More semiconductor news. Leading off, TSMC plant delays in Arizona are disappearing. In spite of earlier delays, the Arizona TSMC plant is now expected to be operational by end of 2024. Pilot Production to prove the manufacturing process will start mid-April 2024. Three months earlier, TSMC announced further delays at its $40 billion Arizona fab. TSMC has now said the plant is expected to be operating at full capacity by the end of 2024. What...

Biden is at it again. This time with Intel in AZ. With all the issues with passing a budget since earlier last year, I wonder how Biden and the Dems got this out of Congress. Must be some pretty good pork involved with these programs to get approvals. Companies are kicking in $240 billion in investments to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States since the President took office. Good move by Dems in a swing state. If you...

MMT — coming to an economy near you! Överskottsmålet är ett hål i huvudet. Riksbanken kommer inte att nå sitt inflationsmål. Euron är dysfunktionell och eurokrisen kommer tillbaka vid nästa recession. Se där tre bra utgångspunkter för den som vill förstå hur ekonomin kommer att utvecklas det närmaste året. Låter det både stolligt, alarmistiskt och populistiskt? Möjligt, men det finns en röd tråd i dessa utsagor. De bygger på de insikter som vuxit fram i det...

Chicago economics — out of touch with the real world Tom Sargent is a bit out of touch with the real world up there in his office … Certain people have a capacity for ignoring facts which are patenty obvious, but are counter to their view of the world; so they just ignore them … Sargent is a sort of tinkerer, playing an intellectual game. He looks at a puzzle to see if he can solve it in a particular way, exercising these fancy techniques. Alan Blinder Do...

Blog Cost of housing homeless people skyrocketing for councils Amidst council bankruptcies, local authorities are spending more than ever on temporary accommodation. By Hollie Wright 11 April 2024 England’s housing crisis has reached boiling...

Next Fed move, another hike?

It’s Wednesday and we have discussion on a few topics today. The first relates to the new agreement between the European Parliament and the European Council that was announced on February 10, 2024, which purports to reform the fiscal rules structure that has crippled the Member States of the EMU since inception. The reality is that the changes are minimal and actually will make matters worse. I keep reading progressives who claim the EU fiscal rules are no longer operative. Well, sorry,...

from Blair Fix and current issue of RWER Speaking of competition and losers, Ronald Reagan set the tone of the neoliberal era when, in 1981, he fired 11,000 striking air-traffic controllers (Houlihan, 2021). The message? Workers were losers who would be subjected to the discipline of competition. Reagan called it ‘morning in America’. But really, it was ‘morning for American big business’. Today, we are well into the next-day’s hangover, and we know how the party played out. For workers,...

If You Choose Not to Decide, You May be an American Restating the premise of my earlier post: Voting is an affirmative action. The more difficult voting is, the more turnout will be reduced. A voter in Oregon needs only to fill out and mail a ballot at any point over a period of time before an election. By contrast, some states allow voting only during certain hours on Election Day. Others may add a set of proscribed days and times before then,...

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