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**SEPTEMBER 6, 2023**
On the Prospect website
* Lee Harris looks into the promise of BlocPower's green-energy
revolution
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* Timi Iwayemi on how a Trump holdover is undermining the U.S. Patent
Office
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* Luke Goldstein explains an upset progressive loss in Rhode Island
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Kuttner on TAP
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**** U.S. Steel and the Fake Populism of J.D.
Vance
Let's not confuse the corporate interest with worker interests.
U.S. Steel, an iconic American company, has put itself on the auction
block. The process began in August, when a rival steelmaker,
Cleveland-Cliffs, made the company a $7.3 billion buyout offer
<[link removed]>, a
17 percent premium over the current value of U.S. Steel shares.
Management then announced, in line with the ritual of "maximizing
shareholder value" that it was open to other offers.
The United Steelworkers said it would welcome the sale to
Cleveland-Cliffs, which is a union-friendly company. But management
rejected that offer as too low, so the company may end up being sold to
a foreign or non-union steelmaker.
USW President Tom Conway has said that the union would not support the
sale to some other buyer. The company insists that the Steelworkers have
no legal basis for blocking the sale.
In fact, the terms of the Steelworkers contract require any possible
buyer of U.S. Steel to honor the union contract, including retirement
and other benefits. Cleveland-Cliffs has said it would do so. It's not
clear that other prospective buyers would. So, in that respect, the
union does have a kind of veto.
Meanwhile, Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, a fake populist who loves
fishing in troubled waters, published an op-ed in yesterday's
**Washington Post**
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decrying the end of U.S. Steel. He wrote, "U.S. Steel is among the
largest integrated steelmakers
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If it falls into the wrong hands, our industrial base and national
security could be at risk."
Vance went on to criticize court rulings that uphold the right and duty
of corporate management to maximize shareholder value, as well as the
decline of Rust Belt manufacturing companies. He declared, "The board of
directors of U.S. Steel must reject any bid from a foreign acquirer. If
the courts attempt to block them, then Congress should intervene. We
must ensure that corporate transactions such as the sale of U.S. Steel
advance our nation's power and prosperity."
Sounds convincing, but Vance has the wrong hero and the wrong villains.
This is a classic case of blurring the corporate interest with the
national interest.
The fact is that U.S. Steel has slowly been getting out of the
integrated steel business for years, in favor of mini-mills. If our
national economic security depends on U.S. Steel, God help us.
Cleveland-Cliffs would be a far better owner of the remaining U.S. Steel
facilities, as well as friendlier to its workers.
Vance had nary a word to say about the Steelworkers. Instead, he invoked
a shallow form of nationalism, Trump-style.
It's true that both political parties let American industry go down
the drain for decades. And if pseudo populists like Vance, who went from
being a hillbilly to a hedge fund guy, have any credibility, the
Democrats of the neoliberal era have themselves to blame.
But now that Biden and most Democrats have belatedly embraced industrial
policy-which increased the demand for steel and helped boost U.S.
Steel's value-Vance's snake oil is cover for a traditional
Republican ideology. When he is not invoking a cheap form of
nationalism, Vance can be found with the Republican caucus, defending
tax giveaways for the rich, the deregulation of Wall Street, and the
rest of the usual package.
The trouble is that fake economic populism worked for Trump, and Vance
is a more convincing, less psychotic version of Trump. And he's only
39. If Democrats are to win the next round, they need to be more
forceful defenders of working people than J.D. Vance.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter <[link removed]>
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Energy Insufficiency
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With a mission to create green jobs and bring green-energy loans to the
poor, BlocPower has gained powerful backers in tech, finance, and
government. Where are the results? BY LEE HARRIS
Upset House Loss Is a Major Progressive Disappointment in Rhode Island
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Aaron Regunberg, the front-runner as recently as two weeks ago, lost to
Biden administration official Gabe Amo. What went wrong? BY LUKE
GOLDSTEIN
The Revolving Door Threatens the Integrity of the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office
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The Trump-era Patent Office director has expanded his post-government
influence-peddling. BY TIMI IWAYEMI
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