News Pentagon weighing equity stakes in defense contractors like Lockheed, says Commerce Secretary

[marees]

Lutnick was asked if the Trump administration would repeat that move with other companies that do business with the government.

“Oh there’s a monstrous discussion about defense,” Lutnick replied.

Lockheed, which makes most of its revenue from federal contracts, is “basically an arm of the U.S. government,” he said.

“But what’s the economics of that? I’m going to leave that to my secretary of Defense and the deputy secretary of Defense.”

“These guys are on it and they’re thinking about it,” he said.




Lutnick added that President Donald Trump is rethinking how the U.S. ought to finance its munitions and other defense capabilities.

“I tell you, the way it has been done has been a giveaway,” Lutnick claimed. His remark could suggest that the Trump administration is considering a major overhaul of Pentagon appropriations, which are approved annually by Congress.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/26/trump-pentagon-equity-stakes-in-defense-contractors.html

 

[marees]

Lutnick's comments are the latest example of the White House's aggressive interventions in the private sector, with moves historically only undertaken during wartime, or to save struggling and strategic domestic companies during times of economic stress.

"If a company comes to the United States of America government and says: 'We need your help, we want to change everything' ... I think that's a question between the CEO and the president of the United States of whether he will listen to them and change the rules," he told CNBC, citing the Nvidia deal.

"If we are adding fundamental value to your business, I think it's fair for Donald Trump to think about the American people," Lutnick added.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-could-seek-piece-defense-133428651.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9yLnNlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20vX3lsdD1Bd3I0OUk5Nm1hNW9tRTBLaVJFTm5ZbFE7X3lsdT1ZMjlzYndObmNURUVjRzl6QXpRRWRuUnBaQU1FYzJWakEzTnkvUlY9Mi9SRT0xNzU2MzAxODE5L1JPPTEwL1JVPWh0dHBzJTNhJTJmJTJmZmluYW5jZS55YWhvby5jb20lMmZuZXdzJTJmdXMtY291bGQtc2Vlay1waWVjZS1kZWZlbnNlLTEzMzQyODY1MS5odG1sJTNmZnIlM2R5aHNzcnBfY2F0Y2hhbGwvUks9Mi9SUz0xLnN2S2twU1VmRUpfeWo0OTM2ODJTd2ZtVzgt&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGrTdq-E5X_W9c_tPE73WTgVeUmY6YQCdIO4TAl4fv9LyZnyL6oGBlLaU4OzA8rhGtQadyV4Mv4Rkv_hYX1CDkNDwVGWZT9VwOSDssVgCBdgtjKPqImWxbcP3-TGKpyJ-n5ELFJB5Xy3R6l2melCUWGmZfQSC50Pf_QDTycVQebj

 

[Jaskalas]

Didn't you know?
Republicans were always behind central planning and socialism and totally have not spent the entirety of their existence bemoaning and demonizing the concepts they now employ in mass.
All it took for them to reverse their intellectual and moral conscience was the whim of one madman. One man says jump, and Republicans BEG him to know how high.

 

[biostud]

Because your allies don't want to buy American in the future...

 

[feralkid]

In Soviet Russia...

 

[nakedfrog]

Mmm, yes, and then next the President can be in charge of them and make disastrous decisions with his cabal of clowns telling him how brilliant he is.

 

[pete6032]

What the fuck is this timeline we are living in right now?

 

[HomerJS]

Imagine the cries of socialism from the right if Zohran Mamadi proposed the state taking equity ownership in private companies and use the money to help people in need.

 

[Brovane]

Amazing to me, I didn't know Trump was a Socialist.

The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics

 

[PowerEngineer]

By expanding government ownership in American companies, Trump is doing exactly what the free market capitalists have criticized as unfair trade practices by China and Xi Jinping. I think this has nothing to do with any socialist tendencies and is really a result of his dictatorial dreams.

 

[nickqt]

Mussolini called it Corporatism, a merger of state and corporate power. Most everyone else called it fascism.

 

[hal2kilo]

And they call American democrats socialists.

 

[Brovane]

By expanding government ownership in American companies, Trump is doing exactly what the free market capitalists have criticized as unfair trade practices by China and Xi Jinping. I think this has nothing to do with any socialist tendencies and is really a result of his dictatorial dreams.

WSJ calls it State Capitalism with a US twist.

The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics

 

[marees]

WSJ calls it State Capitalism with a US twist.

The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics

Smells like the below to me

Mussolini called it Corporatism, a merger of state and corporate power. Most everyone else called it fascism.

Yet to see if there is any coherent plan or thinking behind this approach

 

[biostud]

Amazing to me, I didn't know Trump was a Socialist.

The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics

Fascist, not socialist. The Wikipedia page is spot on when describing Trump.

fascism is distinguished by an absence of coherent economic ideology and an absence of serious economic thinking. They state that the decisions taken by fascist leaders cannot be explained within a logical economic framework.

Fascist movements tended to not have any fixed economic principles, other than a general desire that the economy should help build a strong nation.[6] As such, scholars argue that fascists had no economic ideology, but they did follow popular opinion
In general, fascist governments exercised control over private property but they did not nationalize it.[7] Scholars also noted that big business developed an increasingly close partnership with the Italian Fascist and German Nazi governments after they took power. Business leaders supported the government's political and military goals. In exchange, the government pursued economic policies that maximized the profits of its business allies.

Does any of this sound like current America?

Economics of fascism - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[cytg111]

Fascism Fascism Fascism Fascism Fascism

Oooooh where have you been dear

Fascism Fascism Fascism

 

[sandorski]

What the fuck is this timeline we are living in right now?

The World's Greatest business man is fixin things...

 

[feralkid]

There's a brand new dance
But I don't know its name
That people from bad homes
Do again and again
It's big and it's bland
Full of tension and fear
They do it over there
And now we're doing it here
Facism turn to the left
Fascism, turn to the right
Ooh fascism
We are the goon squad and we're coming to town
Beep-beep, beep-beep


Apologies to DB.

 

[outriding]

What the fuck is this timeline we are living in right now?

Well whatever it is it makes Idioacracy look like a utopia

 

[Jaskalas]

What the fuck is this timeline we are living in right now?

It is simply the fall of the United States.

 

[Ken g6]

In Soviet Russia...

This doesn't sound like socialism, where the people give for the common good. This sounds like communism, where the state takes over companies, "forgets" to transition to socialism, and just makes the party leaders rich.

Who would have ever thought the party of Reagan would become red commies?

 

[pmv]

"capitalism in one country"

 

[pmv]

There's a brand new dance
But I don't know its name
That people from bad homes
Do again and again
It's big and it's bland
Full of tension and fear
They do it over there
And now we're doing it here
Facism turn to the left
Fascism, turn to the right
Ooh fascism
We are the goon squad and we're coming to town
Beep-beep, beep-beep


Apologies to DB.

Oh yes, he is (oh yes, he is)
Oh yes, he is (oh yes, he is)
He thinks he is a flower to be looked at
And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight
He feels a dedicated swallower of fascism

 

[marees]

"capitalism in one country"

Make America Great Again

 

[Sonikku]

Well whatever it is it makes Idioacracy look like a utopia

It does because in the movie the dumgpeople turned to the smart people for solutions. Here in the real world the dumb people are telling the smart people to take a a hike while doubling down on stupid.