The writer is director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute
During the 2008 financial crisis, the US government spent and risked taxpayer dollars to stop financial institutions and carmakers from going out of business. Those policies were enacted during a crisis and were designed to be temporary. President Donald Trump’s deal to have the government take a 10 per cent stake in Intel is not temporary.
Are we in a crisis? Many economists, including me, would say no. But politicians in both parties have claimed the opposite, arguing that the US is too reliant on semiconductors made in Taiwan and exposed to Chinese security threats. Manufacturing leading-edge chips, they argue, should take place in the US.