It's the economy, stupid.

[GoCubsGo]

Whatever happened to this guy? He's sorta disappeared.

[Whack9]

Automakers Race to Find Workaround to China’s Stranglehold on Rare-Earth Magnets

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/car- ... e-aaf87ad2

Four major automakers are racing to find workarounds to China’s stranglehold on rare-earth magnets, which they fear could force them to shut down some car production within weeks.

Several traditional and electric-vehicle makers—and their suppliers—are considering shifting some auto-parts manufacturing to China to avoid looming factory shutdowns, people familiar with the situation said.

Ideas under review include producing electric motors in Chinese factories or shipping made-in-America motors to China to have magnets installed. Moving production to China as a way to get around the export controls on rare-earth magnets could work because the restrictions only cover magnets, not finished parts, the people said.

...

China was supposed to have eased export controls on rare-earth magnets as part of a 90-day tariff truce agreement with the White House, but the country has slow walked license approvals for magnets. Trump accused China of violating its deal with the U.S. China has pushed back at the notion that it was to blame, alleging “discriminatory and restrictive measures” by Washington, including restricting exports of AI chips and revoking visas for Chinese students.

China banned exports of rare earth minerals to the US in response to the trade war initiated by Trump. In all fairness, probably not good to be so reliant on one entity for such minerals.

[GoCubsGo]

Was reading yesterday how common and or widespread rare earth's have become in so many car components, even things like anti lock breaks.

[1 CAT FAN]

China banned exports of rare earth minerals to the US in response to the trade war initiated by Trump. In all fairness, probably not good to be so reliant on one entity for such minerals.

There ya go.

[GoCubsGo]

Well damn!

[Vrede too]

https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1913300944500211808

Part of Trump's 4D chess master plan, no doubt. Just to trigger the libs.

I get it now.
BB Bill iffy in the Senate, in real trouble when it returns to the House.
Elon leaves with heaps of praise and a useless golden key.
Elon attacks the BB Bill with some pretty harsh language right out of the gate.
Opponents of the BB Bill are encouraged.
DonOLD stays calm at first.
Elon does a nutty attacking the BB Bill and DonOLD.
DonOLD responds firmly, but still fairly calmly.
Elon goes completely off the deep end, loses credibility.
RepuQs circle the wagons around DonOLD.
Senators and Reps who might have opposed the BB Bill are now afraid to be seen as allied with Crazy Elon.
Dems are reeling from this insanity, are ineffective.
The BB Bill clears Congress with nearly unanimous GQP support.
DonOLD signs the BB Bill triumphantly.
Elon walks away, he was done with government anyhow.
Musk companies continue rolling in the taxpayer dough.
Our national wealth has been again forked over to the oligarchs, including Elon.

4D chess. Libs lose, again.

[O Really]

TIL: 4D Chess is a real game.
https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/4ch ... or%20that).

[O Really]

4D chess. Libs lose, again.

Yeah, well, an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters...
I know you're (mostly) not serious, and it's a clever ummm "analysis", but the people who really do believe that Trump is smart enough and capable enough to control chaos are some dangerous dudes. They'll happily step over the cliff thinking they can float there like Wiley Coyote and drag the rest of us along with them.

If a normal person steps in shit, they're like, "Damn, I stepped in shit! Didn't see that. What asshole lets their dog shit on the sidewalk...yada"
If a Trump believer steps in shit, they're like, "Man, did you see that - I squashed that turd. I bet I can jump into the next one with both feet."

[1 CAT FAN]

Nice turd analogy depicting a leftist.

Wile E Coyote caught Hell with that ACME Wildcat.

[Vrede too]

4D chess. Libs lose, again.

Yeah, well, an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters...

Trust the Plan.

[Vrede too]

Florida farmers now plowing over perfectly good tomatoes as Trump’s tariff policies cause prices to plummet

Tony DiMare’s family owns 4,000 acres of tomato farms across Florida and California. Sadly, his Florida crops are not looking good — mowed over and left to rot, like tomato vines across the state.

But it’s not growing conditions that are the problem. It’s economic ones.

DiMare told WSVN 7 Miami that President Donald Trump’s tariff and immigration policies are driving farmers to abandon their crops....

TACO Don is rotten for business.

[1 CAT FAN]

These companies say they're investing more in U.S. manufacturing as tariffs go into effect

Abbott Laboratories

Illinois-based medical device company Abbott Laboratories said in a statement Wednesday that a $500 million investment in manufacturing, research and development capabilities at plants in Illinois and Texas will "go live" by the end of the year.

Apple

Apple in February said that it's committed to spending more than $500 billion on expanding its U.S. manufacturing capabilities over four years.

The company says it will expand its current facilities, increasing the number of workers employed at plants in Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Chobani

Chobani, known for its Greek-style yogurt, is expanding manufacturing in New York State. The yogurt company on Tuesday announced plans to spend at least $1.2 billion opening a million-square-foot factory in Rome, New York.

Company executives believe the plant will be the largest dairy factory in the U.S., with the capacity to produce up to one billion pounds of dairy products annually. Chobani said the domestic expansion, which will create 1,000 new jobs, is necessary to meet demand.

Cra-Z-Art

Randolph, New Jersey-based toy company Cra-Z-Art in March said it is growing its U.S. production capacity by 50%, "to combat the cost of tariffs for imported goods from China and other countries."

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is planning to invest more than $55 billion in new U.S. manufacturing facilities over four years. The investment represents a 25% increase compared with the previous four years, the health care company said in March. The brand new Wilson, North Carolina, facility will focus on manufacturing next-generation medication for people with cancer, and immune-mediated and neurological diseases, the company said.

The pharmaceutical company will also expand capacity at existing domestic plants in a move it says "will create high-paying, high-technology jobs."

Honda Motor

Honda Motor this week said it is moving production of its Civic Hybrid Hatchback from Japan to the U.S., in the face of a barrage of tariffs by the Trump administration, including a 25% tariff on vehicles and auto parts imported into the U.S.

Hyundai Motor Company

Hyundai in March announced a $21 billion commitment to investing in domestic manufacturing from 2025 to 2028. "Hyundai Motor Group is deepening its partnership with the United States, reinforcing our shared vision for American industrial leadership. The Group's investment and efforts will further expand our operations in the U.S. and grow our American workforce," Hyundai said in a March statement.

IBM

IBM on April 28 pledged to invest $150 billion in U.S. manufacturing over five years. At least $30 million will go toward research and development to further U.S.-based computer manufacturing, the computing giant said.

"We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago, and with this investment and manufacturing commitment we are ensuring that IBM remains the epicenter of the world's most advanced computing and AI capabilities," IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a statement.

Merck

Drugmaker Merck is investing $1 billion to build a U.S. plant in Delaware. The move comes amid plans by President Trump to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals, which would include taxes on imported ingredients used drug manufacturing.

The company said it plans to build a new 470,000-square-foot facility in Wilmington, Delaware, where it will make Keytruda, the company's immunotherapy treatment for different cancers. The plant will be Merck's first U.S. facility dedicated to making Keytruda for U.S. patients, the company said.

"This is part of a significant investment to not only bring the world's best-selling medicine closer to the American patients who rely on it, but to also establish a home for our biologics portfolio of products serving U.S. patients," Merck said in a statement.

This one's for cubby, got to keep you in supply of AI photo shop images.

Nvidia

Last week, American chip maker Nvidia announced that for this first time in the company's history, it will be manufacturing chips and AI supercomputers in the U.S.

Nvidia said in a statement that it has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space to build its Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas. The company said it expects to produce up to half a trillion dollars' worth of AI infrastructure in the U.S.
"The engines of the world's AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time," Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said in the same statement. "Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-manufac ... c-tariffs/

[1 CAT FAN]

GM to increase truck production in Indiana following Trump's tariffs

General Motors (GM) announced it is increasing production of its light-duty trucks following President Donald Trump’s announcement this week of wide-ranging tariffs. The plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, will see increases in production and employment.
Workers at the plant make the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks.
Earlier in April, GM announced that its U.S. sales increased by 17% in the first quarter, asserting that it continues to be the market leader in full-size pickups.
https://san.com/cc/gm-to-increase-us-tr ... ouncement/



Isuzu Selects Greenville County to Establish Its New United States Production Base

A subsidiary of Isuzu Motors Limited, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, Isuzu supplies commercial vehicles for the United States and Canadian markets.

“Isuzu carefully considered numerous factors when deciding where to locate its new production base. We found everything that we wanted and more in the State of South Carolina and Greenville County: a supportive business environment, excellent access to transportation, proximity to the Port of Charleston, an excellent labor pool, a skilled workforce being produced by nearby colleges, and the benefits of joining a large and growing automotive production base. We look forward to starting up our operations and making a positive contribution to the state and the local community.”
Isuzu North America Corporation President Noboru Murakami

“Once again, South Carolina’s reputation as an automotive powerhouse is bringing increased opportunities to our borders. Isuzu’s new Greenville County operation will make an incredible impact in the Upstate region and throughout the state. We welcome Isuzu to our business community and look forward to the company launching its legacy here.” Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III
https://greenvilleeconomicdevelopment.c ... tion-base/

Thanks GM & Isuzu.

[GoCubsGo]

Anyone wanna bet this isn't a done deal?

[Vrede too]

Anyone wanna bet this isn't a done deal?

https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1932771422692389343

I don't recall magnets being part of the original demands. It's supposed to be a "victory", but it sure looks like TACO, again.

This scheme is so mind-boggling even Republicans have stopped lying about it | Opinion

... they rolled out one of the most audacious lies, the biggest defiance of simple math and common sense, in the lifetime of most Americans: “Tax cuts pay for themselves and, as a bonus, increase prosperity for average working people.”

At the time, everybody knew it was a lie.

(dense with history including Shrub's repetition of the LIE, analysis and our current situation with the BB Bill)

But this year, things got weird: Republicans and their rightwing media machine aren’t even trying to promote their lies from the ’80s. At least not seriously.

... When “Christian” House Speaker Mike Johnson argued that kicking millions of mostly children and elderly people off Medicaid, gutting SNAP food benefits, and taking a $500 billion cut out of Medicare while gifting America’s billionaires with over $4 trillion of borrowed money would provide “rocket fuel” for the US economy, nobody even bothered to echo his sentiment.

Republicans, instead of promoting Reagan’s old schtick, are basically just telling the American people, “Screw you; get over it. This is what we do.”

It has pundits across the political spectrum scratching their heads. Why aren’t Republicans even trying to sell their tax cuts?

(several possibilities)

... Or has the lie been told so often that Republican voters still believe it, a sort of Economic Stockholm Syndrome, so GOP politicians don’t even need to repeat it? (Even the famously-conservative Financial Times is skeptical of that one, as you can see from this headline: “Trump’s tax bill triumph could be a poisoned chalice for Republicans.”)

The fate of this bill in the Senate — and the midterm elections next year — will tell us a lot about whether the old reliable Republican bull still works.

Stay tuned. This is getting fascinating.

I'm still more disgusted than fascinated. We'll see. Do y'all know cons who still believe in trickle down?

[neoplacebo]

Anyone wanna bet this isn't a done deal?

https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1932771422692389343

I don't recall magnets being part of the original demands. It's supposed to be a "victory", but it sure looks like TACO, again.

This scheme is so mind-boggling even Republicans have stopped lying about it | Opinion

... they rolled out one of the most audacious lies, the biggest defiance of simple math and common sense, in the lifetime of most Americans: “Tax cuts pay for themselves and, as a bonus, increase prosperity for average working people.”

At the time, everybody knew it was a lie.

(dense with history including Shrub's repetition of the LIE, analysis and our current situation with the BB Bill)

But this year, things got weird: Republicans and their rightwing media machine aren’t even trying to promote their lies from the ’80s. At least not seriously.

... When “Christian” House Speaker Mike Johnson argued that kicking millions of mostly children and elderly people off Medicaid, gutting SNAP food benefits, and taking a $500 billion cut out of Medicare while gifting America’s billionaires with over $4 trillion of borrowed money would provide “rocket fuel” for the US economy, nobody even bothered to echo his sentiment.

Republicans, instead of promoting Reagan’s old schtick, are basically just telling the American people, “Screw you; get over it. This is what we do.”

It has pundits across the political spectrum scratching their heads. Why aren’t Republicans even trying to sell their tax cuts?

(several possibilities)

... Or has the lie been told so often that Republican voters still believe it, a sort of Economic Stockholm Syndrome, so GOP politicians don’t even need to repeat it? (Even the famously-conservative Financial Times is skeptical of that one, as you can see from this headline: “Trump’s tax bill triumph could be a poisoned chalice for Republicans.”)

The fate of this bill in the Senate — and the midterm elections next year — will tell us a lot about whether the old reliable Republican bull still works.

Stay tuned. This is getting fascinating.

I'm still more disgusted than fascinated. We'll see. Do y'all know cons who still believe in trickle down?

I suspect my sister and her husband believe it. They're both right wing Christian closet fascists. They live in a 600K house near Nashville and the last time I spoke with my sister (about three years ago) she told me she was now in a "minimalist" lifestyle. That was about a year or two after she told me about the hot tub they put in on their deck. Praise the lard.

[Vrede too]

I'm still more disgusted than fascinated. We'll see. Do y'all know cons who still believe in trickle down?

I suspect my sister and her husband believe it. They're both right wing Christian closet fascists. They live in a 600K house near Nashville and the last time I spoke with my sister (about three years ago) she told me she was now in a "minimalist" lifestyle. That was about a year or two after she told me about the hot tub they put in on their deck. Praise the lard.

Does "minimalist" just mean 'cheap' and don't expect a birthday gift?

If they are still swallowing TACO Don's swill there's a rude surprise heading their way:

The $11 trillion gap between White House and economists on Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill

An array of economists — from the Congressional Budget Office to the Tax Foundation to the Penn-Wharton Budget Model — have reached a similar conclusion: Trump's signature legislation comes with a price tag in the neighborhood of $3 trillion over the next decade.

They're all wrong, the White House says. And not just by a little.

President Trump and his aides have instead offered claims that the bill will make money and that the final tally for both the tax-cutting legislation and other parts of the Trump agenda will usher in a new golden age not just for the US economy but also for government debt.

The claims from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue go as high as $8 trillion in black ink (an $11 trillion chasm with the experts) in claims that go beyond what even Capitol Hill Republicans are projecting....

Nothing "minimalist" about DonOLD's shock to the deficit and debt. It's the stupid economy.

[GoCubsGo]

Trickle down without the name.

IIRC they trial ballooned it back in January, that balloon didn't fly.

[neoplacebo]

I'm still more disgusted than fascinated. We'll see. Do y'all know cons who still believe in trickle down?

I suspect my sister and her husband believe it. They're both right wing Christian closet fascists. They live in a 600K house near Nashville and the last time I spoke with my sister (about three years ago) she told me she was now in a "minimalist" lifestyle. That was about a year or two after she told me about the hot tub they put in on their deck. Praise the lard.

Does "minimalist" just mean 'cheap' and don't expect a birthday gift?

If they are still swallowing TACO Don's swill there's a rude surprise heading their way:

The $11 trillion gap between White House and economists on Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill

An array of economists — from the Congressional Budget Office to the Tax Foundation to the Penn-Wharton Budget Model — have reached a similar conclusion: Trump's signature legislation comes with a price tag in the neighborhood of $3 trillion over the next decade.

They're all wrong, the White House says. And not just by a little.

President Trump and his aides have instead offered claims that the bill will make money and that the final tally for both the tax-cutting legislation and other parts of the Trump agenda will usher in a new golden age not just for the US economy but also for government debt.

The claims from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue go as high as $8 trillion in black ink (an $11 trillion chasm with the experts) in claims that go beyond what even Capitol Hill Republicans are projecting....

Nothing "minimalist" about DonOLD's shock to the deficit and debt. It's the stupid economy.

I know what it means to me. Hard to pin down what the sister thinks about it. After all, she's a cultist.

Even when trump's bullshit and stupidity blows up on him, the sister will never see fault in trump but instead blame Democrats and or Biden.

[O Really]

It's a fond dream that Democrats would be responsible for his bullshit and stupidity blowing up on him, but that seems about as likely as prayers stopping a hurricane.