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US Intel

(stratechery.com)
539 points maguay | 7 comments | | HN request time: 0.252s | source | bottom
1. bawana ◴[] No.45027248[source]
How is this ‘equity stake’ different than nationalization? (The thing that soviet socialism did to russian property and business a hundred years ago). After all the government prints the money. So instead of just taking control of a company the govt prints the money to buy it. Isnt it the same thing?

And where is the example of a successful govt run business?

Why dont we encourage businesses here w free trade zones?

replies(5): >>45027380 #>>45027466 #>>45028142 #>>45028413 #>>45029657 #
2. nonethewiser ◴[] No.45027380[source]
All of these questions seem more like claims. And I largely agree in spirit. Im not a fan of the government buying stock with the money that would have been given as grants. However,

>How is this ‘equity stake’ different than nationalization?

Ownership scope and control. A nationalized company is owned and run by the government. This equity stake is the US buying stock in Intel instead of issuing the money as grants. I would agree this creates conflicts of interests for both parties. And that it shouldnt happen. But this is wildly different than nationalization.

3. webdevver ◴[] No.45027466[source]
I wouldn't read too much into it. I think this is just the Trump administration buying the dip. they're gonna invest heavily into Intel to reduce TSMCs political leverage, the stock will go up 1000%, and Trumps friends & co. (& everyone who 'got the signal') get rich off it, US semiconductor industry is revived (maybe?), and everybody(?) wins.

This isn't unprecedented - I think Trump really set the tone with TRUMPcoin saga, which was very wild-west. a lot of people lost money, and others got awfully wealthy in a flash. but ultimately, it was legal: both winning, and losing.

Then you had Trump dipping the S&P and telling everyone "nows a great time to buy!", which IMO was even more diabolical than the trumpcoin stuff.

I think the signal is clear: the concept of "securities fraud" has become the financial equivalent of arranged marriage & dowries, and in its place we welcome the "free & open market", double edged and all.

hold it carefully or you'll cut yourself!

like it or not it seems to be working. the wealth disparity between the US and everyone else is growing (to the US favour). I think if the US starts arguing 'youre either with us or against us', most people today will go full FOMO into the US - even the most ardent patriots will quietly shift all their assets into the US side.

now we hear that Trump will allow 600k Chinese students to study in the US - has there ever been a greater inditement against the CCP? What does it say about the "Chinese Century", when their brightest minds are clamouring to get into Stanford or MIT?

Pax Americana for yet another century, I'm all in.

4. kube-system ◴[] No.45028142[source]
It is a minority stake so they won't "control" Intel in the way we typically associate with "nationalized" businesses.

> And where is the example of a successful govt run business?

This is a bit of a loaded political question until you first define "success" and "business". Most of the reasons you'd even want a company to be run by the government in a mixed-market economy are precisely because you want it to be run differently than a private company.

5. dfxm12 ◴[] No.45028413[source]
10% is nowhere near a controlling stake, let alone "nationalization".

And where is the example of a successful govt run business?

USPS, TVA, Paris Metro...

I know many are irrationally scared of the S and C words, but this ain't it.

replies(1): >>45030498 #
6. ks2048 ◴[] No.45029657[source]
> And where is the example of a successful govt run business?

If you look at the list of largest companies by revenue [1], 4 of the top 6 are state-owned. (I'm not saying I support this move by Trump - and natural resources are probably different than technology, etc.. But just to answer the question).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_r...

7. kg ◴[] No.45030498[source]
The USPS is a really good example. Most of its modern problems are exclusively the result of politicians sabotaging it - given the constraints it operates under it's wildly successful. Even some foreigners I know have a positive view of the USPS because of their interactions with it (shipping goods to the US).

It offers good service to everyone in the US - even people living in the middle of nowhere - with fairly good delivery speeds and strong reliability. I can't remember the last time I had a package or mailpiece get lost, and I think I've had a package get damaged exactly once in my entire life.