Nationalizing coal to save it

Months into the Korean War, President Harry Truman capped wages and imposed price controls on the steel industry, seizing authority under a newly passed law to take action in the name of national defense.

Now, more than a half century later, Trump administration officials are considering using the same statute to keep struggling coal and nuclear power plants online, according to four people familiar with the discussions who asked for anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Under the approach, the administration would invoke sweeping authority in the 68-year-old Defense Production Act, which allows the president to effectively nationalize private industry to ensure the U.S. has resources that could be needed amid a war or after a disaster.

[...]

Officials have not decided on precisely how they might use the statute to help coal and nuclear plants -- if they even chose to do so. Because the law gives the government such wide discretion, assistance could come in the form of loans and loan guarantees or purchase commitments with the potential for direct payments to facilities. The aid also could be directed toward a single region or specific plants.

[...]

Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, urged President Donald Trump to employ the statute in a letter Wednesday.

"If you don’t have the grid filled with the power that’s needed 24/7, you’re in trouble," he said in an interview. It’s "an emergency national concern and for the national defense of our country."

  Bloomberg

Hey, that's great! Not only does nationalizing the coal industry fly in the face of the coal miners and mine owners, but how in the world is coal going to compete in wars with nuclear countries? Yes, let's fight 21st century wars with 19th century resources. Sounds like a plan.

Of course, they wouldn't call it nationalization, nor coal company welfare.  They'd call it subsidies.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.