Posted on 08/22/2025 2:09:16 PM PDT by DFG
BIG NEWS: The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel, one of our great American technology companies.
This historic agreement strengthens U.S. leadership in semiconductors, which will both grow our economy and help secure America’s technological edge.
Thanks to Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan for striking a deal that’s fair to Intel and fair to the American People.
..but INTEL owns 100% of the U.S.
Clinton and Blair called it the third way.
What would be the consequence of letting Intel fail?
Not much really - just 12,000 unemployed former Intel workers in China, about the same in the EU and 55,000 U.S. Intel workers looking for new places in the U.S. in its GROWING Chips industry (just not growing for Intel).
So what happens if someone like AMD starts to get better market share? Do they suddenly find themselves awash in environmental lawsuits?
I remember when people here screamed “Socialism!!!” when Bush bailed out GM and the USA “owned” some of it for awhile.
Funny how that’s perfectly okay now.
This is a bad idea, probably the first thing president Trump has i don’t like. But what do i know seems like a terrible precedent.
Problem: Government wants an easy way to spy on all Americans.
Solution: Take advantage of Microsoft’s shady business practices by starting an anti-trust suit and settling with a proviso to create a back door into the operating system.
Problem: With diminishing trust in Microsoft’s increasing spyware type tactics like its customer experience software, the number of Americans the government can spy on easily get fewer and fewer as they migrate to Linux (hard to hide backdoors in open source software).
Solution: Get back doors into the most common microprocessor.
Well, they wouldn't have had any thoughts about "Intel" but they would have had plenty about government interference in private business. Can't say that I approve.
Don’t know if it’s considered okay now.
Have we heard the words critical or strategic or ‘National Security ‘ with the semiconductor issue?
Apple dumped Intel processors when Intel failed to provide versions that were sufficiently advanced for Apple’s needs.
The wandering tale of how Intel stock found its way into the national treasury began last year, when Biden agreed to gift Intel with an $8 billion grant, essentially a bailout, though nobody dared call it that. Free money. Your tax dollars, at work, for someone else.
The chipmaker had only gotten $2 billion before Trump took over. He immediately put the remaining $6 billion in grants on hold. In June, Intel sued for its next installment. This deal was the result. In short, Trump said fine, we’ll give you the money, but American taxpayers get a piece of the action— a big piece.
The simple version is that Trump saved Intel to protect American national security interests, and he also secured Biden’s “free” grant commitment with Intel stock. That’s unprecedented. Even the GM bailout, equally historic, only saw the US become the automaker’s temporary majority owner. (We later liquidated our position for an $11 billion loss. Great job.)
Since this long-term stake is unprecedented, many questions remain. Is Intel now “too big to fail?” Will competitors get a fair shake in bids for large US contracts if Intel is involved? Will this move quell or even destroy fair competition, discouraging other chipmaking entrepreneurs from even trying? Those are all fair questions. As for me, I’m not sure how I feel about it. At the time, I vigorously opposed the GM bailout because of the US’s direct involvement, and swore never to buy another GM product.
This isn’t socialism. Bailouts are socialism. It’s not capitalism, either. It’s more like shareholder nationalism— Washington taking an equity cut of a strategic company instead of just regulating it or bailing it out. A distressed but critical manufacturer got the money to stay in business, but this time, American taxpayers get to enjoy the benefits.
https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/friends-with-benefits-saturday-august
It couldn't have possibly been because that sleazeball Lutnick and Trump were trying to strongarm the dude into this Peronist scheme?
I don’t see what someone’s religion has to do with their failure at corporate management. My remark was simply in response to what seemed to be an anti-legal immigrant post.
Of course it’s Socialism, pure and simple. You’re just trying to justify this because of so many bad mistakes and decisions of the last 35 years.
Germany’s National Socialist Party I am sure had pieces of German industry before W.W. II.
We as a country made a huge policy mistake when we made it easy for our corporations to offshore our main and strategic manufacturing base to China and elsewhere. My God we are dependent on China for Rare Earth minerals for our defense industry. We outsourced so much we can’t even properly resupply Missiles and Munitions for the Military. Example we only can make 600 Patriot missiles in a year, literally about a month’s supply in Israel and Ukraine.
If Intel can’t make who is responsible for that??????????????
If a Democrat had been President and suggested this, as Obama did with GM, there would be a lot of howling about Socialism and Communism. Don’t forget Jimmy Carter helped bail out Chrysler in the late 1970’s.
But if Trump suggests it we say wow that’s alright. What Hypocrisy!!!!!!!!!
As I recall, the bailout of the auto industry began with Bush Jr.
It wasn’t the auto entity per se, it was the financing arms of the automobile companies most probably GM credit, GE credit, etc.. Those finance arms had a lot of subprime mortgages in their portfolio that about put them under..
General Electric was probably one of the worst.
The bailout of General Motors happened during Obama’s term of office.
Hmmm...I guess I was not clear. I too have seen nothing at all to indicate that the man is some stealth Chinese agent and was criticizing the slurs against him
Right after Obama won.
Obama may have carried it out, but Bush began it:
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/19/bush-bails-out-us-automakers-dec-19-2008-1066932
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