Tag: regulation

Biden’s $3.1 Billion Train Ticket to Nowhere
Health

Biden’s $3.1 Billion Train Ticket to Nowhere

It didn’t get a lot of attention, but last month the White House awarded $3.1 billion to the California High-Speed Rail project. This was supposed to be a bullet train connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles in less than three hours. Instead, its costs keep rising even as the state scales back the plan. Since 2008, when California voters authorized a $10 billion bond issue for the train, they’ve been sold a bill of goods.The original total estimated construction cost to taxpayers was $33 billion. That’s risen to at least $100 billion. The authority decided to offer service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in Phase I, then eventually extend the train service north to Sacramento and south to San Diego. Phase I was to have been completed by 2020. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company...
Chevron Warns of Billions in Charges From California Challenges, Gulf of Mexico Assets
World

Chevron Warns of Billions in Charges From California Challenges, Gulf of Mexico Assets

Chevron said it will book $3.5 billion to $4 billion in charges for the fourth quarter, citing challenges tied to regulations in California and previously sold oil and gas production assets in the Gulf of Mexico.Chevron said it will impair a portion of its U.S. upstream assets, mostly in California, due to regulatory challenges in the state that have led to “lower anticipated future investment levels in its business plans.” Chevron said it will continue to operate the affected assets for many years.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Tariffs and the Common Man
Business

Tariffs and the Common Man

With Donald Trump leading the 2024 polls while calling for a 10% universal tariff, the new GOP protectionists are trying to sell this idea as a boon for the working class. The evidence exposes this folly: Trade wars invite painful retaliation, prop up politically favored industries at the expense of others, and raise prices on consumers like an invisible tax. They hurt the average worker.The economic literature on this point is voluminous. To pick one place to start, here was the conclusion of a study of Mr. Trump’s last trade wars, written in 2019 by two Federal Reserve economists: “We find that U.S. manufacturing industries more exposed to tariff increases experience relative reductions in employment as a positive effect from import protection is offset by larger negative effects from r...
Big Tech Braces for Wave of Antitrust Rulings in 2024 
Technology

Big Tech Braces for Wave of Antitrust Rulings in 2024 

U.S. antitrust cases against tech giants Google and Meta Platforms are expected to come to a head in 2024, likely producing long-awaited rulings that could shape the legacies of top Biden administration regulators.Silicon Valley and its critics have seen their patience tested on some of these cases. A U.S. antitrust case brought against Alphabet’s Google unit in 2020 went to trial in 2023 and now heads to closing arguments in May.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Western Anxiety About Chinese EVs Could Prove Self-Defeating
World

Western Anxiety About Chinese EVs Could Prove Self-Defeating

Updated Jan. 1, 2024 12:06 am ETChina hawks have the upper hand in the political battle over electric vehicles. They should be wary of overplaying it.The rules for getting a tax credit on EV purchases in the U.S. changed recently. One difference will help stimulate sales: The credit, worth up to $7,500, is now available at the point of sale rather than at the end of the tax year, meaning it can be used as part of a down payment. Other changes will have the opposite effect. Among new sourcing requirements designed to foster a North American supply chain, battery components manufactured in China, the world’s largest supplier, now make models ineligible.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Western Anxiety About Chinese EVs Could Prove Self-Defeating
Money

Western Anxiety About Chinese EVs Could Prove Self-Defeating

Updated Jan. 1, 2024 12:06 am ETChina hawks have the upper hand in the political battle over electric vehicles. They should be wary of overplaying it.The rules for getting a tax credit on EV purchases in the U.S. changed recently. One difference will help stimulate sales: The credit, worth up to $7,500, is now available at the point of sale rather than at the end of the tax year, meaning it can be used as part of a down payment. Other changes will have the opposite effect. Among new sourcing requirements designed to foster a North American supply chain, battery components manufactured in China, the world’s largest supplier, now make models ineligible.Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
The Entrepreneur Who Bet His Company on a Fight With Apple
World

The Entrepreneur Who Bet His Company on a Fight With Apple

Masimo Chief Executive Joe Kiani bet the future of the company he spent three decades building in an expensive legal battle with the world’s most valuable company. So far, he is winning, but it isn’t over.His company, which pioneered a better method for measuring blood-oxygen levels, has spent around $100 million fighting Apple in a dispute that temporarily halted Apple Watch sales. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
The Entrepreneur Who Bet His Company on a Fight With Apple
Technology

The Entrepreneur Who Bet His Company on a Fight With Apple

Masimo Chief Executive Joe Kiani bet the future of the company he spent three decades building in an expensive legal battle with the world’s most valuable company. So far, he is winning, but it isn’t over.His company, which pioneered a better method for measuring blood-oxygen levels, has spent around $100 million fighting Apple in a dispute that temporarily halted Apple Watch sales. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8