zlacker

>>tedsan+(OP)
The US appears to be fully in the grips of centralized economic autarky. A tiny coterie of industrialists who have the President's ear decide how to allocate a gigantic amount of capital for their pet projects while the state raises tariffs and implements bans to protect them from competition.

Didn't go well for South America in the 60s and 70s but perhaps, as economists are prone to saying, "this time will be different".

>>rchaud+592
this is private capital. yes, we are in an era of big projects and big capital deployment. is that synonymous with centralized autarky? i don’t agree

>>whimsi+Ba2
What does it have to do with Trump then? Why was he involved?

>>i_love+7b2
He love the publicity and most people won't realize that he doesn't have anything to do with this.

>>umeshu+pb2
AI very much has to do with the state. It's an arms race between China and the USA, per many [4]. And China doesn't seem to be behind any longer [1].

It's not only Trump. Before leaving Biden already ordered the DoE and the DoD to lease sites for data centers and energy generation. The only reason we don't see a "Department of AI" or a "National AI Agency" is due to how the military industrial complex works, and a lot of lobbying I'm sure.

[1] https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3295662/beijing-mee...

[2] https://www.insideglobaltech.com/2025/01/20/biden-administra...

[3] https://www.utilitydive.com/news/biden-doe-dod-lease-sites-a...

[4] https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/21/1110269/there-ca...