A month ago, on Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher spoke with Mike Rowe about the enormous demand for qualified tradespeople.
asserted
Maher → speak → tradespeople
It was serendipitous that the conversation came as white-collar workers and lawmakers are confronting a different question: What happens to American workers as artificial intelligence transforms the economy?
asserted
intelligence → come → economy
In June, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed public ownership of major AI companies through an AI sovereign wealth fund.
asserted
Sanders → propose → fund
President Donald Trump has floated a considerably different version of the idea: giving the people an ownership interest in leading AI companies.
asserted
Trump → float → companies
The proposals are radically different, but the convergence is worth noticing.
asserted
convergence → notice → ?
Republicans who spent years warning about socialism have embraced tariffs, subsidies, and industrial policy to reshore strategically important industries.
asserted
who → spend → industries
Democrats who once defended globalization have embraced many of the same policies.
asserted
who → defend → policies
Progressives and national conservatives, for very different reasons, are entertaining a larger federal role in developing and financing strategically important technologies.
asserted
Progressives → entertain → technologies
America needs a serious conversation about sovereign wealth funds, free-market capitalism, regional autonomy, industrial policy, and the government’s role in an economy increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.
asserted
America → need → intelligence
For the most part, I favor free trade and free markets, and I like the idea of giving local municipalities more control in data center creation, as proposed by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN).
asserted
I → favor → Burchett
However, I also like much of the recent reshoring produced by the successive policies of Trump, former President Joe Biden, and Trump again.
asserted
I → like → Trump
I know there is a contradiction there.
asserted
I → know → ?
I live with it daily.
asserted
I → live → it
Even Adam Smith left some room for this contradiction.
asserted
Smith → leave → contradiction
In The Wealth of Nations, Smith generally favored allowing people to direct their own capital but recognized a role for government in providing public works and institutions whose benefits to society could exceed the returns available to an individual investor.
uncertain
benefits → favor → investor
He was also deeply suspicious of governments directing private industry.
asserted
He → direct → industry
The question isn’t whether the government should replace markets.
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government → replace → markets
It’s whether there are limited circumstances in which markets alone cannot provide something the country has a compelling interest in possessing.
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country → ’ → interest
This may be one of the few areas where America’s political factions have more in common than either would like to admit.
uncertain
either → have → common
Progressives worry about workers displaced by AI and want the public to share in the prosperity it generates.
asserted
it → worry → prosperity
National conservatives worry about dependence on China and America’s ability to manufacture strategically important goods.
asserted
conservatives → worry → goods
Classical liberals worry, with good reason, about Washington picking winners and losers and “national security” becoming the magical phrase that transforms every corporate handout into industrial policy.
asserted
that → worry → policy
They all have a point.
asserted
They → have → point
Let private companies compete, innovate, fail, and make enormous amounts of money.
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companies → let → money
American precedent exists for the government helping build the infrastructure around technological revolutions.
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government → exist → revolutions
During the early Cold War, federal research spending, defense procurement, and military demand helped create the environment in which America’s semiconductor industry, and eventually Silicon Valley, flourished.
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industry → create → which
Washington didn’t need to own the companies to help create the ecosystem in which they succeeded.
asserted
they → need → which
If Washington is now going to go further and take equity, however, it should behave like a disciplined investor rather than an ATM for whichever corporation most effectively attaches “national security” to its slide deck.
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corporation → go → deck
Establish rules for what qualifies for investment.
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what → establish → investment
Don’t allow strategically important firms to return endlessly for bailouts.
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firms → allow → bailouts
If taxpayers assume the downside risk, they should receive some of the upside.
asserted
they → assume → upside
Investments should be transparent and diversified, not driven by political favoritism.
asserted
Investments → drive → favoritism
If those investments generate substantial returns, the government’s equity could eventually form part of a sovereign wealth fund, allowing people to participate in the next economic boom rather than merely observe it.
uncertain
people → generate → it
With the debt being around $40 trillion, it feels like an awkward time for the White House to start building out its venture capital portfolio.
asserted
House → feel → portfolio
If we can’t figure this out, here is my proposal: Data World.
asserted
proposal → figure → this
If we’re going to creep a little closer to China’s economic model, we might as well embrace some of its tackier cultural impulses.
uncertain
we → go → impulses
Let’s build them.
asserted
’s → build → them
But like the gold flourishes of the Oval Office, let’s make them tacky but useful.
asserted
them → let → Office
Rather than another enormous anonymous box dropped onto former woodland, make data centers regional tourist attractions.
asserted
centers → drop → attractions
One looks like Paris.
asserted
One → look → Paris
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
