Remember how, during President Donald Trump’s first term, nerds would fight about whether he could truly be a fascist if he didn’t do fascist things like, say, nationalize businesses? Well, have we got a treat for you!
The federal government is currently kicking around giving Spirit Airlines—aka the budget airline continually ranked as one of the worst to fly—a massive $500 million loan of your taxpayer dollars in order to keep it afloat.
In return, the American people wouldn’t get that money back, oh heavens no. Instead, the government would get warrants to take a stake in yet another private company.
Rescuing Spirit, of all companies, is especially ridiculous because the market has spoken, loudly, with the company filing for bankruptcy twice since 2024. However, it was becoming increasingly clear over the last two weeks that the airline might face liquidation quite soon, in part because Trump’s war in Iran sent fuel prices skyrocketing.
So really what this is is just an attempt by Trump to staunch the economic fallout from his unnecessary and illegal war.
Or perhaps it’s just that Trump feels a real affinity for the mismanaged airline, given that his businesses filed bankruptcy six times, including the truly impressive feat of managing to bankrupt a casino.
If this plan goes through, Spirit would join Intel, the chipmaking behemoth that the administration took a stake in last year. In fact, the United States government is now the largest shareholder in the company, thanks to a deal that sounded an awful lot like a protection racket.
In early August, Trump demanded that Intel’s CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, be fired for being “highly conflicted” over his ties to China. Just a couple of weeks later, however, Trump met with Tan and put the squeeze on him, as Trump blithely explained: “I said, ‘I think you should pay us 10% of the company,’ and they said yes.”
And don’t fret that Trump didn’t find a way to get a taste here and personally profit, because of course he did. After Trump used his role as president to force the federal government to take a stake in Intel, he used his role as a private citizen to snap up millions of dollars’ worth of Intel’s corporate debt.
And don’t fret that Trump didn’t find a way to get a taste here and personally profit, because of course he did. After Trump used his role as president to force the federal government to take a stake in Intel, he used his role as a private citizen to snap up millions of dollars’ worth of Intel’s corporate debt.
Sometimes, the administration gets a bit more creative in its corporatism. The administration greenlit allowing Nvidia to sell AI chips to China, as long as it kicks back 15% of those sales to the U.S. government.
We also now have a “partnership” with Westinghouse, where the government will arrange financing and grease the wheels for permits for the company to build $80 billion in new nuclear reactors. In exchange, the government gets a 20% stake in the company’s profits.
We have something called a “golden share” arrangement with U.S. Steel, where Trump allowed the sale of the company to Japan’s Nippon Steel in exchange for giving the government “the ability to oversee U.S. Steel’s activities and to ensure the company continues operating its United States-based production facilities.”
And finally, never fear: One of Trump’s large adult sons is getting some cash out of all this corporatism as well. The government took a $50 million equity stake in Vulcan Elements, a rare-earth minerals startup, just a few months after Don Jr.’s firm invested in it.
While all of this is helping Trump and his family make out like bandits, along with throwing gobs of cash at already-rich companies, there’s no evidence whatsoever that any of this is going to benefit the taxpayers, who are paying for it all.
Published with permission of Daily Kos
