Tag: Middle Class

Unexpected: Studies Suggest That Rather Than Killing Jobs, AI Could Revive The Middle Class + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

We’ve certainly been talking a lot about the “AI Doomers” who insist that AI is all too likely to destroy humanity. However, even people who aren’t fully on board with the existential threat of AI do often say that, at the very least, it’s going to destroy jobs for most people, potentially creating huge problems. For years now, people have been arguing for universal basic income, in large part, because they think that automation and AI will take away everyone’s jobs. I mean, it was a core plank of Andrew Yang’s silly run for President.

Studies Suggest That Rather Than Killing Jobs, AI Could Revive The Middle Class

Related:

[2017] “Another kick in the teeth”: a top economist on how trade with China helped elect Trump

David Autor believes both these things to be true: one, that Donald Trump’s diagnosis of trade with China as the source of woe for countless American workers was both accurate and a crucial part of his appeal on his march to the White House. And two, that Trump’s plan to help those workers by cracking down on trade is likely to backfire.

How much did Trump-era tariffs on China cost Americans? New US findings confirm ‘self-inflicted harm’

Pakistan lurches to dictatorial rule as authorities launch vendetta against Imran Khan and supporters of his Islamic populist PTI

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The long simmering political crisis in Pakistan is now boiling over. Terrified that the campaign of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan for immediate new elections could inadvertently precipitate an explosion of mass working class anger against brutal IMF-dictated austerity, soaring food prices and mass joblessness, the government and military are resorting to dictatorial forms of rule.

Pakistan lurches to dictatorial rule as authorities launch vendetta against Imran Khan and supporters of his Islamic populist PTI

Related:

PTI leader, US envoy hold meeting at home

[2014] Robert Kennedy Jr.: We need laws to ‘punish global warming skeptics’

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of climate change’s loudest activists, said there should be a law that lets authorities punish skeptics and deniers – those who engage in “selling out the public trust,” he said, in an interview with Climate Depot during New York City’s recent People’s Climate March.

Robert Kennedy Jr.: We need laws to ‘punish global warming skeptics’

Related:

CHD Founder Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Files to Run for U.S. President

America’s $52 Billion Plan to Make Chips at Home Faces a Labor Shortage + manufacturing chips in the US could make smartphones more expensive

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

America’s $52 Billion Plan to Make Chips at Home Faces a Labor Shortage

Another possible fix would be to keep people in the workforce longer, by raising the age at which workers can begin collecting Social Security or tapping into their pensions or 401(k)s. Yet Harry Holzer, a former US Department of Labor chief economist now at Georgetown University, says that neither feels politically feasible right now. Immigration has been a toxic issue in American politics for years, and Social Security has long been an untouchable entitlement. “None of that is doable,” Holzer says, which means “our labor force growth is going to continue to be modest.”

Related:

How manufacturing chips in the US could make smartphones more expensive

Morcos says a top concern of his is the narrowness of the CHIPS Act. Without bringing related device manufacturing back to the U.S., such as device batteries, sensors, cameras, antennas, and hundreds of other components, the manufacturing process could require the most critical component to be produced stateside, then shipped overseas to be assembled with hundreds of other components into a device that is then shipped back to the U.S. for the American consumer.

Work longer, for less pay, and you still won’t be able to afford the latest smartphone or laptop?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Dems, Unions Spar Over Gun Laws While Deciding Location For 2024 Democratic Convention

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Dems, Unions Spar Over Gun Laws While Deciding Location For 2024 Democratic Convention

Lawmakers in Chicago, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia, are deep in debate over the 2024 national convention, with Illinois lawmakers concerned that Georgia gun laws will fail to protect attendees, and Georgia Democrats saying that gun laws have “no particular impact” on the decision, according to the NYT. Alongside Georgia and Illinois, union leaders are arguing that the convention should be held in Chicago, as the city aligns with President Joe Biden’s stance on unions, saying he is the “most pro-union president in history.”

…

“Joe Biden is the most pro-union president in history, and having it in a pro-union town reinforces that record and sends a message,” political and legislative Director of the International Association of Iron Workers Ross Templeton told the NYT.

Pro-union?!

The specter of socialism haunts US Congress

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

*Trigger Warning*: this talks about socialism, which seems to trigger some of those who follow my blog. If you don’t like something, that I post, either scroll on by or unfollow me!

A specter is haunting Congress: the specter of socialism.

Last week, as the US Congress discussed approving billions more dollars in weapons for the war against Russia and began negotiating cuts to social programs in advance of the debt ceiling expiration, the House spent three days discussing and adopting a resolution denouncing socialism and pledging to reverse all the social gains made by the working class on a global scale in the century since the Russian Revolution of 1917.

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Before the resolution was brought to a vote Thursday, the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee rejected a proposed amendment introduced by Democrats that would have clarified “that opposition to the implementation of socialist policies in the US does not include federal programs like Medicare and Social Security,” according to the Hill.

The specter of socialism haunts US Congress

[2014] If Apple Were A Worker Cooperative, Each Employee Would Earn At Least $403K

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Apple has 98,000 employees and earned $39.5 billion after tax over the past year. If Apple was a worker cooperative, then each employee would’ve received a $403,000 dividend on top of their salaries. Even the lowest paid worker would’ve earned at least $403,000 in Apple as worker cooperative.

If Apple Were A Worker Cooperative, Each Employee Would Earn At Least $403K

Why Is Victoria Nuland Coming to Sri Lanka, Second Time in a Year?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

She maybe the highest ranking American official but most Americans do not even know her name. However, she is visiting Sri Lanka twice in one year & that should mean something. Why is she visiting Sri Lanka is however more important. She first visited Sri Lanka days before riots started resulted in the resignation of the former President. Naturally, all eyes are fixed on what is likely to emerge after her forthcoming visit. Over the years, there is no doubt the US has created local “agents” covering all spectrums of society.

Why Is Victoria Nuland Coming to Sri Lanka, Second Time in a Year?

H/T: WENT2THEBRIDGE.ORG

Related:

Sri Lanka: US Backed Colour Revolution in Colombo

Debt Traps & Terrorism: The Roots of Sri Lanka’s Crisis