Earlier quoted context omitted.
Da, Comrade!
The oligarchs resulting from the fall of Soviet Trumpistan are going to be the most obscenely rich people history has ever seen.
They already are, in a replay of the robber baron era.
U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
131–140 of 765 posts
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#132Intel press release: https://newsroom.intel.com/corporate/intel-and-trump-adminis...
So no shareholder vote required?
It is equivalent to a 10% dilution (shares issued for no extra cash).
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#133I give you 3 months before the US government takes 10% of Google, Microsoft, Amazon/AWS, Nvidia, AMD and Apple.
Those companies are not fighting for survival.
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#134Genuine question- How does Govt picking winners and losers going to help? Intel is no Too big to fail Bank. Why save Intel of all chip manufacturers? Wouldnt it be like 25 years too late, with Intel and its heydays !? Would Govt now ensure parity by investing in "marquee" entities across different industrial domains?
Free market capitalism is great until you’re about to be the big Loser. And then the big dog steps in and yells for time out.
I think if this was a domestic thing it would be all kinds of dumb and wrong. But as a US National Security thing, it makes sense if you’re of the mind that significant intervention is fine when it’s in your country’s best interest.
The next phase is watching the U.S. government keep Intel on a palliative drip of softball contracts and tax dollars. I guess there’s a fair argument that this form of bail out could help Intel thrive again… or at least secure a domestic supply of chips for natsec reasons?
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#135I’m pretty sure that’s socialism
Socialism would be worker ownership.
This is simply state ownership of what's seen as a strategic business. It's an abandonment of market dogmatism, but not a step towards any of the many ideologies or positions where markets have a smaller role.
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#136This sounds bad. Can someone steelman this for me so I can understand the good?
If you’re going to give taxpayer money to a for-profit company, taxpayers should receive a share of the company in return. I generally don’t like 90% of the policies we’ve got going on right now, but I actually feel okay about this one.
This is ignoring the original agreement of profit-sharing with the government as was in Biden’s original plan. Feeling “okay” or not “okay” is irrelevant until we know how well Intel does in the next decade and calculate the cost against the profit sharing agreement.
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#137Genuine question- How does Govt picking winners and losers going to help? Intel is no Too big to fail Bank. Why save Intel of all chip manufacturers? Wouldnt it be like 25 years too late, with Intel and its heydays !? Would Govt now ensure parity by investing in "marquee" entities across different industrial domains?
This is a sure giveaway that the US military depends on Intel. It is the only major chip producer that has fabs in the US, and it is also the creator of the x86 architecture. That would mean that without Intel the military would become dependent on chips from Chinese Taiwan.
Not just the military, but the majority of consumer devices as well.
With Intel maintained, if China invades Taiwan and takes TSMC the US will still be able to make usable processors. They won't be the latest and greatest like TSMC, but they will be good enough. Maybe not the most powerful or efficient, but still rather close.
My only worry is this will mean management will start resting on their laurels and things will just continue to deteriorate. Or maybe the government can convince them to get rid of the bad management and start thinking more long term and less about immediate profits.
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#138> the government made an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, purchasing 433.3 million shares at a price of $20.47 per share, giving it a 10% stake in the company > The United States paid nothing for these Shares, and the Shares are now valued at approximately $11 Billion Dollars I don't understand. Can somebody explain to me how the government made an investement, bought shares, but paid nothing?
If someone from the Mafia comes to you and asks for a 10% share of your restaurant you better say yes.
When you're really familiar with extortion, everything looks like an opportunity for extortion.
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#139Ironic, Western politicians thought opening up to trade with China would lead to it adopting a Western model of government. Instead it's lead to the USA adopting the Chinese one.
We even have no assurance of keeping private property via civil asset forfeiture!
Private ownership was the adults main point of pride to distinguish from the Chinese when I was growing up.
And now the Chinese private property frameworks are closer to ours and ours are closer to theirs.
Re: U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
#140Ironic, Western politicians thought opening up to trade with China would lead to it adopting a Western model of government. Instead it's lead to the USA adopting the Chinese one.
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