A key member of Donald Trump's Cabinet was raked over the coals on Wednesday morning after suggesting the government should profit from research being done at universities.
In an interview with Axios founder Mike Allen, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed a unique view about government research funding that relies heavily on work being done by students and, if successful, benefits everyone.
"I think universities, who are getting all this money. The scientists get the patents, the universities get the patents and the funder of $50 billion, the U.S. government, you know what we get? Zero!’ he told Allen before adding, “In business if I gave them 100% of their money, I would get half the profits, with the scientists. So I think if we fund it and they invent a patent, the United States of America taxpayer should get half the benefit."
After viewing the clip from Axios, MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough lit up Lutnick for yet another example of the Donald Trump administration engaging in socialism — something previously anathema to conservatives.
“Wait, wait, wait, this is just full-blown socialism!” Scarborough exclaimed. “I mean, it's even beyond that. He's like, you remember when Barack Obama said, you know, you didn't you didn't do it all on your own, you needed the government. But we helped you and you got it? Could you imagine if Barack Obama said, ‘You know what? Because of that, we're going to take 10% here?'"
“And here are all these so-called, like capitalist billionaires that keep trying to scam off of companies, off of colleges,” he argued. “Like, I don't know Howard, but I can't believe he is so stupid as to not understand that when we, ––since World War II, gave universities that money for research that spread out and that helped, whether you're talking about the internet, whether you're talking about biomedical research, whether you're talking about research on, you know, Alzheimer's, or whether you're talking about research on on AI, all of these technologies, they accrue to the benefit of Americans.”
He then added, “And in a capitalist society, a rising tide lifts all boats. They pay higher taxes because they're successful and not giving the money back to the huge centralized state. And then they can tax them. But they're literally talking about accumulating more power in the centralized state. It is the most socialist thing.”
You can watch below or at the link.