[mkleczek]

The question is: how do you define "national security" and "other strategic value"? At the end of the day both really mean economic interest. Especially in case of US.

So if someone says "national security" is above economic interest of US, I would say these people mean _their_ economic interest is above economic interest of US and use both terms as a cover.

[SR2Z]

Insofar as the country being conquered and Americans being slaughtered wholesale would be against our economic interests lol

There are clear national security reasons for the government to prop up shipbuilding and semiconductors.

[mkleczek]

> Insofar as the country being conquered and Americans being slaughtered wholesale would be against our economic interests lol > There are clear national security reasons for the government to prop up shipbuilding and semiconductors.

Are you saying countries without shipbuilding facilities or not producing semicondutors are being conquered and their citizens being slaughtered?

I'd say that is fear mongering done by the people doing business on "national security".

[expedition32]

There's not much economic interest in losing 100 billion dollars trying to keep shipyards going.

There are no customers who want an oil tanker built in the US. Or Europe.

[etempleton]

The economic interest is the US ability to as rapidly as possible convert those shipyards to military shipyards during a large scale prolonged war. The US did not make (relatively) many ships before WW2 and then during WW2 was briefly the largest ship builder in the world.