Anyone familiar with this blog will appreciate the irony of this headline.
'Picking winners' is what laissez faire economists have long held cannot ever be done systematically by governments, by incentives, taxes, or subsidies,
as the rationale to allow the invisible hand to perform this critical function for the economic well being of a nation.
It can also serve diplomatic sage pundits, who by use of the term imply that the international scene should be run along similar laissez faire lines, rather than more mercantilist principles adopted by some so called 'free rider' regimes.
Their reasoning for this is the observation that the US has not very effectively predicted political events in the past.
I would say that simply because so ill informed a beast as the US has not had much insight into political events is no ground for assuming that picking winners and losers, in diplomacy or economics cannot be done by a more skilled regime or person.
There is after all plenty of evidence to the contrary before anyone who cares to scrutinize it. Much of it has been noted on this blog.
Term search pick winners, picking winners, lazy fare, maverick, etc., fattening things up, Prestowitz, Trading Places, cartoon.
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