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☆ Yellen: U.S. Could Intervene Again to Protect Banking System
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Skilled Workers Shortage Threatens Biden’s Plans For U.S. ChipmakingChipmaker Micron will have to overcome a massive shortage of skilled workers in order to open its planned semiconductor-manufacturing campus in the suburbs of Syracuse, N.Y. WSJ reporter Joseph De Avila joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss how the company is dealing with the shortage and what it says about the Biden administration's goal of increasing chipmaking in the U.S. Photo: KAI PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS

☆ China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin Meet for Second Day: Key Takeaways
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ China’s Global Peacemaker Ambitions Put It in Competition With U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg defiant after House GOP demands answers over a possible Trump indictment: 'We will not be intimidated'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Alvin Bragg's office responded to House GOP demands that he testify about his investigation of Trump. The DA is investigating Trump's role in a hush-money payment made during his 2016 campaign. The lawmakers, who chair the powerful House judiciary, oversight and administration committees, said a possible indictment of Trump by Bragg would be "an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority." Trump has denied the affair with Daniels and any wrongdoing related to the payment. Legal experts say it's unlikely that Bragg would appear before House lawmakers to testify about the investigation, largely because it remains ongoing.

☆ Last Dodge Challenger makes 1,010 hp, has optional parachute
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The unveiling of the 1,025 horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 has been long anticipated, and long delayed. Dodge had originally expected to just modify the Dodge Challenger Demon engine, which is capable of producing up to 840 horsepower. The 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 can reach 60 miles per hour in under two seconds. StellantisIntroduced in 2008, the modern Dodge Challenger shares much of its engineering with the four-door Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans. Options for the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 include a Direct Connection Parachute Mounting System.

☆ ‘Ted Lasso’ Cast Visits White House to Discuss Mental Health
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ House Republicans are rallying to Trump's defense, but they're unlikely to be able to stop a possible indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Sonam Sheth | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

House Republicans are demanding documents and testimony from Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. It's the latest major step the GOP-led House has taken to defend Trump as he faces a possible criminal indictment. And without the backing of the Justice Department, it's unclear what consequences, if any, Congress can impose on Bragg's office. Yet while the lawmakers may have made valid criticisms, former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb said, the letter is "bad form." Monday's letter also comes after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pledged to subject Bragg's office to congressional investigations in anticipation of a possible Trump indictment.

☆ Australia did not vow to help US defend Taiwan in submarine deal -minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, March 19 (Reuters) - Australia "absolutely" did not promise to support the U.S. in any military conflict over Taiwan in return for a deal to acquire U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines, Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Sunday. Canberra is to buy the U.S. Virginia-class military submarines, with Britain and Australia eventually producing and operating a new submarine class, SSN-AUKUS. Australia's centre-left Labor government says the A$368 billion ($246 billion) deal is necessary given China's military buildup in the region, which it has labelled the largest since World War Two. He said there was "absolutely not" a quid pro quo obligation on Australia from the deal. President Joe Biden has said the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of "an unprecedented attack" by China.

☆ ChatGPT is the Myspace of AI: It's fun, but it's far from taking your white-collar job
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Despite excitement around ChatGPT and GPT-4, there are concerns about AI tools taking jobs. "Artificial intelligence may have a role in displacing, or at least reducing, the need for less skilled workers," Lee said. Hope Bradford, senior director of digital transformation at Kelly, a staffing and workforce company, told Insider that AI tools help HR professionals screen candidates. Are white-collar workers' jobs at risk of being cut because of AI tools? While people have found success and the pros of AI tools, there's still uncertainty about their future and fears still loom.

☆ Despite mass layoffs led by Meta, it's still hard to hire the right tech talent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Kevin Travers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Even so, it's harder to find and retain tech talent, according to a survey of 1,000 human resources professionals by General Assembly, a professional placement and talent recruitment firm. "I think it's better for tech talent because they are not confined to looking for a job at a 'tech company,'" she said. Create a vision, not just a jobParticularly when it comes to specialized talent, companies have to be intentional. It's about listeningColangelo said success in hiring tech talent comes down to listening well. As for the overall tech talent market, Colangelo said the supply and demand equation may be coming back into better balance.

☆ Australia report calls for tax, migration reforms as productivity stalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, March 17 (Reuters) - Australia's Productivity Commission called on the federal government on Friday to improve tax and migration systems, remove import tariffs and secure net-zero carbon emissions at the lowest cost to boost stalling economic productivity. The report titled "Advancing Prosperity" and produced once every five years, made 71 recommendations, while warning that the country's low productivity growth, which has hit the slowest since the 1970s, would curtail long-term prosperity. "Lifting Australia's productivity growth will involve a combination of economy-wide and structural reforms, in addition to targeted policies in particular sectors to push Australian industries closer to the global frontier," said the report. "The Albanese government takes the productivity challenge seriously which is why we've committed to a range of productivity-enhancing investments and reforms," said Chalmers in a statement on Friday. Chalmers said the government would not be taking up every single recommendation from the report, but that government plans are aligned with the proposed themes.

CLAY, N.Y.—A shortage of skilled workers in places such as this Syracuse suburb is posing a major challenge for the Biden administration’s ambitious plan to spur chip manufacturing in the U.S.Micron Technology Inc. plans to invest $100 billion to open a semiconductor-manufacturing campus here, with construction starting in 2024 and production beginning in the latter half of the decade.

☆ ABB invests in US robot factory as reshoring trend hots up
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( John Revill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ZURICH, March 15 (Reuters) - ABB (ABBN.S) is expanding its main US robot factory as its customers there in the automotive, packaging and machinery industries confront a tight labour market as they bring production back home. The United States is the third largest in the global robotics market, which is worth around $50 billion per year according to estimates by ABB and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Rapid growth is expected as US companies bring production closer to home to avoid logistic log jams which have gummed up supply chains since the global pandemic. A survey by ABB last year showed 70% of North American businesses suffered supply chain disruptions in the last year. "The potential for growth in the industrial robots market is huge," Atiya said.

On Tuesday, Boeing announced orders for 78 Dreamliners, split between state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and new national airline Riyadh Air. The $37 billion sale, which Boeing called its fifth-largest commercial order by value, followed a deal with United Airlines (UAL.O) in December for 100 Dreamliners and a purchase by Air India that included 20 787s. Planemakers are also grappling with the after-effects of the pandemic, which forced waves of layoffs and retirements of skilled workers. While Airbus outsold Boeing in the Air India deal, landing orders for 40 A350 widebodys, the U.S. planemaker swept both the United Airlines and Saudi orders. “Saudi Airlines is a government-owned airline, and so there are politics involved with this,” analyst Stallard said.

☆ U.S. small business confidence improves further in February - NFIB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. small-business confidence improved further in February, but many owners continued to experience difficulties finding workers, according to a survey on Tuesday. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said its Small Business Optimism Index increased 0.6 point to 90.9 last month. Forty-seven percent of owners reported job openings that were hard to fill, up 2 points from January, with workers scarce for both skilled and unskilled positions. According to the NFIB, worker shortages were acute in the transportation, services and construction industries. About 38% of owners reported raising average selling prices, down 4 points from January.

☆ America's immigration system is a nightmare, and it's forcing tech companies to move jobs outside of the country
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Leaders like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff have begun walking back their initial praise of remote work, worrying that it leads to employee underperformance. The most existential question raised by remote work, however, is whether working from home makes workers more replaceable. But remote work has just been a facilitator, they suggest, and the real culprit may very well be America's broken immigration system. The flawed US immigration system is forcing companies to hire elsewhereIt's no secret that the US immigration system is flawed. Remote work makes it possibleRemote work makes it all possible, says Job Van Der Voort, founder of Remote, a startup that helps companies hire workers internationally.

☆ UK employers feel the strain of missing skilled workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( William Schomberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

But past attempts to train up more workers have seen the problem get worse by some measures, and any big improvement to the post-16 skills system is likely to take years. TRAINING REVAMPWithout a rapid overhaul of the training system, Britain's pool of highly skilled adults is likely to shrink further relative to other countries, the OECD has warned. Employers groups are calling on Hunt to tackle a key part of how training is funded in his budget speech. Corporate leaders acknowledge employers also need to do more themselves, and prioritize training even in lean times. "You're slowing down really quite a lot to go at the pace of the education system," he said of his company, which began as a print management firm in 1996.

☆ Honeywell company veteran Kapur to replace Adamczyk as CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

He has held several key positions in the company, including CEO of its building technologies as well as performance materials and technologies units. Kapur also oversees the company's operating model, Honeywell Accelerator, which uses various tools, processes and best practices to improve efficiency. Adamczyk, who has been Honeywell's CEO since 2017, will continue to serve as executive chairman and draw a base salary of $1.3 million, the company said in a regulatory filing. Kapur's base salary as CEO will be $1.5 million, Honeywell said. They have risen 61% since Adamczyk became CEO.

☆ Australia's nuclear submarine plan to cost up to $245 billion by 2055 -defence official
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Lewis Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

CANBERRA, March 14 (Reuters) - Australia's nuclear-powered submarine programme with the United States and Britain will cost up to A$368 billion ($245 billion) over the next three decades, a defence official said on Tuesday, the country's biggest single defence project in history. Albanese said the programme would start with a A$6 billion ($4 billion) investment over the next four years to expand a major submarine base and the country's submarine shipyards, as well as train skilled workers. The total cost of the submarine program is estimated to be A$268 billion to A$368 billion by 2055, or roughly 0.15% of gross domestic product per year, a defence official told Reuters. U.S. nuclear-powered submarines will visit Western Australia more frequently this year, with British submarines making port visits starting in 2026. From 2027 the Perth base, HMAS Stirling, will be host to a rotational presence of British and U.S. nuclear-powered submarines to build Australia's experience.

☆ The Pfizer-Seagen deal has a hidden $1 billion warning for workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

While the deal bolsters Pfizer's cancer portfolio, it also mean cuts focused on "eliminating duplication"Pfizer said it is aiming for $1 billion in "cost efficiencies" within 3 years of the deal. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said on Monday that it would acquire drug developer Seagen in a massive $43 billion deal that would bolster its oncology portfolio. The acquisition is the largest biopharma deal since 2019 when AbbVie acquired Allergan for $63 billion, according to Stat News. Namely, Pfizer is aiming for $1 billion in "cost efficiencies" within three years of the deal closing, which could mean job cuts. Pfizer's deal for Seagen is expected to close in late 2023 or early 2024.

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was released from a hospital and will continue receiving treatment at a rehabilitation facility, his office said on Monday after one of Washington's most powerful figures suffered a fall last week. His continued treatment means McConnell will not be present when the Senate returns to Washington on Tuesday. A senior Senate Republican aide suggested McConnell could be in rehab for up to two weeks. As Senate minority leader, McConnell has taken a back seat to Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling issue. McConnell served as Senate majority leader from 2015 to 2021 and as Senate minority leader since then.

☆ From Apple to Boeing, India is being put to the test as China manufacturing alternative
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Vikram Barhat | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe ties between American companies and India as a manufacturing and supply chain partner are getting deeper. The Boeing deal is indicative of the wider trend among global manufacturers including Apple, Samsung and Nokia, to accelerate manufacturing in India. As far back as 2014 it launched the "Make in India" campaign to raise the profile of India as a global manufacturing hub and encourage multinational companies to produce in India. Boeing, Air India issues The partners have their internal issues to work through. That's on top of the hurdles foreign companies can expect to face in India's accleration as a manufacturing and supply chain partner.

☆ The Great Resignation is pretty much over for some workers — but not everyone. See how your industry is doing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Right now, the Great Resignation is still strong in many blue-collar, service industries. But the Great Resignation is coming to an end in remote, knowledge-based roles. Information, which encompasses some tech roles, also saw employment decline from January to February. "If you read about the Great Resignation while you were working from home on a computer, in your pajamas, the Great Resignation's over," Terrazas said. In industries like retail and leisure and hospitality, the Great Resignation lives on.

Like Trump, Bush has experienced what it's like to watch a younger man overshadow him, a man he worked hard to support. Bush and Rubio were allies in Florida government, and Rubio was widely viewed as a Bush protége. There is nobody who can even come close to generating the excitement and enthusiasm as President Trump has and will do in 2024." In the end, Trump branding Bush as "low energy" wasn't the only thing standing between Bush and the nomination. "DeSantis is like the one person who has gotten more out of Trump than Trump has gotten out of them."

HOUSTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Billions of dollars in clean energy incentives are poised to speed investment on American soil while putting the European Union's energy transition at risk by luring away money and talent, executives at the CERAWeek energy conference said this week. European energy companies echoed the call for Europe to come up with its own new incentives. Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of French energy giant TotalEnergies told the conference the IRA was an "invitation to accelerate green infrastructure." In Europe, you begin to regulate," he said, adding that Europe and the United States should consider forming a free trade agreement on renewable energy infrastructure. Ken Gilmartin, CEO of British engineering firm Wood Plc, said the IRA would put the United States in first place in the decarbonization race.

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