Posted on 02/28/2023 4:25:09 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Tuesday said it will require companies winning funds from its $52 billion U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and research program to share excess profits and explain how they plan to provide affordable childcare.
The Commerce Department on Tuesday is releasing its plans to begin accepting applications in late June for a $39 billion manufacturing subsidy program. The law also creates a 25% investment tax credit for building chip plants estimated to be worth $24 billion.
Recipients who receive more than $150 million in direct funding "will be required to share with the U.S. government a portion of any cash flows or returns that exceed the applicant’s projections by an agreed-upon threshold," the department said.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said companies must submit a workforce plan that includes an outline of workforce needs. Applicants seeking more than $150 million in direct funding must submit "a plan for how they will provide affordable and accessible childcare for their workers."
Applicants should also "create opportunities for minority owned, veteran-owned, and women-owned businesses; demonstrate climate and environmental responsibility; invest in their communities by addressing barriers to economic inclusion; and commit to using iron, steel, and construction materials produced in the United States."
"We're going to be doing our own diligence. We're not writing blank checks to any company that asks," Raimondo said. "We're making companies open their books."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Joseph Robinette Benito Mussolini Biden regime...and where is Antifa???
Is there anything more fascist than the government forcing companies to "open" their books to take its share of the profits?!?!?!?!
These people don't even need to hide what they're doing anymore. After 40 years of indoctrination way too many Americans are willingly giving up their rights.
Did Pfizer et al share their excess profits?
WHY THE EFF NOT? /s
Oh, right. “Payment”
That said, Biden's plan to take a cut of the profits ought to send a chilling message to crony capitalists that there's a price to be paid for cronyism...and there's no way to know upfront just how great that price will eventually be.
EXACTLY!!
Anyone who thinks America still has a Capitalist economy, are either total morons or useful idiots - PERIOD!
There is not one industry that is not told how they can conduct their own business: must provide health insurance, must pay minimum wage, must pay extra for certain hours, must give certain breaks, must collect taxes for the government, must match collected taxes, must do this, that, or something else! And just now the “excess” profits will finally open some people’s eyes, but most will say, “Those are good things.”
I agree, these are good things for We the People.
They would be GREAT THINGS if each company or industry could/would implement these on their own accord. Otherwise, it is the government telling the economy how it will spend its money and how they will build their products (gas mileage rules), and WHERE they can build (using Boeing for making planes other than in EXPENSIVE, UNION-CONTROLLED states), etc!!
The real problem, go along with these things, is the undeterred ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, because people just trying to get by will always work for less money and less benefits and less safety, than people with most of America’s standard of living.
It used to be you just went to work, taking care of your kids was your own life, the company had nothing to do with your kids, or whether you needed a babysitter or daycare, or your lawn mowed, or anything of your routine home life.
Build a daycare center on site along with a school. No busing, no taking off from work to "pick up the kids" Just drop the little brats off and be done with it for the day.
” That is not free enterprise. “
The reason American jobs went to China is because China subsidized the businesses that used those jobs. Also, the typical Chinese worker is not free to leave a company. Thus, they are slaves. A free economy (yes, I know the US does not have a totally free economy) cannot compete against someone who does not have the same cost basis and benefits that are mandated for US employees. This is why Europe tries to keep US products out of Europe because they have socialized medicine and other policies the US does not. Thus, the equivalent Eropean goods cost more than the competing US product. All governments try to compensate for the difference between the systems. It’s just that the current US government is more socialist oriented than we’d like. But when, if, that government is replaced by one more conservative we’d still need policies to compensate for the unfairness of other world systems. BTW, I am against any government subsidies as they come with strings that subtract from any effectiveness they might have had.
As for IC’s, the US market alone is not sufficient to justify the cost of building a fab. It’s like when I worked on military projects, and we wanted a particular IC and the maker had stopped making it. Our demand might have been for a dozen or a few hundred whereas the production line produced thousands per day. (This happened a lot.) So, unless there are domestic manufacturers building, say TV’s and cell phones in America then there isn’t sufficient demand to build a fab for domestic production. We’ll build the building and set up the line, but it will sit idle. Those big IC users are located in foreign countries, and they have foreign suppliers already and the US can’t easily match prices and availability against those suppliers.
Also, because government money is involved what should be economic decisions are made politically, like building a plant that will use millions of gallons of pure water daily in the desert because that was the condition of getting the subsidy.
“Why are our tax dollars subsidizing chip makers, EV mfg. or any company for that matter?”
A lot of people have no idea of the scale of government handouts. I used to work for a company that had an employee whose full time job was applying for industry specific government grants. He attended government conferences and buddied up with the people who approved the grants. We got millions. And just for scale this was a local business with one owner. Just think about large corporations and how much they get. Austal, who builds the LCSs for the Navy, has gotten 100s of millions of dollars in grants and loans. This is just one:
“A $50 million federal shot in the arm for Mobile-based Austal USA is intended to offset effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and will help the shipbuilder gear up to build steel ships.”
This has to be illegal. It reads like a child came up with the idea.
“affordable and accessible childcare for their workers”
If Ms. Fecund Employee gets say $20,000/year in childcare subsidies how will Mr. Sterile Obrero get equally compensated?
We are subsidizing chip makers because the pandemic showed that chips are a strategic resource, essential to national security. If Taiwan is someday invaded by communists we will not have chips any more, so we need a domestic supply.
We are subsidizing chip makers because the pandemic showed that chips are a strategic resource, essential to national security. If Taiwan is someday invaded by communists we will not have chips any more, so we need a domestic supply.
We subsidize many things. The shipping lanes via our navy, the research in medical areas via nih, universities and drug manufacturing. Then such developments are sold back to us, even though we helped support it financially. Happens all the time.
“We’re making companies open their books.” is this also being done to “green energy” companies?
“invest in their communities by addressing barriers to economic inclusion”
My Florida county forces me to hire an expensive plumber to certify a backflow device upon installation and every two years afterward.
Ron DeSantis’ Florida is far more intrusive than the New York State I grew up in.
“share with the U.S. government a portion of any cash flows or returns that exceed the applicant’s projections by an agreed-upon threshold”
This would mean that chip designing companies should not participate but let contract manufacturers deal with Uncle Sam.
“agreed-upon threshold”
Expect haggling and haggling delays. The rule of law should not be based on federal employee haggling.
He who pays the piper......
Which Commie at the White House came up with this idea ?
Indeed, it is easy to read right past that commentary about ‘excess profit’ in a ‘news’ piece without thinking. Profit is profit. And these same folks will no doubt join in the chant that capitalism doesn’t work.
This is an unbelievable concept; at least it’s still voluntary. This makes grant money more of a usurious loan that can never get paid off, despite paying money into perpetuity.
What if education grants operated this way: take a student grant and pay your “excess profits” over the mandated “threshold” to the government for the rest of your life. And your heirs’ lives, too.
I thought all those billions were supposed to incentivize manufacturers to start operating here — this should have the opposite effect. Manufacturers should all sit this out.
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