Government as Business Partner

“Both men believed that the federal government could—and should!—play a key role in helping businesses and municipalities move beyond their troubles.”

“Similarly, I came to believe that an institution like the RFC could still be used to promote the economic revitalization of such crucial national assets as Lockheed. A government agency should be formed, I felt, that would work with business and labor to supervise a national recovery program. In exchange for new capital, this agency could demand the management changes, the increased labor productivity, and the price disciplines that would be necessary to bolster American businesses and even its cities during the economic and social crisis caused by the current recession and oil embargo. I had found a disciplined and yet effective plan, I was certain, for the United States to make its way successfully through a time of financial uncertainty and emerge with confidence into a new, prosperous era.”

“have achieved his success in shipbuilding, steel, dam building, or aluminum without a healthy relationship with the executive branch. The Kaiser story is just one example of how government entrepreneurship relies on both an activist government and venturesome entrepreneurs.”

“."28 Kaiser demonstrated the dramatic success government entrepreneurs could achieve by being nimble enough to seize the opportunities presented by an activist government. His enterprises represented a confluence of administration policy and entrepreneurial zeal.”