Slashdot Mirror
US Calls Broadcom's Bid For Qualcomm a National Security Risk (nytimes.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): The United States government said Broadcom's proposed acquisition of rival chipmaker Qualcomm could pose a national security risk and called for a full investigation into the hostile bid. The move complicates an already contentious deal and increases the likelihood that Broadcom, which is based in Singapore, will end its pursuit of Qualcomm. Such an investigation is often a death knell for a corporate acquisition. A government panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, noted, in part, that the potential risk was related to Broadcom's relationships with foreign entities, according to a letter from a United States Treasury official. It also said that the deal could weaken "Qualcomm's technological leadership," giving an edge to Chinese companies like Huawei. "China would likely compete robustly to fill any void left by Qualcomm as a result of this hostile takeover," the official said in the letter. The letter and the public call for an investigation reflects a newly aggressive stance by Cfius. In most cases, the panel operates in secret and weighs in after a deal is announced. In this instance, Cfius, which is made up of representatives from multiple federal agencies, is taking a proactive role and investigating before an acquisition agreement has even been signed.
"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators."
-- P. J. O'Rourke
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
It's not stupid, it's just different from what you're used to. Tariffs alone would be stupid. Quashing H1B's alone would be stupid. Extra scrutiny to foreign investment alone would be stupid*. All of the above plus a hefty corporate tax cut might actually lead to an improvement.
Or maybe not so stupid if we realize the existence of a whole wide universe not captured by the single number on the bottom line. Milton Friedman never understood this but you can't just stockpile steel or microchips; you have to be able to make your own or you risk inviting potshots from people who can.
It's not stupid, it's just different from what you're used to.
We've done a lot of bad shit and yet somehow this is proving to be one of the darker chapters of our nation's history.
Tariffs alone would be stupid.
Tariffs without cause (e.g. protectionism) are always stupid.
Quashing H1B's alone would be stupid.
H-1B visas have been abused to no end. Quashing them now is actually a fairly sane idea. The president has made no efforts to do so.
Extra scrutiny to foreign investment alone would be stupid*.
Actually, that's just called prudence. Why do you think there is a Committee on Foreign Investment in the first place?
All of the above plus a hefty corporate tax cut might actually lead to an improvement.
In a different economy, maybe. However, in our economy, it's going to hurt far more than it helps. FYI, there are no winners in trade wars.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
The countries with the lowest trade barriers are Singapore, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand. These are all countries with strong and growing economies. There are many examples of countries, such as Chile, South Korea, and Taiwan, that had closed economies, that then opened themselves to trade and prospered.
Can you name even a single counterexample of a country that put up trade barriers, and saw their rate of growth increase?
Protectionism has been used by left and right. It's certainly not liberal, though.
"Liberal" means different things to different people.
In Europe, it has the original meaning of what Americans call libertarian (free trade, free enterprise, social tolerance).
In America, a "liberal" is a progressive, or what Europeans call "social democrats".
In Australia, a "liberal" is a right wing conservative.
High school kids that try to rise up are quickly eliminated by US Air Force Predator drones strikes, flown by our own US military. The kids have AR-15s – America never passed reasonable gun control – but they didn't stand a chance against Predators and guided missile strikes.
-- Americanus
This is a common military strategic thinking mistake made by top US military brass and armchair computer war games players.
The Afghan and Iraqi insurgents only have homemade Kalashnikovs, RPGs and IEDs! We will easily crush them with our M1 Abram tanks, Predator and guided missile strikes! We will defeat them in a few weeks!
Well, after 15 years, the US military still hasn't defeated them. The US military met the same fate in Vietnam. I remember in the 70s, everyone in the US said that we would never repeat the same mistakes made there.
Oops! We forgot, and thought we could defeat guerilla insurgents with a conventional army. And we repeated the same mistakes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
How did the UK do in trying to defeat the IRA?
They didn't, and were forced into a peace process with known terrorist murderers. Or freedom fighters, depending on your personal political beliefs.
A high school kid with an assault weapon hidden under his bed will not defeat the US military. But he can indefinitely harass and annoy them causing casualties that will eventually force them to give up.
Oh, where will these high school kids get their weapons . . . ? The same place they get their drugs today. All the US military might cannot prevent drugs from being smuggled into the country . . . weapons will be no problem either.
And IEDs, just how will the high school kids make them . . . ? The same way I did in high school. Take a bottle of iodine crystals and mix it into household ammonia cleaning fluid. Strain the resulting precipitate through a coffee filter, and let it dry . . . somewhere in the shade, not in sunlight! When it is dry, poke at it with a pencil.
Fun, fun, fun.
The Palestinian terrorists even produce deadly souped up bottle rockets called Qassams, which use aluminum powder and sulfur for fuel. Oh, and "Carlo" machine guns.
So, "Red Dawn" was a seriously silly movie . . . but the effectiveness of a guerilla fighters against a conventional military force should not be underestimated.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!