Bad Policies are ruining American Industries

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This is pathetic and sad, as Bender would say from the Breakfast Club, but yes, this new vaunted US industrial policy that both sides of the aisle seem to think is kind of cool is looking a lot like Soviet Union, my friends. All right, all right. So we’ve got Biden and Omics, we’ve been talking about that and all the money that they were spending, but you know, let’s be honest, we had Trump spending a ton of money too and backing up this, that, and…

industries that he thought were just swell. Anyway, there’s no economics when it comes to this. What’s funny about this entire thing is that we’re acting like the Soviet Union and spending money, throwing money here, there and everywhere in all of these favored industries. And it’s like we’re the Saudis or something like that. The Saudis, they, you know, speaking of money keeps coming out of the ground.

and they spend it on here, there, and everything out there. Lucid motors, they lost a fortune on Credit Suisse. How many apartments do they own in Manhattan that sit empty? They don’t care. They go back to the faucet, open it, and more money pours out. See, it’s different here in this country. The faucet is we the taxpayers, and the people in Washington, D.C. feel that, hey, we could take that money and we’re smart, and we’re gonna invest it wisely. Do they ever?

Anyway, in the journal today, they talk about Ro Khanna. Oh, good old Ro, far leftist. Well, I think he taught economics at Stanford. Anyway, again, he represents the San Francisco Silicon Valley area, and he is an enthusiastic proponent of industrial policy. Let’s have a Chips Act for aluminum for steel.

for paper, for microelectronics, for advanced auto parts, and for climate technologies. Hey, Ro, let’s not.

Let’s not because you fools don’t know how to run a lemonade stand. What the hell? What the hell do you think you are? That you think you’re so smart that you can figure this out when you fail again and again and again? The private sector will find a way, not through you idiots in Washington, D.C. Anyway, the Wall Street Journal asked Greg Ip asked Connors to explain his principles.

for doling out government support. Oh, like I said, he had a lot of, a lot, lots of companies, lots of companies he wanted to throw money at. Hey! It’s like, he’s like Oprah, you know, with the new car, you get a car, you get a car, you get money, you get money, you get taxpayer money. Aerospace, automobiles, machine tools, industrial robots, chemicals, medical technology, drugs, and steel.

What is it gonna take to get at least three American steel companies in the top 10? And he was adamant that the beneficiary should be de-industrialized towns such as Johnstown, Ohio and Canton, North Carolina. Uh, you remember Andrew Cuomo wanted to revitalize Buffalo. So he’s like, here you go, Elon, put a solar cell factory there. We’ll give you a billion dollars. How’d that work out?

Again, you ask Kana what his principles were, what his economic criteria to determine which industry should be supported and how much. And what he says is, well, whatever Congress can pass. Again, this is the version of throwing whatever you want up on the wall and seeing what might stick. Yeah, economists can’t do industrial.

politicians can’t do industrial policy. They’ll screw it up every single time without fail. Kana says the principles that should govern industrial policy include, oh God, wait for us, sustainable growth demand, oh God, export market, job creation, positive climate benefits, industrial strength and local feedback.

There’s not a mathematical formula because you don’t know. Okay? If you wouldn’t do this with your money, Roe, you’re taking our money, you’re taking the people’s money and you’re just, again, rolling the dice with it. Who the hell do you think you are?

All the policies from health to the environment involve unquantifiable costs and benefits. Economists help ensure those benefits are achieved effectively. No, they don’t. They’re never able to do that. They screw it up every single time. Money from either taxpayers or consumers isn’t infinite.

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And then, you know, we’ll threaten the entire country. They’re going to ruin their credit rating and the economy is going to fall apart. The sky is going to fall and the world is going to end. Oh, it’s not just Roe, okay? It’s not. Again, you know who’s big on this crap too is Marco Rubio from Florida. He loves all this stuff. Oh, yeah, because he’s so smart. He started so many businesses in his life. people gotta get themselves some life. Watchdog on wallstreet.com.