Economy Should Federal Government Bail Out Failing Boeing and Intel?

Orgasmo

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Obviously years of mismanagement by Boeing and Intel executives have led the two companies to the brink of collapsing. At the same time, there is no question these are the remaining Murican players in strategic industries.

Should these two suffer the consequences of their own mistakes and risk collapsing, or should the Murican guberment step in to prevent their downfall to preserve Murican interests?
A generation ago, any list of America’s most admired manufacturers would have had Intel and Boeing near the top.

Today, both are on the ropes. Intel has suspended its dividend, slashed jobs and capital spending, and is a takeover target. Boeing has been hobbled by investigations into crashes and a midair mishap, production delays and a strike. A breakup or bankruptcy are no longer unthinkable.

In the past five years the combined market value of the two has fallen by half. More than just an ordeal for shareholders, this is a potential disaster for the nation.

The U.S. is in a geopolitical contest with China defined not just by military power but economic and technological prowess. Leaders from both U.S. political parties say they are on the case, pushing for tariffs and subsidies.

Whatever their merits, these measures don’t address the fundamental problem that Boeing and Intel represent. The U.S. still designs the world’s most innovative products, but is losing the knack for making them.

At the end of 1999, four of the 10 most valuable U.S. companies were manufacturers. Today, none are. The lone rising star: Tesla, which ranked 11th.

Intel and Boeing were once the gold standard in manufacturing groundbreaking products to demanding specifications with consistently high quality. Not any longer.

Neither fell prey to cheap foreign competition, but their own mistakes. Their culture evolved to prioritize financial performance over engineering excellence, which also brought down another manufacturing icon, General Electric.
 
Large complicated defense contracts are nearly impossible to just open bid. Boeing ain't going nowhere.
 
I think you can make a better case for intel being a matter of national security, and at first glance I think I'd be ok with some money being re-directed there. Boeing, probably not as much.
 
"Neither fell prey to cheap foreign competition, but their own mistakes. Their culture evolved to prioritize financial performance over engineering excellence, which also brought down another manufacturing icon, General Electric."

Shocker. Finance over engineering. That has never happened for a lot of the companies here in America. This is a bigger issue than just Intel and Boeing. I know a fintech company where they were putting finance over actual functionality for a few years especially around the beginning of the pandemic and it hurt their business significantly.

That being said, Satsui Ryu is correct. Boeing deals with large defense contracts so no matter what anyone feels about that the government will bail them out. Intel though is not as necessary. If Intel needs to fail then let it fail.
 
Goat Musk is already gotta rescue their astronauts. Let's give the money to company who can actually get to space without their ships falling apart.
 
There should be no company so intertwined with the US government that the American taxpayer has to bail them out of mismanagement. Aside from outright greed, the knowledge that the government is likely to step in and save a company also makes them arrogant enough for the mismanagement to continue and even possibly flourish.

If there is a company or product so indispensable to the American public and or infrastructure then the government should in all likelihood be the majority shareholder in that company if not outright owner/supplier.
 
No.

Boeing went full blast foreign workers / solutions and the result was catastrophic. They tossed out American Project Controls, Technologists, and Engineers for Indian and Chinese resources. They got what they paid for at the expense of Americans.
 
They should not be bailed out They either fix their own problems or go out of business.
 
Intel controls something ridiculous like 90% of the CPU market. Theyll be fine.

Boeing has a executive member problem when it comes to their cost cutting decisions.
 
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