The Trump administration started taking equity stakes in companies. A CNBC poll found that half of voters think this is inappropriate. The other half presumably answered the poll while driving.
Government ownership in private companies has a name. Several names, actually. None of them poll well at NASCAR events. But here we are, watching an administration speedrun every economic policy it spent four years calling communist, and half the country is squinting at their ballots wondering if they filled out the wrong bubble.
The poll asked voters about government ownership. It did not ask them to define equity stake, which would have been funnier. It did not ask them where they think bailout money goes. It did not ask them if they remember 2008. It just asked if they like the thing that's happening, and half of them said no while the other half said yes or started talking about Hunter Biden's laptop.
Voters are wary. That's the word CNBC used. Wary. Like they're watching a raccoon near a trash can. Not alarmed. Not opposed. Wary. The kind of word you use when you don't want to commit to having an opinion but you want credit for paying attention.
The technical setup here is irrelevant. The 50-day moving average of cognitive dissonance just crossed above the 200-day moving average of not giving a sh*t. That's called a golden cross in some circles. In others it's called Tuesday.
Retail traders saw this poll and immediately bought calls on companies they think the government might buy next. They will lose money. Not because the thesis is wrong. Because they are constitutionally incapable of timing anything except their own margin calls.
The government owns pieces of American companies and half of voters are concerned about it, which is remarkable because the other half are apparently fine with state capitalism as long as it's their guy holding the shares.
Photo by Frolicsome Fairy on Unsplash
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