El Paso is at the epicenter of America’s immigration crisis–but the border holdups are causing a much bigger supply chain nightmare
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El Paso is facing challenges due to the immigration crisis and border holdups, which are causing significant disruptions to the supply chain. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reassigning rail inspector agents to process migrants has resulted in delays in processing paperwork for railcars and trucks, adding nearly $4 million to shipping costs for every 10-minute delay. The closure of the rail gateway at Eagle Pass costs an estimated $2.32 million per day, and the rail shutdowns at Eagle Pass and El Paso last winter caused a $200 million loss for the U.S. economy. The border crisis has also impacted routine border crossings, leading to disruptions in delivery schedules, increased costs for truckers and trainmen, and higher prices for consumers. El Paso, a major hub for U.S.-Mexico trade, is home to 2.5 million people and is the fifth largest manufacturing center in the Western Hemisphere. The current border crisis is threatening the city's economic growth and ability to attract new businesses. The article emphasizes the need for serious political attention and investment in El Paso to address the immigration debate and support the local economy.
#ElPaso #ImmigrationCrisis #SupplyChain #BorderHoldups #ShippingCosts #EconomicImpact #UsmexicoTrade
You think you earned your raise and you think inflation is unfair: New economic paper sums up Biden’s dilemma
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Despite the economy performing well, Americans are pessimistic about it. Inflation remains a top concern for voters, with many blaming the government for it. A new study reveals that people attribute their pay increases to job performance rather than inflation. Only half of the respondents could correctly define inflation. There is a disconnect between the general public and economists in understanding economic concepts. Americans are more worried about inflation than ever, which poses a challenge for the Biden administration. The top issue facing the nation, according to a poll, is inflation/prices. The study suggests that reelection may depend on the 10% of respondents who blame 'the system.'
#Economy #Inflation #JoeBiden #Poll #Study
https://fortune.com/2024/04/09/why-economy-negative-sentiment-inflation-joe-biden/
These 5 misconceptions about China's slowing economy could lead to U.S. complacency, expert warns
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China's economy is suffering from slowing growth, a real estate crisis, high youth unemployment, and U.S. restrictions on key technologies. However, a top China expert warns against pessimism, stating that China is likely to expand at twice the rate of the United States in the years ahead. The expert points out five misconceptions about China's economy: 1) China is no longer gaining ground on the U.S. economy, but its GDP is expected to surpass that of the U.S. in about a decade; 2) Income, spending, and consumer confidence in China are not weak, with real per capita income rising 6% last year; 3) Deflation in China is not entrenched, as core prices rose 0.7% last year; 4) Lower property investment is not a major concern, as real estate investment fell by only 20% and completions expanded in 2023; 5) Chinese entrepreneurs are not fleeing the country, as private investment rose almost 10% last year and the number of family businesses grew. The expert warns that exaggerating China's problems could lead to complacency in the face of the challenges China presents to the West, particularly the United States.
#China #Economy #Us #Misconceptions #Complacency
https://fortune.com/2024/04/07/china-economy-outlook-gdp-growth-us-trade-investment-real-estate/
Why the cost of training AI could soon become too much to bear
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The cost of training the most advanced AI models may soon be too much to bear. OpenAI's GPT-3, which had 175 million parameters, cost over $4.6 million to train. GPT-4, released a year ago, has an estimated 1.8 trillion parameters and a training cost of around $100 million. Experts forecast exponential cost growth in training AI models, with the amount of computational power needed doubling roughly every six months. The hardware cost of training one new frontier AI model could theoretically surpass the entire gross domestic product of the U.S. around the mid-2030s. The availability of training data, expanding data centers, and energy consumption are potential limiting factors. However, smaller, fine-tuned models can outperform large models like GPT-4 in specific use cases. An open-source approach and collaborative work can help address cost issues.
Here’s why it’s taking you so long to land that new job
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According to ZipRecruiter's latest Survey of New Hires, it's taking longer for workers to find new jobs and fewer new hires are offered signing bonuses. Respondents also reported being less satisfied with their job hunt experience compared to the previous quarter. Just 46% of respondents were able to find their new role within a month, down from 60% in the previous quarter. The job search experience was characterized as positive by only 58% of respondents, a 10% drop from the previous month. However, the first quarter of 2024 saw a historic high in the share of workers who received counteroffers and the share of workers who reported job openings. The recruiting landscape is shifting, with businesses increasingly seeking out specific individuals rather than posting job descriptions. AI is being used by both job seekers and recruiters, with over half of job seekers admitting to using generative AI for help on the job hunt. AI implementation in the job application stage can lead to a less draining job hunt. Despite concerns about AI's impact on livelihoods, AI has been adopted by successful job seekers and new hires for job search and daily work tasks. AI can be effective in getting people jobs, with someone getting hired on Indeed every three seconds.
https://fortune.com/2024/04/03/how-long-it-takes-to-get-new-job-ai-ziprecruiter-new-hires-survey/
Elon Musk’s X names new head of safety after position was open for 9 months
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Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, has appointed Kylie McRoberts as the new head of safety after the position was vacant for 9 months. Yale Cohen, previously from Publicis Media, will become the head of brand safety and advertiser solutions. The previous executive, Ella Irwin, left the company in June 2023, shortly after Musk criticized the platform's handling of posts about transgender topics. X has faced concerns about content moderation, spread of misinformation, and hate speech under Musk's ownership. Several big-name advertisers, including IBM and NBCUniversal, stopped advertising on X after their ads were found alongside material praising Nazis. X has also attempted to sue those who documented hate speech on the platform. A federal judge dismissed the suit against the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate. X's revenue mainly comes from advertising. The appointments come as X tries to win back big brands and address content moderation issues.
#ElonMusk #X #Safety #Twitter #ContentModeration #HateSpeech #Advertising
https://fortune.com/2024/04/03/elon-musk-x-names-new-head-safety-twitter-hate-speech/
It's a 'very long road ahead' to rebuild collapsed Baltimore bridge, Maryland governor says, despite Feds' $60 billion in aid
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Maryland Governor Wes Moore warns of a 'very long road ahead' to recover from the loss of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge despite $60 million in immediate federal aid. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is moving the largest crane on the Eastern coast to remove the wreckage of the bridge. The state is grateful for the federal funds and support. The governor promises that the best minds are working on plans to clear the debris, move the cargo ship that rammed into the bridge, recover the bodies of the four missing workers, and investigate the cause of the collapse. The bridge collapse has disrupted port operations and will cause shipping delays. The governors of New York and New Jersey have offered to take on cargo shipments to minimize supply chain problems. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has not provided a timeline for reopening the port and rebuilding the bridge. The bridge collapse was caused by a cargo ship striking a support pillar, resulting in extensive damage and the loss of life.
#Baltimore #BridgeCollapse #FederalAid #Recovery #CargoShip #PortDisruption #ShippingDelays
https://fortune.com/2024/03/29/baltimore-bridge-rebuild-60-billion-federal-governmen/
Microsoft knows you love tricking its AI chatbots into doing weird stuff and it’s designing ‘prompt shields’ to stop you
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Microsoft is developing new safety features for Azure AI Studio to prevent people from tricking AI chatbots. The features include 'prompt shields' to detect and block deliberate attempts to make an AI model behave in an unintended way. Microsoft is also addressing 'indirect prompt injections' where hackers insert malicious instructions into the data a model is trained on. The company aims to boost trust in its generative AI tools and is rolling out a feature that alerts users when a model generates erroneous responses. Microsoft is OpenAI's largest investor and is committed to deploying AI safely.
#Microsoft #AiChatbots #AzureAiStudio #PromptShields #GenerativeAi #Openai
https://fortune.com/2024/03/29/microsoft-openai-chatbots-prompt-shields-safety-features-user-tricks/
Janet Yellen says China's rapid green energy production is creating unfair competition that will hurt American workers and distort global prices
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticizes China's rapid production of green energy, including solar energy, electric vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries, calling it unfair competition that distorts global prices and hurts American firms and workers. Yellen plans to address this issue during her upcoming trip to China and will urge Chinese counterparts to take necessary steps. China is the dominant player in batteries for electric vehicles and has a rapidly expanding auto industry. Yellen's remarks come as China files a World Trade Organization complaint against the US over discriminatory requirements for electric vehicle subsidies. Yellen warns that Chinese government support in industries like steel and aluminum has led to overinvestment and excess capacity, forcing industry in the rest of the world to contract. Yellen's criticism contrasts with Chinese leader Xi Jinping's call for closer trade ties with the US. Yellen's speech highlights concerns expressed by government counterparts and the global business community. The article also mentions the reopening of a solar cell manufacturing facility in Georgia due to incentives provided by the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act.
#JanetYellen #China #GreenEnergy #UnfairCompetition #GlobalPrices #AmericanWorkers #SolarEnergy #ElectricVehicles #LithiumionBatteries #WorldTradeOrganization #SteelIndustry #AluminumIndustry #XiJinping
https://fortune.com/2024/03/27/janet-yellen-china-evs-distorts-global-prices-green-manufacturing/
AI 'apocalypse' could wipe out 8 million jobs in the U.K., and women and Gen Z are most at risk
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As many as 8 million UK workers are at risk of losing their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI) with current government policy, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). AI already impacts 11% of tasks done by UK staff, a figure that could rise to almost 60% if firms integrate the technology more deeply. Part-time, entry-level, and back-office jobs such as customer service are most at risk, but higher-paying work will increasingly be affected. The IPPR report highlights the challenges facing the government as it bets on AI to boost productivity. The government's policy will determine whether AI adoption leads to job losses or economic growth. Without any policy changes, AI is estimated to wipe out 8 million jobs in the UK. However, the technology could add as much as £306 billion per year to the UK economy without any job losses in the best-case scenario, depending on government policy. Women and Gen Zers are most at risk of being displaced by AI, as women are disproportionately employed in tasks most impacted by the technology, and companies may rely more on AI for entry-level tasks instead of hiring graduates. The IPPR recommends developing an industrial AI strategy to support job transitions and the distribution of automation gains across the economy. The government should also provide fiscal incentives to augment jobs, make regulatory changes, and support green jobs that are less prone to automation. The UK lags behind other countries in AI skills, and fewer than half of UK businesses are investing in up-skilling their workers. The Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology called the research 'hugely speculative' and stated that AI already contributes more than £3.7 billion to the UK economy annually.
#Ai #JobLosses #Uk #Women #GenZ
Google’s former Andys—Conrad and Harrison—reunited at VC firm S32, talk AI
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Dr. Andy Conrad and Andy Harrison, both former employees of Google, have reunited at VC firm S32. Conrad, known for starting Alphabet's life sciences organization Verily, joined S32 because Verily had grown to a level that required a different type of intention. Harrison, the CEO and general partner of S32, recruited Conrad to the firm. The two have a distinct point of view on AI due to their Google background. They believe AI is currently in the product phase and hope for a future phase of scale and impact. S32's portfolio includes AI-focused companies such as Cohere, Scale AI, Inworld AI, and Phaidra. Conrad and Harrison emphasize the importance of bringing the right humans together to advance AI. They believe that an increasingly AI-ified world will still require human expertise and collaboration. S32 is optimistic about the potential of AI and believes that with the right tools, a combination of wisdom, humility, and technical know-how, AI can be successful.
#Ai #VentureCapital #Google #S32
https://fortune.com/2024/03/27/google-andy-conrad-harrison-reunited-vc-firm-s32-ai/
Spurned by the economy, young Americans are feeling so lonely and powerless they plunged the nation’s happiness score
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Young Americans, especially Gen Zers and millennials, are experiencing a decline in happiness, particularly in English-speaking countries. The World Happiness Report found that the happiness rankings for older respondents are much higher than for the youth in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In the United States, young adults are particularly unhappy, causing the national average ranking to drop. The report attributes part of this decline to the loneliness epidemic, with younger generations reporting heightened isolation after the pandemic. Additionally, young people in these countries feel a lack of relative progress or success that they believe was promised to them. They struggle to find well-paying jobs after college, face financial challenges, and feel less socially supported than older generations. The report also highlights the impact of economic straits, climate change, and geopolitical unrest on the discontent of younger generations. The imbalance in happiness brings everyone down, as people tend to be happier in countries with greater equality in happiness. The report suggests that happiness inequality has increased in North America, particularly for younger generations.
#Happiness #YoungAmericans #GenZ #Millennials #LonelinessEpidemic #EconomicChallenges #SocialSupport #Inequality
https://fortune.com/2024/03/23/world-happiness-report-genz-american-dream-boomers-financial-future/
Only 25% of business economists say the U.S. will have a recession this year, but they worry about China-Taiwan conflict and the 2024 elections
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Only 25% of business economists and analysts expect the United States to fall into recession this year. Any downturn would likely result from an external shock, such as a conflict involving China, rather than from domestic economic factors. Respondents to a National Association of Business Economics survey expect year-over-year inflation to exceed 2.5% through 2024. The Fed has stopped raising rates and has signaled that it expects to reduce rates three times this year. Business forecasters worry that the Fed is keeping rates unnecessarily high. Respondents are concerned about the chances of a conflict between China and Taiwan, conflict in the Middle East driving oil prices above $90 a barrel, political instability in the United States before or after the Nov. 5 presidential election, and U.S. government finances. They believe government budget policy should focus on promoting medium- to long-term growth and reducing the federal deficit and debts. 57% say budget policies need to be more disciplined. 45% of respondents believe the most important objective of government budget policy should be promoting medium- to long-term growth, followed by reducing the federal deficit and debts at 42%. Only 25% of business economists say the U.S. will have a recession this year, but they worry about China-Taiwan conflict and the 2024 elections.
#BusinessEconomists #Recession #China-taiwanConflict #2024Elections #Inflation #FederalReserve #InterestRates #EconomicFactors #GovernmentBudgetPolicy
Chilly relations with Beijing mean Mexico now exports more than China to the U.S. for the first time in over 20 years
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Mexico has surpassed China as the leading source of goods imported by the United States for the first time in over 20 years. The value of goods imported by the United States from Mexico rose nearly 5% from 2022 to 2023, reaching over $475 billion, while the value of Chinese imports dropped 20% to $427 billion. The last time Mexico's imports exceeded China's imports was in 2002. The shift reflects growing tensions between the US and China, as well as US efforts to import from countries that are friendlier and closer to home. The Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018, and President Joe Biden retained those tariffs after taking office in 2021. The Biden administration has encouraged companies to seek suppliers in allied countries or to reshore manufacturing to the US. Some Chinese manufacturers have established factories in Mexico to take advantage of the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. Overall, the US trade deficit in goods with the rest of the world narrowed 10% in 2023 to $1.06 trillion.
#Us-mexicoTrade #Us-chinaTrade #Tariffs #Imports #Manufacturing #SupplyChain
Legendary investor Paul Tudor Jones says a 'debt bomb' is about to go off in the U.S.: 'We're fast-pouring consumption like crazy'
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Paul Tudor Jones, a billionaire hedge fund manager, warns that a 'debt bomb' is about to explode in the U.S. due to massive government spending and borrowing. The U.S. economy appears strong, but it is actually 'on steroids' with a 6%-7% budget deficit and fast-pouring consumption. The U.S. deficit essentially doubled in 2023 to $1.7 trillion, and the national debt has surpassed $30 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit to grow to $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have also expressed concerns about the growing deficit. Jones believes that the effects of the deficit spending may be postponed by a strong economy, but it is an unsustainable path that will manifest itself in the markets eventually.
#PaulTudorJones #DebtBomb #U.s.Deficit #GovernmentSpending #Borrowing #U.s.Economy #BudgetDeficit #Consumption #NationalDebt #CongressionalBudgetOffice #JeromePowell #JanetYellen
https://fortune.com/2024/02/07/paul-tudor-jones-debt-bomb-u-s-deficit/
Jerome Powell's straight talk stands out in Washington
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Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, gave a TV interview where he discussed various topics. He mentioned that the economy is strong with solid growth, low unemployment, and decreasing inflation. He stated that the decision to cut interest rates will not be influenced by the election and that it is not unusual to beat back inflation without causing a recession. Powell also expressed concerns about the rising federal debt and stated that the U.S. financial system is not deeply intertwined with China's. He emphasized the importance of immigration to the economy and identified geopolitical risks as the greatest threat. Powell highlighted the dynamic and innovative nature of the U.S. economy and the desire for American leadership in the world. He also mentioned the need for an adult conversation about unsustainable fiscal policy. The article also includes unrelated news about Amazon's struggles in the grocery market, Huawei's focus on AI chips, and McDonald's declining global sales due to boycotts in the Middle East and Muslim-majority countries.
#JeromePowell #FederalReserve #InterestRates #Economy #Inflation #FederalDebt #China #Immigration #GeopoliticalRisks #AmericanLeadership
https://fortune.com/2024/02/06/fed-chair-jerome-powell-interest-rates-60-minutes/
After Jamie Dimon warns of market 'rebellion' against $34 trillion national debt, Jerome Powell says it’s past time for an ‘adult conversation’ about unsustainable fiscal policy
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has addressed the issue of the unsustainable national debt in the United States, stating that the country is on an unsustainable fiscal path. The national debt has surged to an all-time high of $34.2 trillion, with the debt-to-GDP ratio reaching over 120%. Powell called for an 'adult conversation' among elected officials to address the issue and prioritize fiscal sustainability. He criticized lawmakers for effectively borrowing from future generations and emphasized the need to put a priority on fiscal sustainability. Powell's comments align with those of other critics, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who warned that the U.S. economy is headed for a 'cliff' if the excessive debt burden is not addressed. Powell acknowledged that the U.S. still has a dynamic and innovative economy, but emphasized the importance of addressing the debt situation sooner rather than later. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, however, has brushed off concerns about the rising national debt, stating that net interest payments as a share of GDP are still at a reasonable level.
#NationalDebt #FiscalPolicy #JeromePowell #JamieDimon #Economy #Debt-to-gdpRatio
Meet the AI-powered robots that could change the multibillion-dollar window-cleaning industry forever
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Verobotics and Skyline Robotics are using AI-driven robots to revolutionize the window-cleaning industry. The estimated $40 billion industry is being made safer and more efficient by these companies, which use robots to mimic the work of human window washers while also scanning the surface for necessary maintenance information. Verobotics' robot, Ibex, suctions itself to the sides of buildings and uses multiple sensors to build a real-time, 3D map of the building. Skyline Robotics' robot, Ozmo, has mechanical arms that mimic human movements and can clean windows three times as fast. The robots are helping to solve the labor shortage problem in the window-washing industry and are providing cost savings and added data for building owners.
#Ai #Robots #Window-cleaning #Verobotics #SkylineRobotics
https://fortune.com/2024/01/11/ai-make-business-better-window-cleaners/