Category: Random Stuff

I would have to think Elon Musk must have approved of this idea if Trump is planning to do this probably betting that tariffs on foreign EV competitors are also coming:

 U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is aiming to end a tax credit for electric vehicle (EV) purchases, a key element of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as part of broader tax reform legislation, Reuters reported Thursday, citing two unnamed sources.

The potential repealing of the $7,500 consumer tax credit is being discussed in meetings by an energy-policy transition team, which is headed by Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, according to the news agency.

The removal of the credit could have an impact on EV sales and affect EV-producing companies and battery manufacturers. Naysayers have argued that ending the credit would impede a transition to EVs.

Tesla representatives have told a Trump transition committee they support repealing the subsidy, Reuters said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I would support a national service program as long as the military is not the only option:

The nation’s leaders should push harder for America’s youth to participate in public service, including in the military, as the Pentagon copes with recent recruiting shortfalls, former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday.

The retired four-star Marine general called on top leaders across the country to implore public service on young Americans as the nation faces an increasingly volatile world and global power challenges from adversaries such as China and Russia. Mattis visited with some of those young Americans on Thursday during a stop at Georgia Military College, an independent, public kindergarten through 12th grade preparatory school and junior college with associate and bachelor’s degree programs.

“How many times have you heard the elected commander in chief, or your senators, or your governors or other elected officials say, ‘Uncle Sam needs you,’” Mattis told reporters before giving a speech on leadership at the school in Milledgeville, Ga. “I don’t care if it’s the Marine Corps, the Peace Corps, teaching, there’s any number of ways to serve our country … Do we really have an expectation today that each of our young people owes something to the country? I think it’s a lot bigger problem than just in the military.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I agree with Mattis that a national service program would be beneficial to the country. Mattis brings up the Peace Corps as an option, but I think a national service program should focus more on programs to improve America not a foreign country. A program I think would be beneficial is bringing back the Civilian Conservation Corps that was a that was responsible for building many public works projects in America’s rural spaces.

I also think a national service program should not be mandatory which means it needs an incentive. I think the incentive could be tuition assistance or a small business grant that gives young people an early advantage in life for completing national service compared to those who did not.

Any thoughts from fellow ROK Heads?