The US government's growing pile of company stakes has mostly lost money for anyone who bought in alongside it — good for Intel holders, bad for everyone else.

• Washington now holds stakes in more than 32 companies, and of the 17 that trade publicly, 14 are below where they sat the day after the deal was announced.
• The pattern repeats: a big pop on the news, wild swings, then the gains vanish — rare-earth firm USA Rare Earth jumped over 80% and gave it all back within weeks.
• Intel is the one real success, with a roughly $8.9 billion stake now worth over $50 billion and the stock up more than fourfold since the deal.
• Trump has posted claims of making hundreds of billions for the country on stocks — an exaggeration, since most of the portfolio is trailing its own industry.
• Critics call it a sugar high, and warn the government is both investor and regulator, with little legal groundwork behind the strategy.

Outlook: The stakes keep spreading into quantum computing, nuclear, steel and now Venezuelan oil drilling, so expect more headline pops that fade fast.