Despite regularly denouncing the rising socialist menace, President Trump has been pursuing a policy arguably just as, if not more, dangerous to liberty and prosperity as anything proposed by Zohran Mamdani or Bernie Sanders: using government funds to purchase partial ownership of private companies.
The Trump administration has obtained ownership interests of approximately 27 billion dollars in 30 companies since January of 2025. While President Trump and his defenders claim making these “investments” will benefit the American people, the truth is this policy will harm most Americans. The policy distorts the capital markets by incentivizing investors to support these companies because the investors believe government’s ownership interest creates a de facto government guarantee of a stock’s value. For example, after the government announced it would acquire ten percent ownership in chip manufacturer Intel, the company’s stock price had a big increase.
When investors allocate their resources to companies because government is supporting those companies, capital is deprived to businesses that can thrive by pleasing consumers instead of politicians. This reduces economic growth, harming consumers and workers. It also incentivizes other businesses to seek government investment instead of developing ways to better serve consumers.
