Gleanings & Observations:
Dissing non-union workers and Tesla, Taillights, Israel No Longer Treated As An Ally, A War-Like Peace-Prize Winner
“Biden’s proposal will … create millions of middle- class jobs, benefitting union and non-union workers…”. From “The Biden Plan To Invest In Middle Class Competitiveness,” by Biden/Harris Democrats, “Battle for the Soul of the Nation.”
“Ordinary middle-class Americans built America.” Joe Biden
The $12,500 credit for electric vehicles included in the latest version of the Biden green program will apply only to EV’s built in the United States with union labor. Tesla vehicles are ineligible, as are other employers of the 93.7% of private-sector workers at firms otherwise eligible for subsidies. The do not belong to a union.
Tesla accounts for two-thirds of all electric vehicles sold in the United States and employs about 71,000 workers with an average yearly salary of $75,760, putting them squarely in the middle class. The market value of Tesla exceeds the combined value of its five biggest rivals: Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, Ford and GM. It must know a thing or two about building EVs.
One of those competitors is delighted with the program because it is so much in the national interest. Its announcement says, “We support those provisions that accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and establish the U.S. as a global leader in electrification today and in the future.” How government advances its goal of slowing climate change by disadvantaging Tesla, a major GM competitor and EV innovator is not explained.
Banner headline in The New York Times, “How Broken Taillights End in Killings by Police.” Sub headline: “At traffic stops, Officers’ Presumption of Danger Breeds Overreaction and Seemingly Avoidable Deaths.”
Among the violations for police vehicle stops, the NYT lists broken taillights. An annual check from the government of a mere $1 for each of the approximately 282,000,000 vehicles on our roads, or an equivalent tax credit, would provide Americans with ample funds to spend enough more on each repair or maintenance to make certain that taillights are in perfect order.
Just as ‘broken windows policing” reduces crime, “broken taillight subsidies” can eliminate at least some “avoidable deaths”.
“America is back”, President Biden announced in what the pro-Biden press described as a promise “that the U.S. would be a more engaged and predictable partner to allies following four years of Donald Trump’s ‘America First’.”
Secretary of State Tony Blinken, reports Axios, called Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, to ask the Israeli government to use its close relations with Sudan’s coup leader to urge the military to restore civilian government. It turns out that Sudan is not in Gantz’s portfolio, but he redirected the request to the PM’s office and the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, in that same report, as a separate item, Axios notes that Biden’s Commerce Department, with one hour’s notice to the Israeli government, added two Israeli cyber-intelligence companies to its black list of companies engaging in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. This will limit their activities in the U.S.
Israelis might be forgiven for wondering why “America is back” includes requests from America which is at the same time blacklisting its companies for a practice they deny.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for negotiating a peace deal with Eritrea and reopening their common border.
After a wave of assassinations of political opponents and ethnic attacks that drove two million people from their homes, Abiy Ahmed last week promised to bury his government’s opponents “with our blood” to bring to an end a year-long civil war.