White House, Intel team up on semiconductor shortage affecting auto industry

American tech company Intel said it's working to combat the semiconductor chip shortage affecting the auto industry on the same day President Biden rounded up CEOs for a virtual summit on the semiconductor supply chain.

"We’re hoping that some of these things can be alleviated, not requiring a three- or four-year factory build, but maybe six months of new products being certified on some of our existing processes," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters. "We’ve begun those engagements already with some of the key components suppliers." READ MORE

Revenge Of The Winklevii

After losing an epic battle with Mark Zuckerberg over ownership of Facebook and being shunned in Silicon Valley, CAMERON and TYLER WINKLEVOSS are back—this time as budding Bitcoin billionaires at the center of the future of money, the creative economy and quite possibly a new operating model for Big Tech itself. READ MORE

Fed's Powell: Economy at an 'inflection point'

The U.S. economy is at an "inflection point" with expectations that growth and hiring will pick up speed in the months ahead, but some risks remain, particularly any resurgence in the coronavirus pandemic, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said.

In a brief preview of a longer interview with CBS' news magazine program "60 Minutes" set to air in full on Sunday night, Powell echoed both his recent optimism about the economy and a now-familiar warning that COVID-19 remains the main risk. READ MORE

Companies ripping Georgia do business in China, silent on human rights violations

Multiple companies attacking Georgia’s new election laws have been hesitant to speak out against China's human rights violations as they continue to do business there.

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently blasted the new law, following Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian claiming the law is “based on a lie” and calling it "unacceptable." Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey also called the law "unacceptable" and a step in the wrong direction. READ MORE

Abolish the Corporate Income Tax

Today’s reform will be tomorrow’s problem, goes an old political science axiom. Consider how the Interstate Commerce Commission, created in 1887 to end monopoly abuses by railroads on their branch lines, evolved within a few decades into a railroad cartel. Not until 1980 was the ICC stripped of its power to set rates, allowing transportation companies to begin competing again. READ MORE

Elizabeth Warren wealth tax would shrink US economy by 1.2%, according to a new analysis

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's plan to tax the net worth of the wealthiest Americans could reduce U.S. economic growth by 1.2% over the next 30 years, according to a new analysis published this week.

The so-called "ultra-millionaire tax" would slash the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) -- the market value of all the goods and services produced within the U.S. -- by 0.6% in 2031 and 0.8% in 2040, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis. The tax would also have a detrimental effect on wages, reducing the hourly rate by 0.7% in 20313, 1% in 2040 and 1.2% in 2050, the model shows. READ MORE

Bill Gates-backed startup will soon help power a giant mine

Heliogen, the Bill Gates-backed clean energy startup, is bringing its field of mirrors to the Mojave Desert.

In a bid to bring carbon-free power to heavy industry, Heliogen announced Wednesday that mining behemoth Rio Tinto plans to deploy the startup’s breakthrough solar technology at California’s largest open pit mine, located in Boron. Heliogen says this will be the first concentrated solar technology used to power a mine in the United States, and perhaps the world.

Heliogen will use artificial intelligence and an array of 40,000 computer-vision-controlled mirrors to harness the power of the sun, almost like a smart magnifying glass. The first system at Rio Tinto will be the size of about 100 footfall fields, Heliogen told CNN Business. READ MORE