NFR Ukraine...Little Did I Know

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Paige said:
One reason Joe is pushing to get a microchip plant up and running in the US asap.

The rest of the crap from China can sit in containor ships in their harbors, for all I care! Stop shipping them coal and use it for our owne steel manufacturers!
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The real question is whether American's have the long-term sustainable fortitude to pay more for all sorts of products to achieve greater American self-reliance.

Dunno...we seem to now be a nation built on immediate gratification.

Overheard a couple of rednecks at the gas pumps agreeing that Ukraine should just give up so we can get back to lower gas prices.
 
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Jojo said:
Yes thanks y’all for posting about Central World Kitchen. I made a donation this morning. After seeing Jose Andres and CWK on the news about Ukraine and on this thread i looked it up on Charity Navigator. They have a very good rating. Here is the link.

www.charitynavigator.org

Charity Navigator - Rating for World Central Kitchen Incorporated

World Central Kitchen Incorporated has earned a 4/4 Star rating on Charity Navigator. This Charitable Organization is headquartered in Washington, DC.
www.charitynavigator.org www.charitynavigator.org
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We did the same. Great organization.
 
In case anyone doubts the stranglehold Putin has on information, go to CNN.com and watch this interview. A Ukrainian was telling his Russian dad, who lives in Russia, what they are experiencing at the hands of Russia. His dad refused to believe his own son. Imagine a propagandist so skilled he can tear a family apart.
AC1E141F-11C4-49BD-92A6-960E4F23AC38.jpeg
 
Mingo said:
In case anyone doubts the stranglehold Putin has on information, go to CNN.com and watch this interview. A Ukrainian was telling his Russian dad, who lives in Russia, what they are experiencing at the hands of Russia. His dad refused to believe his own son. Imagine a propagandist so skilled he can tear a family apart.
View attachment 8145
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All humans have an amazing capacity to believe what they want to believe, despite evidence to the contrary.
 
FinLuver said:
Just received word, that the mother and two kids killed, while fleeing under a “cease fire” in a “safe” corridor, were friends of a close friend of mine.

Putin and others need to be captured and tried for war crimes!! 😡😡😡

Have we never evolved and learned from the past??
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No, we have not. Just more efficient killing technology. Same bunch from the days when Og bonked Bog over the head with a rock.

I'm starting to believe war is the natural state of mankind. Evidence abounds. 😢
 
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You've obviously never seen a toilet paper shortage...
 
SurfnFish said:
The downstream impact of Russian sanctions that will be felt by much of the world is a graphic wakeup call of being dependent on totalitarian regimes. What happens if we get into a serious dispute with China over Taiwan or such and they withhold shipments of the computer chips we are so dependent on.

We have allowed corporate profits to overrule what is good for our country and citizens, watching key industries moved or contracted offshore in the name of profits, and it is critical we bring those industries home.

US corporations have trillions parked offshore to avoid revenue taxation, and it is well overdue time to provide a tax holiday on those $ if fully invested in new US plants and infrastructure. It would strengthen the corporations by removing foreign affairs interference from their operations, and it would profoundly strengthen both our national security and economic future.
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The flip side to this is that globalization reduces the probability and breadth of war; the more countries are dependent on others, the less likely they are to burn bridges. I fear the day that the US and China are not interdependent.

Outright abandoning globalization is a sure fire way to sabotage your own country, despite what some folks (who have mostly never studied economics) believe. It isn't a viable long term strategy. The benefits of globalization are too significant and sooner or later the country will fall behind and end up weaker than before.

Everything is risk/reward. We shouldn't have all our energy needs met by high risk providers. However, we shouldn't seek to have all of it from low risk providers either. Diversification is key. Everyone will complain about gas prices right now, but no one will talk about the gas prices we enjoyed previously as a result of the risks that were taken.

Being in tech, I am concerned about the Taiwan situation. I am equally concerned about the government giving money to Intel, though. Intel are already not a competitive company. They are at least 2 generations behind the rest of the market and there's no sign of anything changing. Being propped up by the government will only make them worse. I think the government should enter the market directly and develop an independent fabrication plant. That will never happen though, because "freedumb" and "socialism". 🤪
 
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That was always the selling point for globalization, by those who stand to profit the most. It's a race to the bottom in real wages for many working folks, as jobs go away...
Consume mass quantities...
Lol
 
Mingo said:
Yeah they're unbelievable...even feeding hot meals to Ukrainians hunkered down in bomb shelters in Kharkiv. The courage their volunteers have is incredible and inspiring.
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Just donated as well... thanks Mingo and Jojo!
 
Mossback said:
That was always the selling point for globalization, by those who stand to profit the most. It's a race to the bottom in real wages for many working folks, as jobs go away...
Consume mass quantities...
Lol
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Amen. Again for those in the back.
 
Yeah..
Nobody even considers the true cost of our consumer society, buying mass consumer crap made in other places cuz it's cheap...how's that working out jobs wise ?
Massive military spending so oil supplies can remain stable, open and affordable...real fuel costs are much higher than what you pay at the pump of course.
The real question is, what would you personally sacrifice in order to lessen the reliance on foreign made goods ?
I've learned never to suggest any lifestyle changes as a part of a solution or consumption changes, as 'muh freedumbs' include an unsustainable rate of resource consumption it seems.

...and so it goes...
 
Mossback said:
The flip side to this is that globalization reduces the probability and breadth of war; the more countries are dependent on others, the less likely they are to burn bridges.

Outright abandoning globalization is a sure fire way to sabotage your own country,
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Regarding high tech and globalization, I was the global facilities director for VeriSign during the decade they acquired 35 domestic and international high tech companies, was part of the front end acquisition team and at peak was managing 85 facilities in 22 countries, so well understand both. One of my many offshore projects was a buildout in India for 300 software engineers...leveraging the time differential with our Mountain View engineers, VRSN was pushing product development 24/7. That is functional globalization at it's best.

There is a significant difference, however, between supporting strategically critical manufacturing bases at home and abandoning globalization.
Amazon, Wal-Mart and Costco will make sure we do not.
 
Paige said:
One reason Joe is pushing to get a microchip plant up and running in the US asap.

The rest of the crap from China can sit in containor ships in their harbors, for all I care! Stop shipping them coal and use it for our owne steel manufacturers!
Click to expand...
krusty said:
The real question is whether American's have the long-term sustainable fortitude to pay more for all sorts of products to achieve greater American self-reliance.

Dunno...we seem to now be a nation built on immediate gratification.

Overheard a couple of rednecks at the gas pumps agreeing that Ukraine should just give up so we can get back to lower gas prices.
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I'll try not to go too far off topic, but it's really not in the sense that microchips have had a huge impact on how this conflict is playing out vs eerily similar events in the 20th century.

I'm a bit biased having worked in the industry for 35 years, but semiconductors pervade everything in technology, industry, and every day life. And as we have all seen, that pervasiveness is only increasing over time (cars for example) . Relying on other nations, even friendly ones, for these increasingly essential products, just to save a few bucks, will cost us orders of magnitude more in the long run.

So, boosting the US semiconductor industry, both in terms of production capacity, and R&D, is CRITICAL to maintaining economic, technologic, and even military competiveness. Want to be left behind? Easy, let others master the technology to make your chips.

This all hits really close to home for me since I work in a Taiwanese owned microchip plant (aka "Fab"). Most people aren't familiar with my employer's parent company, but they are the 800# gorilla in the semiconductor foundry biz. Our plant is currently the only one the company operates on US soil but another new Fab with the latest tech is being built in Arizona.

It's next to impossible that anyone here doesn't own products with chips made by my company - and very likely some from the machines I repair and calibrate (yes, you could possibly blame me for a glitchy screen driver). Even though we're running 20yo tech, we're not obsolete just yet. We're still adding capacity and we just got the best raises we've ever seen (relatively speaking).
 
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SilverFly said:
I'll try not to go too far off topic, but it's really not in the sense that microchips have had a huge impact on how this conflict is playing out vs eerily similar events in the 20th century.

I'm a bit biased having worked in the industry for 35 years, but semiconductors pervade everything in technology, industry, and every day life. And as we have all seen, that pervasiveness is only increasing over time (cars for example) . Relying on other nations, even friendly ones, for these essential products, just to save a few bucks, will cost us orders of magnitude more in the long run. So, boosting the US semiconductor industry, both in terms of production capacity, and R&D, is CRITICAL to maintaining economic, technologic, and even military competiveness. Want to be left behind? Easy, let others master the technology to make your chips.

This all hits really close to home for me since I work in a Taiwanese owned microchip plant (aka "Fab"). Most people aren't familiar with my employer's parent company, but they are the 800# gorilla in the semiconductor foundry biz. Our plant is currently the only one the company operates on US soil but another new Fab with the latest tech is being built in Arizona. It's unlikely anyone here doesn't own products with chips made by my company - and very likely some from the machines I repair and calibrate (yes, you could possibly blame me for a glitchy screen driver). Even though we're running 20yo tech, we're not obsolete just yet. We're still adding capacity and we just got the best raises we've ever seen (relatively speaking).
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Putting aside your own job security for a minute, what are your thoughts about the gov pumping money into Intel? It seems like a really dumb move, to me. I would much rather see that money go to projects like RISC-V and have the gov set up their own fab.

Lack of incentive to compete is the usual argument for not having public companies, but that seems like a completely moot point here; imagine how much revenue the government would gain, if their products were good enough for the private sector, while also meeting security needs. Two birds with one stone. It seems like a no-brainer, but I'm probably just ignorant and naive.
 
Mossback said:
The real question is, what would you personally sacrifice in order to lessen the reliance on foreign made goods ?
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As a foreigner... nothing. 😂

Keep buying, Americans! Let me tell you about more things you need that you didn't even know existed! I have invented many new problems for you, but it is ok; I can sell you the solutions.

PS. I reserve the right to change my stance and criticize other foreigners, when I become a citizen.
 
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