Category: Economy

Semiconductor Giant Faces U.S. Delays While Racing Ahead in Japan amid Biden Chips Funding Uncertainty

South Carolina Sun Staff

A major Taiwanese chip manufacturer’s plan to build a key factory in the U.S. has been plagued with significant delays. Meanwhile, the chipmaker is on schedule to open a separate facility in Japan.

One of the plants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is building in Arizona has delayed manufacturing until 2027 or 2028 instead of 2026 because of uncertainty regarding funding it will receive from President Joe Biden’s administration, according to The New York Times. TSMC’s factory in Japan is on track to operate on schedule as the country’s government has helped the factory by committing billions in funding and assisting with assembling thousands of employees to build it, the WSJ reported.

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Biden to Oppose Foreign Acquisition of U.S. Steel in Bid to Sway Blue Collar Voters

South Carolina Sun Staff
Biden U.S. Steel

President Joe Biden is expected to announce his opposition to the foreign acquisition of the iconic American company U.S. Steel on Thursday as he looks to win over blue collar voters, according to The Associated Press.

The Japanese Nippon Steel Corporation first announced that it would be acquiring U.S. Steel, the world’s fourth-largest steel producer, in December for around $14.9 billion after entertaining multiple offers, including from American steel company Cleveland Cliffs. The announcement is part of the president’s bid to sway blue-collar voters and union members by positioning himself as supporting American manufacturing, with the remarks to be delivered in the battleground state of Michigan, according to the AP.

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Inflation Spiked in February More than Expected

The Center Square
Grocery Shopping

Producer prices spiked last month, another sign of rising inflation in the U.S., according to new federal data.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday released its monthly Producer Price Index, a leading marker of inflation, which showed an increase of 0.6% in February, more than expected.

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Commentary: The Financialization of Nature

South Carolina Sun Staff
Power Plant Money

Financialization: “A pattern of accumulation in which profit making occurs increasingly through financial channels rather than through trade and commodity production.”
– Greta Krippner, Economic Sociologist, University of Michigan

There are plenty of examples of how America’s economy shifted from a production-based economy to a financially-based economy over the past forty years. Starting around 1980, with the economies of post-World War II Europe and Japan fully rebuilt and roaring, and emerging Asian economies turning into powerhouses of manufacturing as well, America chose financialization as an alternative to rising up to meet the competition.

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Border Crisis: Water Scarcity Forces Texas’ Last Sugar Mill to Close

The Center Square

The border crisis has taken on many forms in Texas, from crime to fentanyl poisonings to farmers and ranchers losing their livelihoods.

Another casualty of the border crisis is the U.S. State Department’s failure to hold accountable Mexican government authorities to a 1944 Treaty of Utilization of Waters, resulting in Texas’ last sugar mill shut down, the industry contends. The Rio Grande Valley is bracing for an expected initial $100 million in economic losses as a result.

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Watchdog: Biden’s 2025 Budget Would Drive National Debt to $45 Trillion in 10 Years, 106 Percent of GDP

Just the News

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) a budget watchdog group, found that President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2025 budget would drive the national debt to $45.1 trillion or 106 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2034, from $27.4 trillion or about 97 percent of GDP at the present time.

The organization noted that those calculations are based on the Biden administration’s own internal figures. The current $27.4 trillion debt figure is the debt held by the public, not the total national debt including intragovernmental holdings.

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‘Unusually High’ Inflation: Consumer Costs Rose Again in February

The Center Square
aceless person with cash and calculator app on smartphone

Consumer prices jumped again in February, in part driven by a significant rise in gasoline prices, according to newly released federal inflation data.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Consumer Price Index Tuesday, a leading marker of inflation, which showed prices rose 0.4 percent in February and 3.2 percent over the past year.

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Commentary: Unemployment Up Another 760,000 Since December 2022 as Unemployment Rate Jumps to 3.9 Percent

South Carolina Sun Staff

Don’t look now, but U.S. labor markets appear to be churning in the wrong direction, as the unemployment rate jumped to 3.9 percent in February, and the unemployment level hit a new high for this cycle at almost 6.5 million, up 760,000 from its low this cycle of 5.7 million in Dec. 2022, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Report: Post-Pandemic Remote, Hybrid Work Will Impact Businesses near Offices

The Center Square
Empty Office

Remote and hybrid workers will impact more than office vacancy rates, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

The report, “Hybrid Work May Pose Challenge To Bars and Restaurants in Parts of the Tenth Federal Reserve District,” stated hybrid work arrangements and a preference for remote work are here to stay. It quoted research suggesting approximately 30% of working days in 2023 took place at home and office occupancy is down at least 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

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