The story goes that the defense budget was cut by 20% at the end of the 1950s. A lot of engineers and radio technicians saw themselves without jobs or without great prospects, and this was the foundation of Silicon Valley.
What would have happened if we hadn't saved General Motors? We would have had all this manufcturing open for contracts. What would have happened if as a consequence, Tesla was able to buy three automovile plants at rock bottom prices? It might have been a great story for the US automovile industry.
Philip Auerswald
Economist
