Is Anyone Surprised?

When the CHIPS Act passed, the Biden administration said that it would lead to “more than $1 million construction jobs alone over the next 6 years building semiconductor factories in America.” On Friday, Townhall posted an article detailing the actual facts.

The article reports:

After signing the CHIPS Act into law earlier this month, which aims to increase domestic chip production, President Biden claimed it would lead to “more than $1 million construction jobs alone over the next 6 years building semiconductor factories in America.” It turns out, that figure is completely wrong.

A White House official said it was a “mix up,” but this number was not something Biden said off-script. He said it in official remarks while signing the bill, then tweeted the statement from his official Twitter account.

Does anyone believe President Biden has control over his Twitter account? That is a scary thought!

The article quotes The Washington Post:

When we dug into the report, moreover, we could not find any reference to 1 million construction jobs being created. Instead, the report predicted such an investment — roughly equivalent to the Chips Act — would create “an average of 185,000 temporary jobs annually throughout the U.S. economy from 2021 to 2026.”

Six times 185,000 adds up to more than 1 million. But note that these are not all construction jobs. In fact, few are construction jobs.

“The statement about 1 million construction jobs is not accurate,” said Sarah Ravi, a spokeswoman for the association. She directed us to a chart in the report that indicated that a $50 billion investment would create an additional 6,200 construction jobs. (The Washington Post)

The Washington Post gave the claim “four Pinocchios.” It was not a slip-up–it was made up to make the bill look good.

Another Casualty Of The Supply Chain Crisis

On Monday, BizPacReview posted an article detailing an ongoing problem with the supply chain crisis and automobile manufacturing.

The article reports:

As congressional leaders refuse to get out of the way and allow the free market to sort out the supply chain issues, instead quibbling over legislative responses that will most benefit them, American consumers are faced with ongoing degradation of the quality and quantity of available goods that may put lives in jeopardy.

Though many industries have bounced back since the COVID pandemic response rocked global supply chains, the semiconductor chip shortage has gone unresolved leaving auto manufacturers scrambling for solutions to maintain vehicle production. Where at first, amenities like heated seats and touchscreen displays couldn’t make the cut, Fox Business reported that some car companies have resorted to the removal of optional safety features like blind spot monitoring systems, semi-automated driver aids, and proximity alerts sensors.

“Automakers are in a tight spot when the materials aren’t available for some of the safety technology,” Jessica Cicchino, Insurance Institute of Highway Safety vice president of research, told the outlet. “It really shifts the burden on the consumers who are already having a hard time shopping for a car.”

The article notes that many of the current safety features in cars that save lives are having to be eliminated. Heated seats may be considered a luxury, but some of the proximity alerts sensors save lives.

The article also notes the insider trading aspect of this crisis:

However, lawmakers’ latest move to address the shortage through the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, looked more to be a blatant display of insider trading than an aim to solve the problem. As previously reported, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) husband Paul Pelosi had purchased 20,000 shares of Nvidia, a leading manufacturer of semiconductors, ahead of a vote on the bill that would see the largest portion of a $52 billion handout handed over to the company.

What an amazing coincidence.