Earlier this month Sen. Marco Rubio (R‑Florida) took to X (formerly Twitter) to address criticisms—including from me—of recent opinion pieces he penned calling for the expanded use of industrial policy. I’m normally not one to respond to social media call‐outs, but since a sitting senator called me out by name—and called me names—I’m compelled to reply. The following are Sen. Rubio’s postings along with my responses.
Sen. Rubio is selling the far‐reaching nature of his argument a bit short. In both his National Affairs and Washington Post essays, the Florida senator did not merely express concern over China or note that efficient markets may not operate in the country’s undefined “best interests” but called for aggressive government intervention to rebuild a manufacturing sector he described as in a state of collapse.
Sen. Rubio argued the United States must rescue US manufacturing from this (fictitious) implosion and develop an industrial base “capable of ending our reliance on foreign markets for goods that are essential to maintaining a free and prosperous republic.” His agenda is aimed not just at severing US dependence on “essential” (a term again left undefined) goods from China but all foreign countries, including those of US allies. He proposes nothing less than a reordering of the US economy.
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