Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (1093367)	10/16/2018 7:56:52 AM
From: sylvester80	1 Recommendation Recommended By Celtictrader Respond to of 1580268

US DEFICIT BALLOONS TO $779 BILLION IN LYING CORRUPT POS trump's SECOND YEAR Australian Financial Review October 15, 2018 2:17 PM topbuzz.com Washington \| America's budget deficit ballooned to $US779 billion ($1.1 trillion) in 2018, the federal government said, as higher spending and stagnating tax revenue pushed the nation's debt burden higher. The approximately 17 per cent jump in the federal deficit came despite the strong growth in the overall US economy, an unusual instance in which the economy and the deficit are expanding at the same time. Typically, strong economic growth translates into lower deficits as the government collects more from taxpayers. "What's going on is revenues are not rising when they otherwise would be," said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "The economy is growing by five to six per cent, and revenue is basically flat." Business tax revenue was depressed in large part because the Republican tax law passed in the fall of 2017 reduced the corporate tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent, among other changes. The federal deficit was $US665 billion in 2017, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Federal spending also rose in 2018, with increases in spending on Social Security, the military, and interest payments, among other key expenses, according to Goldwein. Real wages grew by 1.4 per cent and household income grew by 1.8 per cent, according to the report released by the Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget. The federal deficit is a measure of the gap between the amount of money the nation spends and the amount it takes in. Closing the federal deficit requires either raising taxes, cutting the defense budget, or lowering spending on social programs that protect the poor and elderly, such as Medicare and Social Security. This year's budget deficit was the highest in six years. Annual deficits topped $US1 trillion from 2009 to 2012 under President Barack Obama, driven by greater spending on social safety net programs and economic stimulus, as well as slumping tax receipts as the economy cratered. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a news release that President Trump had "proposals to cut wasteful spending" that would eventually put the nation on sustainable fiscal footing. The Republican tax law signed by Trump is expected to add at least $US1.9 trillion to the federal deficit, including interest payments, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Mnuchin defended higher military spending under Trump. "President Trump prioritised making a significant investment in America's military after years of reductions in military spending undermined our preparedness and national security," Mnuchin said. "Going forward the President's economic policies that have stimulated strong economic growth, combined with proposals to cut wasteful spending, will lead America toward a sustainable financial path." In response to the Treasury's statement, senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, blamed Republicans for the deficit. Sanders' office produced an analysis arguing America would be running a surplus without the tax cuts passed under Trump and George W. Bush, higher military spending after September 11, 2001, and the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Without Republicans' tax cuts, war-fighting, and defense build-up since 2001, the federal budget would have been $US156 billion in surplus," Sanders said.

To: longnshort who wrote (1093367)	10/16/2018 8:14:24 AM
From: sylvester80	1 Recommendation Recommended By Land Shark Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580268

AMAZING! Tesla releases impressive pictures of Model 3 drive unit after test, Musk says they drove 1M miles Fred Lambert - Oct. 15th 2018 4:21 pm ET @FredericLambert electrek.co Tesla says that the Model 3 drive system is designed and validated for over one million miles of range. 597 Comments Tesla says that the Model 3 drive system is designed and validated for over one million miles of range. Today, the automaker released impressive pictures of Model 3 drive units after testing, which Elon Musk says “drove 1M miles”. We reported just last week that the Tesla Semi is clearing a path for the company’s goal of a one million-mile electric drivetrain. The electric truck is using Model 3 drive units and it’s putting them to the test through long distance driving and pulling of heavy loads. In 2015, Musk said that they “want drive units that just never wear out”, resulting in Tesla changing their aim to one million miles in their endurance tests. “We are very happy with the quality of the drive unit. We changed the goal of the drive unit endurance from being approximately 200,000 miles to being a million miles – just basically we want drive units that just never wear out. That’s our goal. I think we made really good progress in that direction. the drive unit that are going out now and for the last several months have been excellent.” Now, Tesla released pictures of some Model 3 drive unit gears after testing: Here is Musk’s initial tweet on the units, including Tesla’s official one million mile claim: Elon Musk ?@elonmusk Model 3 motor & gearbox still in good condition after driving 1M miles. Designed for ultra high endurance. Tesla ?@Tesla The Model 3 drive system is designed and validated for over 1 million miles – this is what the gears look like after testing 12:27 PM - Oct 15, 2018 44.3K 7,270 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy Tesla is producing the Model 3 drive units at the Gigafactory 1 in Nevada. ELECTREK’S TAKEThat’s good news for the long-term value of Model 3. One thing that I have always suspected about Model 3 is that Tesla designed it for its upcoming self-driving ride-hailing service ‘Tesla network’. The phone-based access, the cabin-facing camera, and other features like those point to the vehicle being designed around the service. If that ever becomes a reality, a Model 3 vehicle on the network could become really profitable and more so the longer it can run. A one million mile drive unit could certainly be helpful on that front.

To: longnshort who wrote (1093367)	10/16/2018 8:31:56 AM
From: sylvester80	1 Recommendation Recommended By Celtictrader Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580268

The A-HOLE PARTY

To: longnshort who wrote (1093367)	10/16/2018 8:48:01 AM
From: sylvester80	2 Recommendations Recommended By Celtictrader Land Shark Respond to of 1580268

LIAR Trump Says Sears Was Mismanaged. But His Own Treasury Sect, Mnuchin Was on Its Board for Years Alex Wayne and Saleha Mohsin Bloomberg•October 15, 2018 finance.yahoo.com Trump Says Sears Was Mismanaged. Mnuchin Was on Its Board for Years More (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said that Sears Holdings Corp. had been mismanaged for years before it declared bankruptcy. Among those responsible for its management: his Treasury secretary. Steven Mnuchin was a member of Sears’s board from 2005 until December 2016, and before that was a director for K-Mart Corp., which was acquired by Sears in 2005. “Sears has been dying for many years,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Monday to inspect hurricane damage in Florida. “It’s been obviously improperly run for many years and it’s a shame.” Treasury didn’t immediately respond to questions about Mnuchin’s service on the company’s board. Mnuchin was a college roommate of Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert, who attended Mnuchin’s confirmation hearing for Treasury secretary in January 2017. Mnuchin cut his ties to Sears when he joined the Trump administration. Mnuchin said during his Senate confirmation hearing in January 2017 that he had invested about $26 million in Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc. He defended Lampert’s management of Sears, which he said “was already a failing issue” before Lampert invested in the company. As Treasury secretary, Mnuchin sits on the board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which considers applications from companies to terminate their pension plans. During the hearing, Mnuchin told Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, that he would recuse himself if the PBGC receives an application from Sears. Menendez noted that would leave the PBGC board with just two voting members. “I’m not sure that the remaining two can ultimately make a decision on such a case which involves 200,000 people’s pensions,” Menendez told Mnuchin. The retailing icon filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday and said it will attempt to reorganize around a smaller number of profitable stores. Lampert resigned as CEO, but he is negotiating a financing deal with the company. “Somebody that is of my generation, Sears Roebuck was a big deal,” Trump said. “So it’s very sad to see.”

To: longnshort who wrote (1093367)	10/16/2018 8:50:52 AM
From: sylvester80	Respond to of 1580268

OOPS! If you vote by mail in Florida, it’s 10 times more likely that ballot won’t count BY STEVE BOUSQUET HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU amp.miamiherald.com September 19, 2018 01:38 PM TALLAHASSEE A study of Florida’s past two presidential elections finds that mail ballots were 10 times more likely to be rejected than votes cast at early voting sites or on election day. The study also found that mail ballots cast by youngest voters, blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to be rejected than mail ballots cast by white voters, and that those voters are less likely to cure problems with their ballots when notified by election supervisors than other voters. The study also shows that rejection rates vary widely across the state. The report was produced by Daniel Smith, chairman of the political science department at the University of Florida, on behalf of the ACLU of Florida, whose director, Howard Simon, cited the state’s “uncertain history in election administration” in a conference call with reporters. About 1 percent of all mail ballots cast are rejected and not counted. Smith said that rate is about 10 times higher than for voters voting in person either early or on election day. “This rate is substantial. We’re talking about tens of thousands of people,” Smith said. The statewide totals were nearly 24,000 ballots in 2012 and nearly 28,000 two years ago. The main reasons why mail ballots are rejected are that a voter didn’t sign the ballot envelope or that the voter’s signature on the envelope did not match the voter’s signature on file with the county elections office. The report comes as voting by mail continues to expand in popularity in the nation’s third most populous state. Two years ago, 29 percent of all ballots cast in the presidential election were cast by mail — 2.7 million out of about 9.6 million ballots — and election experts say the rate may be higher this November. Four percent of all mail ballots cast by voters ages 18 to 21 were rejected, but only 0.5 percent of mail ballots were tossed out that were cast by voters 65 and over, Smith’s study found. In 2012, African-Americans cast 9.4 percent of all mail ballots, but black voters cast 14 percent of all rejected mail ballots. The rejection rates of mail ballots varied widely from county to county in 2016, the study found. Smith noted that Miami-Dade County had one of the highest rejection rates in 2016 at about 2 percent (Broward was about 1.5 percent). Orange County was the highest at almost 4 percent. Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles issued a statement in response to the findings. Shortly before the 2016 vote, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued an order requiring the state to direct counties to give voters a chance to fix a signature deficiency if they voted by mail. Walker said the laws governing voting by mail showed a “complete lack of uniformity.” Yet the rejection rates for mail ballots cast by blacks and Hispanics went up between 2012 and 2016, Smith noted. Secretary of State Ken Detzner issued a statement saying that the agency’s priority is ensuring that every vote is counted accurately, and it is the duty of the 67 election supervisors to carefully count all vote-by-mail ballots. Smith’s study included six specific recommendations to reduce the vote-by-mail rejection rates: ? There should be greater statewide uniformity in the design of mail ballots and the return vote-by-mail (VBM) envelope. ? There should be greater uniformity in the procedures employed by supervisors of elections, their staff, and canvassing boards to process, validate and, if necessary, cure VBM ballots. ? The Florida statewide voter history file (the FVRS database) should include information about why a voter’s mail ballot was rejected, including whether it was rejected because it lacked a signature or the voter’s signature was mismatched, and if the voter attempted to cure the VBM ballot if it was flagged as invalid. ? The October 17, 2016 memorandum to supervisors of elections from Secretary of State Ken Detzner should be revised to include specific procedures that county election officials should follow when notifying voters of a rejected VBM ballot and the cure process for missing and mismatched signatures. ? The Florida Division of Elections should study procedures for processing VBM ballots as well as procedures in place for voters to cure an invalid mailed ballot, promoting “best practices” from those counties with the lowest rejection and highest cure rates. ? The legislature should create guidelines for how supervisors of elections shall notify voters of their rejected ballot status and how voters can cure their VBM ballot prior to Election Day. Check out how election ballots get printed.