Cronyism and Corporatism

Although he has temporarily suspended his threatened tariffs, President Trump‘s demands for “fair trade” make no sense economically speaking. Trump‘s demands of Vietnam alone are beyond head-scratching.

Americans like to believe that the US is a wealthy, indestructible country, but as government debt piles up and inflation ravages the economy, perhaps they need to start worrying. Our present path is unsustainable.

The leftists destroying and defacing Teslas to protest Elon Musk’s foray into American politics provide the latest example of the American far-left being easily co-opted into playing directly into the hands of the political establishment.

President Andrew Johnson, who is best known for being the first president to be impeached, vetoed protectionist legislation that looked to raise tariffs on imported copper. Congress overrode his veto, but his free-trade message is just as relevant today as it was in 1869.

Since the financial crisis, industrial policy has experienced a renaissance in the Western world. Government programs are launched, then large pools of subsidies, targeted R&D funds, and cheap loans are made available for corporations, opening opportunities for cronyism.

While Elon Musk and his DOGE team have made some highly-publicized “cuts” in federal spending, much of the federal budget has been hammered in stone for a long time. It will take fundamental changes in spending patterns to make a real difference.

People commonly believe that our society couldn‘t survive without an all-powerful state making sure everything runs properly. Yet, if one takes a hard look at that belief, it soon becomes obvious that government destroys society.

An end to Ukraine’s suffering requires a realistic deal with Putin, something that Trump at least partly understands.

President Trump has announced his intentions for the government to set up a sovereign wealth fund. However popular the idea might be, it runs headlong into the realities of economic calculation and would soon deteriorate another government slush fund.

How can we determine if a private company is a true partner of the state—truly benefiting from state power—or if the private company is really a victim of the state?