Tag: Subsidies

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?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

The Sino-American Tech Trap

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Technology is ground zero in the conflict between the United States and China. For the American hegemon, it is about the leading edge of geostrategic power and the means for sustained prosperity. For China, it holds the key to the indigenous innovation required of a rising power. The tech war now underway between the two superpowers could well be the defining struggle of the twenty-first century.

The Sino-American Tech Trap

Here is the Truth: Medicare Advantage Is Neither Medicare Nor an Advantage

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Right now, well-funded lobbyists from big health insurance companies are leading a campaign on Capitol Hill to get Members of Congress and Senators of both parties to sign on to a letter designed to put them on the record “expressing strong support” for the scam that is Medicare Advantage.

Here is the Truth: Medicare Advantage Is Neither Medicare Nor an Advantage

Rapidly Depleting Munitions Stockpiles Point to Necessary Changes in Policy

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

SUMMARY

U.S. munitions stockpiles are rapidly being depleted as the Ukraine war continues. Sufficient stockpiles of munitions are vital to the U.S. defense. Once the stockpiles are expended, the Department of Defense cannot simply buy more munitions—manufacturing takes years. Congress and the Department of Defense must ensure that the U.S. has sufficient stockpiles to meet the challenges of the modern era while working with manufacturers to make the industry as responsive as possible.

Rapidly Depleting Munitions Stockpiles Point to Necessary Changes in Policy

On the first results of the US-Africa Leaders Summit

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The world press is actively discussing the results of the first US-Africa Leaders Summit since 2014, held on December 13-15 in Washington.

At first glance this event may seem successful. The forum was attended by delegations from 49 countries plus the African Union and the permanent secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Only the leaders of those countries that were not invited because of their “non-compliance with democratic standards” (Guinea, Mali, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Eritrea) were not in attendance. It should be noted that the leader of Chad, who also came to power in an unconstitutional way, was at the summit. Apparently, his “authoritarianism” did not interfere with US principles since the country is close in its political positions to the West, primarily to France.

On the first results of the US-Africa Leaders Summit (archived)

U.S. Zionists Foxman, Jacobs and Kurtzer sound alarm about Netanyahu’s extremist government

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Benjamin Netanyahu is set to announce his new governing coalition that includes openly racist and fascistic lawmakers (according to reports), and American Zionists have been sounding alarms that the next government will break Israel’s supposedly unbreakable relationship with the U.S.

U.S. Zionists Foxman, Jacobs and Kurtzer sound alarm about Netanyahu’s extremist government

Related:

What in the World Is Happening in Israel?

I don’t think a day passed on this trip when I did not read about or see TikTok or other videos of a Palestinian shot by Israeli soldiers or Israelis rammed into or attacked with knives by individual Palestinians. This conflict porn is new, it’s pervasive and it is incredibly effective at instilling hate in 15-second bites that keep everyone in a permanent state of fear and rage

The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy