Just to give you a sense for it, for a long time, the budget of the Commerce Department

has been approximately $10 billion.

Which in Washington is spare change?

Which is not a ton of money exactly.

Now I am managing about $150 billion.

That is Gina Romando, the Secretary of Commerce in the Biden Administration.

What we are trying to do here really hasn't been done in decades in the United States

if ever in terms of the size and scale of it and level of complexity.

And what are they trying to do?

Between the three big pieces of legislation passed in President Biden's first two years,

the bipartisan infrastructure law, the inflation reduction act, and the Chips and Science

Act.

Democrats are trying to fundamentally reshape American industrial policy.

Today, on Freakonomics Radio, with all those billions to disperse, how do we know it'll

be put to its best use and doesn't become just another round of corporate welfare?

This isn't corporate welfare.

This is an investment to achieve a set of national security goals to keep America safe.

We hear from another senior administration official about why the timing is so important.

Our national and economic security depends on it.

And what about the big bet the U.S. made on treating China like an ally?

That bet is no longer defensible.

Make America great again is the other teams slogan, but it sure feels like the Democratic

...