This Sounds Familiar Somehow

Arthur C. Clarke on the British economy in the 1950s (in “Armaments Race,” a story in Tales from the White Hart):

“All the better for you. Sol's come over here to apply his talents to the British film industry.”

“There is a British film. industry?" said Solly anxiously. "No one seemed very sure round the studio.”

“Sure there is. It's in a very flourishing condition, too. The Government piles on an entertainments tax that drives it to bankruptcy, then keeps it alive with whacking big grants. That's the way we do things in this country.…

This couldn't have anything to do with the American economy fifty years later, could it?