With $1.9 trillion in federal stimulus enacted and temporary relief flowing to tens of millions of American households, Washington’s attention has shifted to bettering America’s infrastructure as a way to create jobs. While infrastructure improvements such as greater access to broadband will undoubtedly lead to new job opportunities, America needs much more than one-time federal spending to exponentially increase the long-term job growth on which we depend. This means making lasting investment at all levels of government in new businesses — the drivers of jobs. READ MORE
When You’re Stuck Working with a Slacker
Working with someone who doesn’t pull their weight is more than just a routine frustration; it can also negatively affect your work — and even your career. What can you do about a colleague like this? How much support should you give this person? Do you go to your boss? And how can you safeguard your reputation within the organization? READ MORE
Business travel has disappeared. Will it ever come back?
Book tickets. Schedule meetings. Obsess over your presentation. Pack a carry-on. Rush to the airport. Check out the lounge. Priority boarding. Take off. Land. Get to the hotel. Meet clients. Seal the deal. Fly home. Repeat.
For countless executives and salespeople, business trips have been a bedrock of corporate life — loathed by some, loved by others but accepted by all as a necessity (sweetened by millions of frequent flyer miles). Employees needed to fly to meet clients, drum up new business and grab some face time with the boss at headquarters. READ MORE
Elon Musk's bitcoin bashing continues, craters cryptos
Tesla CEO Elon Musk continued to bash Bitcoin on Thursday, after announcing hours earlier that the electric vehicle manufacturer would stop accepting the world's largest cryptocurrency as payment for its cars.
His move sent a chill through the world of cryptocurrencies, sending Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin all sharply lower. READ MORE
Chips are in short supply. Manufacturers are spending big to prevent a repeat
As the world grapples with a shortage of semiconductors, South Korea's chipmakers are spending huge amounts of money to shore up their production in the decade ahead.
Samsung (SSNLF) and SK Hynix on Thursday announced plans to expand their investments in semiconductors through 2030 by allocating tens billions of dollars of new money to the sector. READ MORE
Business lunches are back. And they're longer and boozier than ever
As pandemic restrictions ease, and more people get vaccinated and start returning to offices, some restaurants are seeing lunchtime crowds pick up. But this time, things are a little different.
Among the changes restaurant owners have encountered: Boozy lunches getting boozier. Attire that's less buttoned up. And at least one pandemic-era addition — the partition between tables — that has actually grown on customers. READ MORE
Applebee's aims to hire 10K workers in May with an interview incentive
Applebee’s is the latest restaurant chain that’s put out a call for new hires.
The American-style "neighborhood grill and bar" announced Monday that it is hosting a national hiring event in May.
According to a company news release, the one-day event will be hosted across 1,600 restaurants. The chain’s current recruitment goal is aiming to onboard 10,000 restaurant workers. READ MORE
It's time to crush Big Tech censorship before Facebook, Twitter and others crush us
Never before has so much power been held by so few. And never before has that power been so egregiously abused.
The censorship applied to American news consumers by Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google, and Apple must be broken up. They have evolved into massive monopolies that pose a grave danger to democracy by suppressing speech with which they disagree. READ MORE
Big Tech, semiconductors team up to lobby US government on chip production funding
Big Tech and top chipmakers have formed a new lobbying group that is seeking government chip manufacturing subsidies.
The Semiconductor in America Coalition, made up of chip buyers including Amazon Web Services, Apple, Google and Microsoft, and manufacturers like American Micro Devices, Intel, Nvidia and Texas Instruments, has asked Congress to provide funding for the CHIPS for America Act, which authorized domestic chip manufacturing incentives and research initiatives. READ MORE
Tax Provisions of the American Families Plan
On Wednesday, April 28th, the White House announced the American Families Plan, the “human capital” infrastructure proposal. The American Families Plan would spend $1.8 trillion, including $800 billion in tax cuts over ten years, offset by $1.5 billion in new taxes over the same period. This blog summarizes the tax provisions of the American Families Plan. READ MORE
Washingtonian staff goes on publishing strike after CEO's op-ed about remote work
Washingtonian magazine staffers launched a day-long protest on Friday in response to an op-ed written by their boss, who warned that continuing to work from home as the pandemic subsides could make employees less valuable and easier to "let go."
Cathy Merrill, chief executive of the District of Columbia-centered magazine, shared her concerns about the popularity of remote work in a Washington Post op-ed published Thursday, originally titled: "As a CEO, I want my employees to understand the risks of not returning to work in the office." READ MORE
Here's why waiving patent rights on COVID vaccines is a big mistake
Up until last week, even prior Big Pharma naysayers were touting the successful development of effective COVID-19 vaccines. Within 15 months of the pandemic, not one, but three pharmaceutical companies developed and made available vaccines to lead the United States toward immunity nirvana. Now, over 250 million doses have been delivered in under five months.
Rather than congratulating Big Pharma on their tremendous efforts during a time of peril, last week President Biden held true on a controversial campaign promise doing the opposite. READ MORE
To buy time for a failing startup, recreate the engineering process
In non-aerobatic fixed-wing aviation, spins are an emergency. If you don’t have spin recovery training, you can easily make things worse, dramatically increasing your chances of crashing. Despite the life-and-death consequences, licensed amateur pilots in the United States are not required to train for this. Uncontrolled spins don’t happen often enough to warrant the training.
Startups can enter the equivalent of a spin as well. My startup, Kolide, entered a dangerous spin in early 2018, only a year after our Series A fundraise. We had little traction and we were quickly burning through our sizable cash reserves. We were spinning out of control, certain to hit the ground in no time. READ MORE
IBM says it has created the world's smallest and most powerful microchip
The semiconductor industry's constant challenge is to make microchips that are smaller, faster, more powerful and more energy efficient — simultaneously.
On Thursday, IBM (IBM) announced it has created a 2-nanometer chip, the smallest, most powerful microchip yet developed. READ MORE
Steel prices have tripled. Now Bank of America is sounding the alarm
A bubble could be brewing in steel stocks.
The pandemic brought the American steel industry to its knees last spring, forcing manufacturers to shut down production as they struggled to survive the imploding economy. But as the recovery got underway, mills were slow to resume production, and that created a massive steel shortage. READ MORE
Inflation nation heats up as CEOs to White House talk prices
Inflation talk, after years of being dead in the water, is gaining momentum on Main and Wall Street as reports of higher prices at the grocery store and the pump, with gas averaging $2.91 a gallon per AAA, are fueling the conversation.
"Mentions of "inflation" are now up nearly 800%" compared to the year-ago first-quarter earnings season, noted the team at Bank of America led by Savita Subramanian. READ MORE
Apple emails reveal how it tried to stop Netflix from pulling in-app iOS purchases
Before Netflix dropped in-app purchases on the iOS Store, Apple really tried to convince them to keep the option, according to internal emails revealed in the Epic vs. Apple court case. Spotted by 9to5 Mac, the documents show that Apple offered to advertise Netflix in its retail stores, pay for search ads and even bundle Netflix with its own services. READ MORE
Twitter rolls out bigger images and cropping control on iOS and Android
Twitter just made a change to the way it displays images that has visual artists on the social network celebrating.
In March, Twitter rolled out a limited test of uncropped, larger images in users’ feeds. Now, it’s declared those tests a success and improved the image sharing experience for everybody. READ MORE
COVID-19 vaccine maker shares sink as governments mull patent waiver
Shares of COVID-19 vaccine makers fell on Thursday as governments debated plans to waive patent protection for the shots, with analysts saying the move could rattle investor sentiment or weigh on longer-term business prospects. READ MORE