancy and one to fatten the calf. Biden’s administration did a lot of different things to harm food production – not just eggs and beef, but, gas and food processing plants. He gave us a real mess and it is going to take some time to recover.
Inflation is the rate of increase in prices. If prices spike then stay high there is no inflation.
Price reduction is a deflation, which happens only during very hard times for economy, like the Great Depression.
You are basically asking for a Great Depression, so be careful what you wish for.
Yes, that’s the natural order of things. But, Biden’s administration did several things that spiked the price of food unnaturally. For prices to fall from here, some things just need time to recover – cattle herds, hens, food processing plants, gas.
No, niche prices can potentially drop with no real harm to the economy or economic cycles. It’s all (or a very great deal) about policies of government (de jure or de facto) getting in the way of natural market tendencies.
I love the false advertising on the doors of my local Kroger. Over 1,000 products have lower prices. Well, what about the other 25,000 products they carry?
It’s the 1,000 that are low in demand that got prices lowered.
The 25,000 that everyone wants are same if not higher prices.
Welcome to globalist corporate greed.
It’ll take at least one loan-to-crop production cycle, and after that reduced cost of getting goods to market before any significant drops are seen. So there’s that.
Food prices in the market, like other goods are driven by energy and labor costs. When those to go down, food prices will drop a year later.
If you can, buy local, make the effort to get out to a farmer’s market. Insofar as you can, go with scratch-made foods vs. processed foods. Every step of the process feeds a value-added or cost-added spiral.
When a $1.19 bag of chips is up to $5.89, I change my eating habits. I don’t like chips and guacamole or chips and salsa that much any more.
What used to be everyday is now a rare treat. Two bags of chips to snack on equals a 16 oz. steak?
Watch. Back yard small garden plots, or even one-can planters on the decks of high rise apartments with tomatoes or spices in them will become commonplace again, as they were for past generations.
Backyard gardening is the way to go. Grow what you like to eat and have power over not just your food costs but the QUALITY of your food. And it’s enjoyable and a way to connect to God and His promise to provide for us.
The cost of living is insane.
I’m disappointed that POTUS is not making it more of a priority to fix all this, people are in crisis..
There are a lot of his voters in crisis!
I’m seeing people downsizing from modest homes into RVs and Tiny Houses.
AND if POTUS does think he’s done something, we’re not seeing it here in our lives and I wonder if he knows this.
My eggs are still $6.49 a dozen and yet this is supposed to be what fixed looks like?
I used to make quiche twice a week because eggs are healthy and they were $2.00 a dozen, and this wasn’t that long ago.
This was healthy food to feed kids on a stay home Mom’s budget.
It this point, I don’t see how we’ll ever eat quiche again-given that my giant boy can eat one himself.
And then there is red meat.
I have such worry about the kids in this country getting enough high quality protein, we know they are not- this is all not okay at all.
There is no difference at all in my grocery store prices right now than when Biden was in the White House.
Same here about most food prices, BUT…they stopped rising – for the most part – like they had been for 4 years. So IMHO that’s a “plus”.
I’m not 100% sure why, but gasoline and diesel prices have not gone back down to 2019 prices despite President Trumps attack on the green scam and the anti-oil trends. Prices came down a bit at first but then seemed to level off around $3 to $3.30 in my area. They were $1.89 back before the Covid scamdemic.
Same. Grocery prices have not gone down as President Trump often says. Eggs are down a bit but everything else it still so high. I am extremely worried about the meat situation, I can’t grow meat. I live in a trailer park. And gas has not gone down here, Pacific Northwest. I am disappointed but I do understand he has so much to work on. But really struggling.
Everybody can grow a few things according to their area’s climate. This will help with the grocery store’s budget busting prices. By buying seeds and growing your own, their is more money for meat. Timing is everything for plants. So, plant for your climate and the season. Some things are easy to grow in abundance in most places – NOT tomatoes. But, green onions, potatoes (all types), squash (all types) are prolific. Broccoli, cauliflower and lettuces are cool weather crops that grow abundantly. Peppers and tomatoes and cucumbers like it warm. Plant what you like to eat. Any fertilizer is good, use garden soil for your top soil and raised bed soil for containers. Containers require managing your watering more closely. Herbs grow in all climates, sometimes as annuals and sometimes as perennials depending on the plant. Be careful where you plant any mint, it can overgrow its boundaries or die in the Florida sun…lol
Nobody can juggle fixing everything all at once, and some things take time, cycles, seasons. Give it time.
On Cape Cod the two major supermarkets are lowering prices. One on “new everyday low prices” on veggies and fruit. The other is lowering prices on 3000 items 10-40%.
I can’t figure out why food prices are still so high.
Just came from Publix. More 2 for 1 deals than you can count. Ground beef is back to normal. Whole pineapple $4.95. Grapes normal at $2.95 lb. Xlarge eggs $3.25. Coffee 2 for 1 $9.95. Good brand pasta 2 for 1 $1.99. Premium pasta sauce 2 for 1 $6.
We did a whole weeks shopping for the 2 of us with breakfast sweets for $112.00.
It’s all how you shop! We buy the specials and that’s what we eat for the week.
Location does play into it not just shopping skills. Ground beef is higher this week where I am in rural Georgia. In fact, pretty much everything you mentioned is higher here in Walmart and Food Lion and I have to drive 45/60 minutes to get to a Publix depending on which way I go.
I do not think food prices will be coming down. I think the inflation we experienced under BIden became part of the foundation of the economy. I think beef prices will come down as the herd is rebuilt and egg prices have already come down. But, I think the rest will be sticky going forward.
I agree in a miniscule way with Harry and friends, but it’s a very much bigger issue than radishes. Being retired (and needing retirement) I have limited means of keeping up, and I’m very tired of trying to keep up with increases in just about everything except gas at the pump (which still has not returned to pre-Papa Joe levels)..
And I very much agree with your question, FrankieZee, are we being purposely gouged by (e.g.) Big Food, as it were? Watching local news (which I increasingly loathe) it is BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that the newshounds want to BLAME TRUMP for everything and especially his tariff policies on whereever prices are supposedly increasing. So why not band together to keep prices inflated? i would even say we should expect this from Big [fill-in-the-blank] and of course the global multinationalists, who are collectively the anti-Christ or his precursor.
From the Babylon Bee –
Trump Vows To Nationalize As Many Private Companies As It Takes To Defeat Socialism
https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-vows-to-nationalize-as-many-private-companies-as-it-takes-to-defeat-socialism
“We had to destroy the village in order to save it”
(Attributed to a U.S. military officer during the Battle of Ben Tre in January 1968)
This ‘philosophy’ led to widespread civilian suffering and atrocities, including the My Lai Massacre, where hundreds of unarmed villagers were killed by U.S. soldiers in March 1968
Well it wasn’t hundreds but point well taken when one is disastrous!
“The number of people killed in the My Lai Massacre is estimated to be between 347 and 504 civilians. The United States Army lists 347 killed, not including the victims from My Khe, while the Vietnamese government lists 504 killed in both Mỹ Lai and Mỹ Khe. The victims were almost all women, children, and elderly men.“
We have to have as many affairs as we can to promote fidelity.
Cute.
Exactly what the Democraps will argue.
Interestingly, PDJT is doing something quite different than that, quite extraordinary and very unique in American history.
He’s actually treating government grants & subsidies to private companies for research or startup costs wherein they usually privatize and retain all profits resulting from that research or startup.. He’s sayin the taxpayers invested that money in the company so they should share 10% of the equity created by that company as a result of the research or startup.. It’s a fair deal because venture capitalists and banks usually take a larger return on their investments.
Agreed. Like with everything else Trump does, the narrative creators working for both the DNC and RNC globalists (i.e., the Uniparty) are hard at work twisting everything into knots so that people don’t understand what was actually done or what will actually be gained. They only know about the lies and the narrative the globalists want shared.
Interestingly, MAGA folks take the bait; the very same people who lied to them for years, whom they distrusted, are now being listened to by those very MAGA folks….. make it make sense. You can’t.
As I have gotten older, I have learned that most human beings are dullards, slow thinkers, group thinkers, and follow-the-herd morons who masquerade as intellectuals and smarty pants. And yes, that’s some of you here, and you will be the first to argue vigorously that you are not.
“Bessent begins by answering questions about the U.S. government taking equity interests in companies that come to the U.S. for support. “
In answering those questions, how closely did he stick to the philosophy of Benito Mussolini, a felloe believer in corporatism?
Gov’t shouldn’t be granting money or subsidizing any business. But if a company accepts the money, the U.S. taxpayer deserves equity ownership in exchange for the money.
The primary issue, especially with chip manufacturing is national security. Yes every industry is different but if a corporation’s manufacturing supports or is vital to national security, the US has to insure the financial viability of that company. Having the US taxpayers take an equity stake in those companies sounds like smart business to me
Well maybe next year we could argue (agree) the auto industry is national security or maybe AG or how about pharmacy or even the building trades. Tell me carpenters, roofers, plumbers and electricians aren’t critical! It’s a slippery slope we shouldn’t be approaching. This is USA 21st century not Italy 1930’s.
Hardly the day goes by that our religious freedoms, free speech, right to own and bare arms and right to privacy in our positions and papers isn’t attacked by some elitist that knows better than us unwashed deplorable masses. But this is the way we lose those freedoms. We give them away because they don’t affect us or I have nothing to hide or for this one I guess some free bucks! Three guesses where those free bucks will go and it ain’t you and me. More money more government.
they arent critical.
we can die in our current dwellings.
satelite defence is critical
I believe the US government owns part of Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca
And how many others? Apple, Alphabet, Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, and on, and on, and on…
Sounds like the Patriot Act.
Yes, there are industries that national security requires and thus, the government ensure that they remain viable national industries.
The underlying problem with this sovereign wealth fund is preventing the Uniparty from using it as a slush fund when they are back in power. We are not very good at thwarting thieves in powerful places – to wit – FISA court, NSA database access, Patriot Act airline filters. All are laughable deterrents.
That’s what PDJT said just happened with Intel.
Biden granted them 2 billion, and PDJT got a 10% U.S. stake from them based on that. He didn’t spend any additional money to get the stake.
How about the 2008 financial meltdown?
I think it was more like 10 Billion USD….. Biden was robbing us and handing out the cash to friends and companies that Democrats are shareholders of…. think Piglosi and her husband.
Shhh, Steph, the narrative creators will not like you outlining the facts and details. They have narratives to manufacture and maintain.
Although, we should really cut the cord on Amtrak. It’s operating at a loss. As is the post office.
There are other companies that the US gubmint owns because of national security interests.
https://breznikar.com/articles/what-corporations-are-owned-by-the-government/1781
I think this is the 2nd half of the interview, after that commercial break. This one is 9 minutes in lenght:
I support MAGA in almost all aspects, and Trump is the best President in my lifetime. At the same time, I do not want to see our federal government owning stakes in our major corporations “for the citizens”. This is short sighted and has very bad historical precedent. And what happens when the Dems are back in power?
The 10%, which might well go to 20 or 30 or 40% by then, will go to 100% and we will be a full fledged communist’s state.
We already fully fund our Defense sector and all of the sub contractors. You people are hilarious.
Buying products from and taking ownership in are two different things.
Not fully, but pretty damn close!
Look at Lockheed Martin, I believe ~95% of their business is DOD. We may as well own it.
Through individual contracts. Even the Government Laboratories (Lincoln Labs, JPL, Sandia, Lowrance Livermore, etc.) are administered by civilian universities. We are now talking about non elected bureaucrats sitting on the board of directors of our corporations. Totally different concept and may fly in the face of the 10 Amendment.
Cute knee jerk post though!
You mean the same universities that charge 60%+ F&A rates? Non elected hogs feeding at the trough. I’ll take the equity any day.
How is this different than a government or private sector entity owning stocks as part of the employees’ retirement plans? I don’t hear people complaining about that.
Meh, what’s the difference between a serfdom and a communist state?
do ukraine citizen bitch about having a job.
they have no defence
their job is to die now
Exactly why I never supported “the Patriot Act”.
Which is actually one of the most unpatriotic things ever conceiver by man.
Westfall’s interview with Martin Armstrong should dispel any of your qualms, the Gov’t does not own Big Business, quite the opposite according to his in depth expose of ” the way things really happen in the world “. Deep state expose by one who has operated at that level. Worth the viewing time, and I hate watching video interviews!
https://substack.com/home/post/p-171816099
Westfall interview of Martin Armstrong
You mean like when Barry gave $ to the US automakers and GM tucked it to us to the tune of $12B? The USG should only be subsidizing US corporations in extreme situations and only if they provide some type of security position of the US taxpayer in return – Nat’l Security, act of God/ unanticipated grave natural disaster , war.
As Secretary Bessent said, it’s all about “de-risking.” If necessary, you’ll see the Federal government taking stakes in essential industries (silicon chips, shipbuilding, pharmaceutical precursors, etc., etc.) if necessary to push risk down to zero. It’s the kind of thing you do in a war, and where national security is concerned, economic security IS national security, and that’s what reindustrialization and de-risking are all about.
Again, I don’t mind this Public/Private partnership as long as congress enacts law that the government remains a passive, non-voting partner & the American taxpayer receives an annual dividend, either direct payment or tax rebate, from the corporation(s). This will ensure that NO politico now or in the future will try to utilize our invested monies as a slush fund for their pet projects or to funnel to NGO’s or other nefarious political activities. The monies belong to the taxpayer & they should directly benefit from its use.
Would add to such a law that once the principal and interest are paid back that any ownership interest held by the government reverts back to the company. Still, this whole thing is a huge mistake.
Instead of bailing out companies, forbid any company doing business in our nation to have no other government ownership or oversight, and then let businesses fail or be successful on their own.
Slippery slope, 20million plus ways to look at this.
Rather than just reverting back, why not sell it for a profit? Maybe a slow draw over a number of years to not negatively affect the price, but still make something from the stake.
That’s plausible as well.
Once the government sets up to do that there will be politicians that begin to put undue influence and pressure to ensure that the competitors of those businesses fail by added regulations and limitations just for the opportunity to ensure the company the government intends to sell the stock of will bring in the highest price.
A federalized pump and dump scheme.
What could possibly go wrong? /s
I hear ya, but rather we own the stake than China or India, which would be a natural next step.
Ideally, Intel should’ve attempted a merger with another US chip maker & start bolstering the US chip industry. Not just be dependent on Invidia.
The only law that can’t be changed is the one not enacted. You trust government mucking around in yet another part of our lives? I don’t. To me MAGA is getting government the hell out of our everyday lives and allowing individuals to create like they did between 1865 and 1915. Two generations took our country from a war torn bloody civil war to international power in 50 years.
We must be experiencing a different MAGA then.
This 2.0 version loves Big Government.
You also need to ensure that no action taken or considered by the government has any impact on that business, their competitors, affiliated businesses, etc. That is never going to happen unless the Federal government reverts to a Constitutionally compliant role.
So either the government gives up its ability to impact/influence the outcome of a business or it does not own any portion of that business. If the government wants to have its cake and eat it too, then they should accept and not deny that the government has become a fascist state headed toward socialism and then communism.
Yes, just like Alaskans receiving checks from the oils companies every year.
yes the “dems”. look what happened to the SPR, strategic petroleum reserve. DOGE needs to do deep dive on what happened to money and crude.
Is DOGE still working?
Did that trojan horse ever work?
The Nancy Pelosi school of economics?
But different. 🤣
The best way to “de-risk the economy” is to reduce government involvement in the economy.
Honest question:
What is the difference between the IRS (government) confiscating a percentage of earnings from private businesses, and the government getting a dividend based on the investment in a business?
As long as they ensure there’s no direct input to management of said companies…if the dividends aren’t commensurate to the investment, simply discontinue the investment.
The U.S. government’s acquisition of a 10% stake in Intel has sparked debate over whether the move constitutes corporatism, communism, or another form of state intervention in the economy.
Many experts and commentators argue this is not communism. True communism involves state control over the means of production and centralized planning of the economy, which is not the case here. As one commentator noted, “That’s actually not literally communism. It’s corporatism which is an aspect of fascism”.
The move is more closely aligned with corporatism or state capitalism, where the government takes an active financial role in private industry, often blurring the lines between public and corporate interests. Critics, including libertarian analysts, warn that such actions inject politics into corporate decision-making, potentially distorting markets and creating moral hazard by favoring certain companies over others. Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute argued the government’s role as Intel’s largest shareholder could lead to politically driven decisions rather than commercial ones.
Senator Rand Paul questioned whether this constitutes a step toward socialism, asking, “If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn’t the government owning part of Intel be a step toward socialism?”
Question:
How in the world could the management of 95% of these globaloney multinational Woke corporations be making any more “politically driven” decisions than they already are?
Amtrak
There are, very simply, MANY aspects of our present “financial arrangements” which are un-sustainable and potentially devastating. One of them, certainly, is the fact that we are printing vast amounts of money (sic …) that we don’t have, and tallying it all up as “national debt.” We are also brazenly using our currency and our financial systems as a weapon, demanding compliance from everybody else “just because of Who We Are.”
It doesn’t take a degree in Finance to tell your gut instincts that this will not fly for long. And, “Make America Great Again” is one of the key components – so long as this means “what we once again begin doing for ourselves.” We’ve built a house of cards and empty promises and right now we’re calling that “a [world …] economy.” We’re pretending that we don’t know what we must do. But no one believes us anymore.
In the past, any public private partnership has been a one way street. PDJT has inverted that
Thank you, JB for this comment! In what scenario are we to believe there is a fair field upon which to play government and private business interactions? It’s been completely lopsided for decades.
For obvious measure, let’s discuss the structure of private business sponsored lobbyists directly influencing government corruption via contracts and grants.
Also, let’s discuss the structure of universities patents directly subsidized by taxpayers via grants without any accountability or reimbursement.
President Trump is indeed shedding sunlight on all things unequal (e.g., tariffs) and levelling the playing field.
I recognize there are solid arguments to be made to supporting separation of government from private business. At this point in our in-process socialism/communism trajectory, we probably need big and biggest and bigly actions to change and reframe today’s corrupt government back to something that more closely resembles our original framer’s view.
We are at war.
The US government should absolutely not be taking over a stake in any American company. I can’t decide if this is fascism, socialism, or pure communism but I know it is wrong. Marco Rubio, please explain to DJT that socialism has never worked anywhere in the world where it has been tried, including Cuba. Anybody remember Obama “investing” in Solyndra? If I, a US taxpayer, want a stake in a company, then I’ll buy the stock stock myself thank you.
Let’s say the government took a stake in Lockheed Martin, that would put rivals Boeing, Northrup Grumman, etc. at a competitive disadvantage. These giant defense contractors compete for government contracts, let the better product/solution win. That is how capitalism works.
I love how DJT is tweaking Democrats on a multitude of issues but this sounds like it came from them. If Bernie Sanders agrees with the government owning a stake in companies then you know it’s a bad idea.
The government pretty much owns lockheed, Raytheon, etc. via military contracts. stop being so delusional, these companies wouldn’t exist otherwise.
Same thing for Palantir and all of Musk’s companies. Tesla maybe could survive on its own, without government subsidies, but the rest of Musk is government dependent. Musk and Thiel are artificial entrepreneurs whose success is dependent on government largesse.
In any society, there are winners. But how do they win?
First, there are naturally successful entrepreneurs who innovate, take risks, and satisfy consumer needs in a competitive marketplace. They create value, and their profits are a reward for serving others. However, there are also artificially successful entrepreneurs who, by contrast, win—not through merit or creativity—but because they receive government favors—subsidies, protective regulations, tax breaks, or public contracts. Their success is politically-engineered, not market-earned.
This distinction is vital. When too many winners are artificial, people begin to lose faith in capitalism itself, moving toward what worsens the system in the first place.
Investing in private endeavors that are poised to advance the nation’s long term interests and commandeering private enterprise to advance political control are not the same things.
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”.
(Ronald Reagan)
scary for a traitor company that is failing lile a punk that cant help this country on their own.
trade off is, that punk company stops doing punk moves that made it need a bailout
The government needs to audit the money “wasted” by the military.
They need to ask if they are getting value for money spent on defence and not be grossly overcharged by the military industrial complex. It may well be that many ordinary items like hammers would only cost a fraction when bought at the local hardware store rather than contracted out to some middleman to purchase. But then there are the large items like jets and ships where they are delivered long after the date agreed and at highly inflated costs.
The president would do well to give them only half the money with the promise of the balance once they can show they have wisely used this half.
Potential influence over governance ?
I really don’t think prices for food and a lot of other things are going to come down substantially. Remember the labor for entry level jobs were elevated thru the COVID scam and remain. Employers can’t reduce their pay now. IMHO.
So you grow your own…. most people who thought this out have Fruit trees and other stuff in the ground for years now.
I’m with you on being self supportive. Fruit tree, vegetable garden, chickens.
President Trump has said he wants to build a US Sovereign Wealth Fund. Collecting wealth-producing assets like shares of companies, like tariffs or fees on other countries, like monetizing government assets – all that could go into building such a fund.
Other countries have SWFs. Such a fund could be used to refinance Social Security or Medicare and actually make those programs solvent long term (instead of being the empty lockbox Ponzi schemes they are today.)
Do you really think that this administration is going to give anything back to the people???
Sneaky Indians buying discounted Russian oil and selling it to the even more sneaky Europeans. Parasites all…… argh!
Have no issue with small stakes in return for taxpayer dollars in loans/bailouts/grants, but do have an issue where it crosses lines.
One such line is deal involving the cut of sales to China – it smells of paid influence. The companies weren’t borrowing money from the taxpayer, they were simply asking to be allowed to do business. It’s akin to a bribe…and it opens the door for severe abuse by future administrations.
Would also prefer that Congress pass some limit as to the percentage of a company that the government could own – most definitely less than a controlling interest – and that any such ownership be non-voting, so the government couldn’t unduly influence/ruin/takeover/infect companies (again, thinking of future administrations). Would also be a very good idea to have outside, independent analysis required of the ‘deal’ to ensure the taxpayers weren’t left holding an empty bag.
Not only no but hell no. The government should not take stake in private companies. If necessary have Congress make laws requiring domestic production and incentivize with tax breaks.
Just look at the fiasco that is the pharmaceutical industry. CDC and FDA hold vaccine and virus patents and get royalties. The FDA is partially funded by private industry. Public employees become private industry employees, directors. The regulators are benefiting and are no longer serving their purpose, to protect Americans.
Food, housing, energy, medical, military production are all in the national interest. Should they all be nationalized? No. Should they be protected from foreign ownership. Yes.
Government is best when it’s least. Balance the damn budget, live within your means, and pay down the debt.
Unfortunately, where I live the breakfast dry cereals that are made without bioengineered ingredients but healthy wheat, oats , raisins, flax is now $7.49 per 15 oz box and 5.49 for 12oz box. A 1/2 gallon of milk ranges $4.99 – $5.99. Eggs are a little cheaper at $3.99 – 6.99 per dozen, but 16.oz of butter (4 sticks) are 4.99 – 8.99 per package. These are basics for almost every growing family. It is very hard to make ends meet.
Kinda sorta the definition of Fascism isn’t it?
I understand the need to de-risk the US economy with 99% of all semiconductor chips being manufactured on Taiwan.
Maria Bartiromo was also right to ask what, if any, will be the effect on competition in the market for semiconductor chips if the USG takes a 10% stake in one particular company?
I think Mr. Bessent keeps returning to COVID, as the excuse for central control, because that is an emotional appeal, where people remember shortages, fear, anxiety, lockdowns, etc. But we are not in a period of COVID which was a man-made disaster purposely designed to extract wealth from the middle class and shift it to the billionaire class, while people were asking for (without realizing it was not really a vaccine) an injection that has turned out to be an agent of death and disability for millions of people around the world.
We have to keep thinking objectively: if you want to have competition and a functioning free enterprise system, and the freedom that goes with it, you have to be careful about central control of any sector of the market. You must be able to foresee what, if any, downsides might occur as a result of government investment in one company in a given market sector.
The more government controls a sector of market, the less “free” is our free enterprise system.
Yet Bessent said they are committed to de-risking our economy, and feel this is the best way to go about it.
Trump just fired a Fed Governor, and London is losing it! https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f6a8.svg This isn’t an attack on democracy; it’s a shot fired in the Third American Revolution to reclaim our economy from global bankers. Watch how Trump’s plan puts American workers first!
https://x.com/PrometheanActn/status/1960753088593109356
Trump FIRES Fed Governor | London PANICS as Third American RevolutionTrump’s firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook sent London into panic—but this isn’t “authoritarianism.” It’s a direct hit on the central-banking cartel and the opening move of a Third American Revolution.