SB 107-01: Atlasian Steel Act (Rejected)

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I want to start off by saying that the steel industry, as we all know, has been on a rapid decline since the 1970's. And this decline has been to the detriment of working-class cities across Atlasia, particularly in those such as Youngstown which were dependent on steel and have never recovered from the 1969 corporate merger between the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company and the New Orleans-based Lykes Corporation. In 1977, Youngstown Sheet and Tube instantly put 5,000 workers out of a job in one day. This had a ripple effect on the city as steel and other businesses left Youngstown and Mahoning Valley. We've now seen the consequences of that.

These jobs are now in China, a hostile adversary that has taken advantage of our terrible trade deals for far too long. And so we need an economic strategy that will make domestic steel strong again. We simply can't afford to depend on China for steel and other goods. That is what will bring us closer to communism. That is what will be to our downfall. And so there are both strong economic and national security-related reasons to empower this industry.

However, I am also concerned about overreach in the economy. Nationalization might be preferable to the status quo which has failed Atlasian workers, particularly those without a college education, but I am cautious about federal overreach, and I am also not necessarily convinced that nationalization will simply regrow Atlasian steel. And I think the burden lies on the supporters of this legislation to prove why nationalizing Atlasian steel will bring these jobs back in the era of automation.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Well, some Labor senators won't be very happy with me, but what else is new.

A restructure of existing trade relations, not nationalization of industry, was my stated goal and strategy entering the presidency of rebuilding domestic industry. And reflecting on that in light of Yankee's post makes me realize how, first of all, truly arbitrary this bill is. If our answer to all the market's problems for one industry is "nationalization", why stop at steel? Why not nationalized lumber? Why not nationalized agriculture? Why not, hell, nationalized tech? The RGND at least had nationalization of energy as part of a broader strategy to transition from fossil fuels. Assuming the liability and costs of a failed industry with no real policy prescriptions will serve no function other than to flush taxpayer dollars down the toilet.

Yankee mentioned trade violations, such as dumping. I wrote the law we passed under President Sev last year which makes it easier for farmers to report incidents of illegal dumping. This is a policy which helps our farmers because it specifically addressed a problem in our markets that impedes on their ability to compete with foreign producers.

Also, we don't currently have a VAT, so we definitely should consider that issue separately from the question of seizing an entire industry.