[FrontPageMagazine] The romance of a cause is more compelling than arguments for its morality.
“Put my musket in my hand and belt my sword around me,” a returning French soldier pleads with his comrade in ‘Two Grenadiers’. He envisions his body being buried to wait for the return of Napoleon from captivity. “Then will my Emperor ride over my grave, swords will be clashing and flashing; and armed, I’ll rise up from the grave, to guard my Emperor.”
In Schumann and Wagner’s musical renditions of Heinrich Heine’s poem, the dark tones give way to the ringing triumphant peals of the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, as the faith of the resurrected soldier is rewarded with a messianic return of Napoleon and his armies.
Napoleon’s promise to carry on the work of the French Revolution and “liberate” the world had inspired a cult of personality. Beethoven had initially dedicated his Eroica symphony to Napoleon. And the famous composer was far from alone in being caught up in his cause.
The German liberal admirers of Napoleon eventually split into nationalists and radicals. Their cultural descendants became Communists or Nazis. Millions were carried away by cults of personality that made mass murder seem exciting and glamorous. Ernst Hanfstaengl, a member of America’s elites, made “Sieg Heil” resonate to Harvard football chants of “Fight, fight, fight!”
Until too many bodies began to pile up, American elites were enthused by the energy of Communism and National Socialism. Writers, musicians, pundits and politicians admired Mussolini, Lenin, Hitler and Stalin as latter day Napoleon who could get things done. Revolutions to topple the order and remake the world would always be more romantic.
And that has never changed.
Israelis, like Americans, have fallen into the folly of arguing the morality of their cause, but the romance of a cause always trumps its morality. America’s cause and Israel’s cause were far more popular when they were romantic rather than when they insisted on their morality.
Morality inspires few people. When you have to argue the morality of your cause, you’ve lost.
Why do so many side with Islamic terrorists over America or Hamas terrorists over Israel? Much like the Nazis or the Communists, Jihadists have made for a more romantic cause. Some of the same Americans who might have gone Nazi in the 1930s instead convert to Islam and try to carry out terrorist attacks in America. Some head to Turkey to travel and meet up with ISIS.
[Mises] Economic nationalists are once again fawning over Democratic US senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania. First it was for his opposition to Chinese-owned US farmland. Now he is opposing the acquisition of United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) by a Japanese company. This acquisition, however, should not be blocked. It should be embraced. The justifications for government intervention are not convincing.
News broke Monday, December 18, that Japanese steel producer Nippon Steel would acquire US Steel for $14.9 billion. As US Steel has a presence in Pittsburgh, this news predictably upset Pennsylvanian politicians, who seized the opportunity to virtue signal to Pennsylvanian steelworkers and voters. John Fetterman stated, "It’s absolutely outrageous that they have sold themselves to a foreign nation."
First, Nippon is a private company. Fetterman is essentially trying to make it seem like an adversary is buying US Steel, but this is contrary to reality. Japan and the US have a strong relationship, and to think that a Japanese company would threaten that is nothing but wild and unrealistic speculation.
More importantly, Fetterman cites national security concerns, stating, "Steel is always about security—both our national security and the economic security of our steel communities."
Again, suggesting that a Japanese company would undermine US defensive capabilities is nonsense. The US military provides Japan with national defense, so any diminution in US military capabilities will be felt on the side of Japan as well. But it is more important to ask, "Against whom are we defending?" Russia? They have not been able to take even Ukraine in the nearly two years since the beginning of their full-scale invasion of the country. China? The threat of China is entirely fake; they are plagued with many of their own problems that would make any kind of military assault on the US a laughable suggestion....
As for economic security, Nippon is purchasing US Steel because they think that is a better way to serve consumer demands than the next best alternative use for their capital. This means that they are better serving global steel consumers. US Steel is making the same judgment as well. The owners/shareholders of US Steel would not transfer ownership to Nippon if they thought they could get a higher rate of return by retaining ownership.
The joint productive capacities of the two companies would be roughly equivalent to 58.56 million metric tons, which would be a step toward challenging China’s present dominance in the global steel industry, a goal that one would think the economic nationalist, specifically the Chinese hawks, would favor.
As for the concerns over its impact on the American worker, Nippon has already committed to maintaining US Steel headquarters in Pittsburgh, and given the recent news of the United Auto Workers signing contracts with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, steel production would likely be kept in the US to make transportation of steel to these auto plants less costly. There are also plenty of nontransportable assets, such as workers, factories, supply chains, and local contracts, making it costly to outsource production. Steel is likely not going anywhere.
There is an additional economic reason to support this deal: increased foreign investment. Washington will gladly send foreign aid across the globe with the goal of helping the disadvantaged and downtrodden, but they oppose a foreign company investing in the US on the grounds that it would be harmful to Americans. So, which is it? Is foreign investment beneficial or harmful? An economic nationalist would be hard-pressed to demonstrate that foreign investment is harmful in light of what has already been stated and the increased development of domestic production and infrastructure. Private and voluntary foreign investment is beneficial to steel consumers, which includes private and public entities. Foreign investment should be embraced, not rejected.
US Steel shareholders will vote on the deal in March, 2024, but there is reason to think that the deal might falter, and if not, it will face political hurdles....
As has already been mentioned, John Fetterman opposes this acquisition, but the opposition is bipartisan. Even Republican politicians favored by Libertarians, such as J.D. Vance and Blake Masters, oppose this deal (another admission of their strong nationalist tendencies). Masters stated in a tweet, "It would be nice if the Biden administration did anything besides sit on its hands." And they very well might do something.
The Biden administration has been eager to challenge mergers and acquisitions, having challenged mergers at record pace, and unfortunately, they show no signs of stopping. The Nippon—US Steel merger will likely be challenged, if not by the Biden administration then by Congress.
Despite nationalist opposition, this merger has nothing troubling in store for Americans, and in fact, it should be embraced for the numerous potential benefits outlined above. If this acquisition turns out to be a poor business decision by Nippon, then they will liquidate the company and perhaps it can be transitioned into American hands once again. If that is a risk, it should not be cause for concern because business failure, like business success, is a feature, not an indictment, of the free-market system that helps transition resources from less to more valuable uses.
The nationalist justifications for opposing this merger are empty, and any opposition should be flatly rejected as economic nonsense. Every defender of the free market should be in favor of freedom of acquiring and merging companies. When exceptions are made for vague national security concerns, the integrity of the free-market system is threatened.
#2
Years ago, I worked for a division of Nucor Steel that made bearings. We bought steel from other suppliers because Nucor was not interested in cooking up the esoteric flavors that we used. Nippon, Republic and Copperweld were the biggest of those suppliers. Nippon had much higher quality than the other two which we still used mostly due to customer preference. At the time, a couple decades ago, I was very impressed with what Nippon was doing. This was before I understood anything about Japanese manufacturing methods. In my opinion, it would be a positive to see US Steel go through a Toyota transformation to make them competitive rather than have the continue on their GM road that leads to suck. I also worked for GM.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2023 9:27 Comments ||
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#3
Quality is the result of all inputs, materials, labor, research.
Guess which one is lacking when the USW has a say.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/24/2023 9:31 Comments ||
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#4
Big fuss over little stuff. Japan bought all the expensive real estate in NYC, only to lose it all in an economic down turn. The irony here is Japan bought the manufacturing that destroyed their nation 80 years ago. How much of the US steel sun Yamamoto, or went into fat boy, or the Enola Gay? They bought their devil, this will be fun once the history of our steel factories hit the press in Japan.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/24/2023 10:56 Comments ||
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#5
I know of several Japanese nationals who married native American women and who then learned to speak those native languages.
#7
^ "Throw in a job for Hunter and 10% for The Big Guy"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2023 14:31 Comments ||
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#8
In my experience, all the Copperweld and Republic Steel bars were supposed to be eddy current tested before they were shipped to us. A couple times a month, we would have to throw out product and ding them through our quality for bar seams. There was no requirement for Nippon to do the same. I never saw a quality issue that I could track back to them. I was told that they swapped out their rollers each Saturday and rebuilt the used set. It is a very disciplined approach that would benefit USS. Americans can learn it. The Tesla plant in Fremont, CA is a former GM workforce that learned the system as NUMMI.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2023 14:58 Comments ||
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[American Thinker] America’s greatest economist ever was Milton Friedman. (Incidentally, the second greatest, a living treasure, is Thomas Sowell, who learned from Milton Friedman.) In an era before terrorists traveled across national borders, Friedman was a believer in the free movement of people. However, he was not a believer in giving immigrants welfare or votes, for he understood that combining these things would break the system. So, would it surprise you to know that a significant majority of people entering America under Biden’s illegal open border policy are on welfare?
Wall Street has always liked the idea of open borders because it sees people chasing jobs, thereby increasing wealth. A certain sector has also liked the idea of unlettered immigrants who can easily be exploited, but that’s another subject entirely.
Another group that likes open borders is leftists. As this UMinn professor made clear, they loath America, and a country without borders isn’t a country at all.
This is great for Biden because his illegal open border caters to both demographics, Wall Street and the hard left. It’s not often that you get a political two-fer quite like that.
Milton Friedman, who believed in the free flow of capital, also liked open borders. However, he had a very firm caveat: "It’s just obvious you can't have free immigration and a welfare state." More than that, as Robert Rector explained (and Mitt Romney inartfully tried to explain, too), there’s a problem when those receiving welfare vote:
[Washington Examiner] The Biden administration heavily pushed electric vehicle adoption and incentives this year, but some reports have sounded the alarm on a slowing demand as customers are hesitant to make the transition to a greener alternative.
Potential EV buyers often cite high costs and the lack of charging stations coupled with range anxiety as reasons not to make the switch.
According to a recent survey by S&P Global Mobility, 44% of respondents were concerned about the availability of charging stations.
President Joe Biden and the agencies focused on quickening the EV transition are working to ease those fears and build up the nation’s charging infrastructure.
Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, states were allocated $7.5 billion to expand EV charging networks across the United States. Funds are expected to go toward projects that build more stations in cities, along highways, and in other public locations, hoping to place the chargers no more than 50 miles apart.
A Federal Highway Administration spokesperson told the Washington Examiner the agency has made $2.4 billion from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, or NEVI, Formula Program available to all 50 states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
As of December, 11 contracts through the NEVI program have been awarded to states, including Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont.
#1
I wonder if the knowledge that the EV battery replacement cost usually exceeds the car value after 5 years and minor accidents cause more fires in EV's than gas vehicles.
Plus when the COMPLETE lifecycle of a EV battery, from finding and digging out the rare earth materials, all the steps and energy used to getting where it is made and then installed in a vehicle, then remove it to recycle it, the environment impact seems far greater for EV's.
#5
GM, Stellantis and Toyota all backing out of EV bets shows that even with gummint market distortions reality wins out.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/24/2023 8:27 Comments ||
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#6
In the $7.5B program to install charging stations, there has been exactly -one- unit placed.
It's at a Love's truck stop in Ohio.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/24/2023 8:48 Comments ||
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#7
Any rational business person would have their spidey sense triggered just by the fact that the Biden Administration is all in on EVs. This presidency is one of the most clear examples of total organizational failure that the world has ever seen. The O’Bidens fail at everything in truly spectacular fashion. For them, it’s go big or go home. George Custer would have made better strategic and tactical decisions. I say this from the perspective of a lifelong fan of Cleveland sports teams. I am a connoisseur of underperformance. I can describe the hints and notes of ineptitude. The Biden Administration has hired Wile E. Coyote as a grand strategist.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/24/2023 9:07 Comments ||
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#8
"Everything standing in the way of nationwide adoption of electric vehicles"
... and common sense. Don't forget common sense...
#9
MSM is foaming at the mouth here about local gummints rejecting fed $ for charging stations. Nowhere do they mention that the fed $ pay for the installation and then local taxpayers are on the hook for everything after that.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/24/2023 9:18 Comments ||
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#10
The Biden Administration has hired Wile E. Coyote as a grand strategist.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Mises] Economic nationalists are once again fawning over Democratic US senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania. First it was for his opposition to Chinese-owned US farmland. Now he is opposing the acquisition of United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) by a Japanese company. This acquisition, however, should not be blocked. It should be embraced. The justifications for government intervention are not convincing.
