Equity shares in Intel

I am against it.  Here is my Free Press column, and an excerpt:

This won’t be the last government takeover—or at least that’s what Trump is promising. Trump says he wants to do more of this with other companies, with TSMC, Micron, and Samsung as other potential targets.

Over the longer run, who is to know what might come next? A bank or two? A private equity firm? Something in crypto? How about an artificial intelligence company?

Indeed, just yesterday National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett mentioned a plan for a sovereign wealth fund. Trump is saying, “I want to try to get as much as I can.”

If you are a major CEO, the message could not be clearer: Tread very, very carefully. Think again before you criticize this president or this White House.

…Sadly, the Republicans are no less culpable, thinking only of the short run. How will they like it, some number of years from now, when a younger Bernie Sanders (AOC?) turns this logic against them, takes some equity in a subsidized company, and steers it toward left-wing ends? But only a modest number of pundits and commentators on the right have criticized the president for this move.

I am all for advance purchase agreements to address issue of national security, which yes in my view include chips.  But this arrangement will prove counterproductive.  If nothing else, it is a huge tactical error to connect the “do something about chips” cause with the “expand the executive powers of Trump” cause.