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Phil Hawkins's avatar

On that Taiwan Semiconductor plant, that does not surprise me at all. I'm retired now, but I worked in construction for almost 40 years--mostly home remodeling, but some new construction in the early years. We had a labor shortage in the building trades back in the '90s! Not enough young people were going into the trades. The last new house I worked on was in 1997. The whole couple of weeks our crew was there, doing exterior wood trim on a brick house, I only saw one man who looked to be under 30. I was the youngest in our crew at 47 back then.

This is a factor that is seldom mentioned in current housing costs and the shortage of housing in the US. I do not watch TV (I have not owned one for thirty years), but I really appreciate Mike Rowe and his efforts to promote the building trades and other lines of work that young people are mostly avoiding. I have a college degree and some grad work myself, but I figured out in my 20s that I enjoyed working with my hands, and I could get good at it.

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AmericanCardigan's avatar

1st) don't touch Zhou; let him and his administration and all the Democrats self-implode. Gift to Republicans.

2nd) Taiwan elections in early 2024 will position new China friendly leaders in place. in turn, the slow and steady pivot to "One China" will take place with no war. That'll disappoint a few NeoCon's but oh well.

3rd) TSMC delay is by design in support of #2 above.

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