Re: Bah
I did say outright protectionism and went on to qualify it. Subsidies such as the laughable "flood protection defences" on the River Ems in Germany are a very expensive way to maintain the cruise shipbuilding industry in Papenburg. It would be cheaper to give the employees the cash and relocate production to the coast but that's not good for local politicians.
Where competing with state actors, such as China, in solar cell and now wind turbines, you have to walk a fine line between preventing your industry from being undercut by subsidies and insulating it from real competition. Properly calculated import tariffs are generally the best choice along with funding for training, research and product development. But simply handing cash to companies continues the policy privatising profits and socialising costs.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
