Samsung heir faces long jail term in South Korea's 'trial of the century'

From the Guardian:

Until a few months ago, Lee Jae-yong was well on the way to securing his status as South Korea’s most powerful business leader.

But on Friday, the heir to the Samsung empire could be starting a lengthy prison sentence for his alleged role in a bribery and corruption scandal that has already triggered the impeachment of the country’s former president, Park Geun-hye.

is father’s ill health propelled him to the top of a huge business empire whose consumer electronics arm alone accounts for a fifth of all South Korea’s exports.

Once regarded as the heir apparent to the corporate giant built on mobile phones and TVs, but whose other interests, including hotels, shipbuilding, insurance and construction, reach into every area of the South Korean economy, he now faces a future simply as prisoner Lee.

Meanwhile, the family firm he was on the cusp of leading faces a period of unprecedented upheaval. Two days before he was sentenced, Samsung tried to project an air of normality with the launch of its latest smartphone – the Galaxy Note 8 – an attempt to banish memories of the disaster that befell its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 7.

“There’s no one right now who’ll decide on group-wide issues,” an anonymous Samsung source told Reuters. “It’s not impossible to imagine a scenario where a Samsung affiliate gets into trouble and other units become entangled.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/24/samsung-heir-faces-long-jail-term-in-south-koreas-trial-of-the-century

"THEY HEAR, BUT NEVER UNDERSTAND; THEY LOOK, BUT NEVER SEE. FOR THE HEARTS OF THESE PEOPLE ARE HARDENED: THEIR EARS HAVE BECOME DEAF, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES. OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEARTS. THEN THEY WOULD TURN TO ME IN REPENTANCE, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM." MATT 13:14-15

Foxconn’s Con: Seeking Whopping Subsidies for Wisconsin, Michigan Manufacturing Jobs…If They Happen

From Naked Capitalism:

What the dodgy Foxconn scheme to build factories in the US says about Trump’s commitment to job creation.

Trump got a splash of good press in July when Apple supplier Foxconn announced a plan to bring as many as 10,000 jobs to the Wisconsin and invest $10 billion over 5 years. He’d hinted at a manufacturing deal a few weeks earlier.

However, given how states have fallen all over each other to give everything from auto plants to WalMart stores huge handouts, plus Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s keen opposition to labor rights, there was every reason to doubt that this was much of a pro-worker development, or any kind of development other than PR. Techcrunch, in a late July story Foxconn’s long con, was dismissive:

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou and President Trump recently announced a plan to bring 3,000 jobs to Wisconsin at what appears to be a flat screen manufacturing plant.

The political press ate it up, alternatively excoriating the program for costing too much in tax breaksand crowing a win for Wisconsin’s conservative governor, Scott Walker.

 USA Today, using the fact that Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is also playing footsie with Foxconn as a news hook, raised doubts about the deals yesterday with its story, Analysis: Foxconn considers another plant in Midwest, but at what cost?:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, on a nine-day trade trip in China, told the Associated Press there is a “strong possibility” Foxconn will come to Michigan after it chose neighboring Wisconsin for a $10 billion display panel plant with 3,000 employees that could swell to 13,000…

But the Wisconsin deal comes with a major caveat: It requires up to $3 billion in subsidies from state taxpayers — or $231,000 per job for 13,000 jobs. Put another way: state lawmakers are mulling a subsidy package nearly 50 times bigger than any previous one.

“Throwing money into incentives makes a slippery slope,” Steve Deller, a professor of agriculture and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “(People) get so wrapped up in the winning game, in the headline of ‘we got it’ that they lose sight (of the) pretty steep price. Hard to say because we don’t know what the package looks like.”

Compounding skepticism, an analysis this week by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau concluded Wisconsin may not break even on incentives to Foxconn for at least 25 years.

The good news is the proposed giveaway to Foxconn is getting enough well deserved critical scrutiny that it may not get done. The bad news is that if this deal, which has the earmarks of being unserious from the outset, falls apart, it will be used to blame anti-business interests and deflect attention from sounder approaches for creating good jobs…like the glaringly obvious need for more infrastructure spending.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/08/foxconns-con-seeking-whopping-subsidies-for-wisconsin-michigan-manufacturing-jobs-if-they-happen.html

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me."
John 14:1

Visualizing The Fiery Death Of American Manufacturing

From Zero Hedge:

ADP manufacturing employment has stalled post 1Q17. Leading us to believe that President Trump is running into roadblocks in terms of creating manufacturing jobs.

(h/t zerohedge)

On a long term perspective, the 50-year decline in the manufacturing share of all U.S. employment just fell to an all-time record low of 8.48%. The so called good times in America was between 1940 through 1950, where the manufacturing share of all U.S. employment bounced between 30-40%. The good times are over and have been for many decades with American industry hallowed out, along with a rotting middle class.

(h/t zerohedge)

On a long term perspective, the 50-year decline in the manufacturing share of all U.S. employment just fell to an all-time record low of 8.48%. The so called good times in America was between 1940 through 1950, where the manufacturing share of all U.S. employment bounced between 30-40%. The good times are over and have been for many decades with American industry hallowed out, along with a rotting middle class.
(h/t zerohedge)

Even if Trump was to revive America’s industries, the manufacturing share of all U.S. employment will stay ultra low because of automation. Making jobs great again in terms of manufacturing for humans might be a difficult task for President Trump. After all, President Trump promised the middle class that he will be returning manufacturing jobs back to America; he failed to mention ‘robots are coming’. 

What I’m about to show you is the fiery death of American manufacturing through a drone in Baltimore City, Maryland (FAA Airspace was clear at the time).

The mainstream media is not allowed to show you the death and destruction ravaging America’s inner cities because it destroys their narrative that everything is awesome.

Decades of deindustrialization via the cancerous process of globalism has left vacant structures of where industries once stood as a reminder that America peaked decades ago.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-03/visualizing-fiery-death-american-manufacturing

Adafruit Launches “Women in Hardware” Series

From Makezine:

Yesterday, Adafruit Industries, in association with Hackster.io and with support from Microsoft, Autodesk, and Qualcomm, launched a new video interview series on YouTube called “Women in Tech.” The series, hosted by Adafruit’s Community Director, Jessica Califano, will feature sit-downs with some of the most influential women in the electronics hardware industry.

For the premier episode, Califano talks with Ayah Bdeir, CEO of littleBits, which, like Adafruit, is another high-tech company that proudly calls New York City home. For those who may not already be familiar, the littleBits product line is a series of simple yet powerful Lego-like components that allow you to design and snap together everything from your own computerized, sensor-aware toys, to project prototypes, to smart home devices.

http://makezine.com/2017/08/01/adafruit-launches-women-in-tech-series/