FORD ISN'T ADDING AMERICAN JOBS BECAUSE OF DONALD TRUMP

TOP OF THE NEWS:

- Ford Isn’t Adding American Jobs Because of Donald Trump (Slate) "But Ford’s announcement is primarily a response to market forces that have been underway for years. And it is inspired in part by explicit policies of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations—the fruits of which Trump will almost certainly take credit for. Another set of competitive pressures underway for several years is pushing further bifurcation in North American auto manufacturing: low-margin, cheap, basic cars made in Mexico largely for the local market, and expensive, gadget-laden vehicles made in the U.S. largely for the U.S. market. Put another way, several years ago Ford took a boatload of government money and promised to spend it on research, development, and processes that would give it the know-how and capability to produce electric and electrified cars in the U.S.—and only in the U.S. And it has delivered. So, sure, you could thank Trump that these American cars are going to be made in America. But you should thank Bush and Obama first."

- The real reason Ford abandoned its plant in Mexico has little to do with Trump (WaPo) "Analysts, however, say Ford’s decision stemmed more from its long-term goals than the new administration or devotion to U.S. workers. The company aims to invest $4.5 billion in electrified vehicles by 2020. (The company would not comment on the specifics of the 700 new positions.) The next wave of workers in Flat Rock will build mostly self-driving and electric cars, including a hybrid Mustang. Unlike manufacturing roles of decades past, though, the jobs will likely require computer literacy and more than a high school degree."

- The myth and reality of Donald Trump’s job claims (WaPo) "'General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border,' Trump tweeted. 'Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!' GM sold about 190,000 Chevy Cruze models in the country in 2016, and about 4,500 were the Mexican model, he [GM spokesman Pat Morrissey] said. GM sold about 30,000 Cruze hatchbacks around the world last year. 'The hatchback is a very small volume vehicle,' Morrissey said. 'There’s just not a lot of demand for it.'"

- The manufacturing jobs delusion (Economist) "History suggests that the aim of creating large numbers of manufacturing jobs will be a lost cause. In 1979, the high point for U.S. manufacturing jobs was reached at 19.5m. The subsequent recession of the early 1980s caused that number to fall but there were regularly 17m-18m jobs in the 1980s and 1990s. From the turn of the millennium, however, the total fell pretty remorselessly, with the 2008-09 recession proving the coup de grace. The low was just under 11.5m in early 2010. As the economy recovered, some jobs returned and a peak of 12.3m was reached early last year. But since then, the numbers have been drifting down again."

- Ford, Criticized by Trump, Cancels Plans to Build Mexican Plant (NYT)

BUSINESS:

- A Stronger Dollar? Not So Fast (Ozy)

HEALTH:

- 5 Things Things to Know About the Affordable Care Act (WSJ) "1. Consumers gained new protections under the law, some of which are highly popular. 2. An estimated 20 million people gained health insurance under the law. Health-insurance companies, however, struggled with losses as healthy people didn’t sign up in the numbers expected to offset the cost of covering sicker customers. 3. Health-insurance companies fear Republicans may repeal the penalties or subsidies, and consumers won’t buy insurance unless they really need it. 4. Hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid fear they could see more uninsured patients who are unable to pay medical bills if the law is repealed. 5. Proposals to replace the law include allowing insurance markets to cross state lines."

- Micro-dosing LSD: The Drug Habit Your Boss Is Gonna Love (GQ) "At the heart of it all, biohacking is being driven by one of Silicon Valley's prevailing sentiments: that anything can be optimized to run better, so why should the human body be any different?"

- Hello Egg is an AI-based meal-planning and cooking gadget (VentureBeat) "Hello Egg supervises your pantry, organizes your shopping list, and even orders your grocery delivery. It provides you with easy-to-follow, step-by-step voice-navigated video recipes and answers any cooking-related questions with the help of artificial intelligence and a support team of cooking experts."

SCIENCE:

- CRISPR will be a huge story in 2017. Here are 7 things to look for (Vox) "1) Figuring out what different genes actually do. 2) Engineer plants to improve food security. 3) Identify potential Alzheimer’s treatments. 4) Develop new cancer treatments. 5) Reduce our reliance on petrochemicals. 6) Use plants to make drugs and vaccines. 7) Destroy viruses like HIV, herpes, and hepatitis."

TECHNOLOGY:

- At Harvey Mudd College, female students take the lead in computer science (LA Times) "It’s a message that goes unheard at many universities. Nationwide, according to the Computing Research Assn., more than 84% of undergraduates who major in computer science are men. Not so at Harvey Mudd, where more than half — 55% — of the latest class of computer science graduates were women, compared to roughly 10% a decade ago. Female students tended to think more about their careers in terms of its social relevance, and how their work could help the world, Libeskind-Hadas said. Many male students who pursued computer science, he found, were more passionate about building personal projects and ideas."

- The Wireless Router Renaissance And Where It Will Take Us Next (Fast Company) "The router renaissance is due to a couple of factors. One: People are demanding more bandwidth for streaming video services; and two: They are connecting more devices overall, including smartphones, tablets, streaming TV boxes, connected speakers, smart thermostats, smart lighting, and networked security cameras."

- Predicting the Top 10 tech developments for 2017 (Re/code) "Prediction 1: Device categories start to disappear. Prediction 2: VR/AR hardware surpasses wearables. Prediction 3: Mobile app installs will decline as tech services grow. Prediction 4: Autonomous driving slows, but assisted driving soars. Prediction 5: Smart home products consolidate. Prediction 6: Amazon Echo becomes the de facto gateway for smart homes. Prediction 7: Large-scale IoT projects slow, but small projects explode. Prediction 8: AI-based bots move to the mainstream. Prediction 9: Non-gaming applications for AR and VR grow faster than gaming. Prediction 10: Tech firms place more Emphasis on non-tech fields.

- What 6 wacky CES gadgets tell us about the future (WaPo) and The 11 Best Tech Gadgets We’ve Seen at CES So Far (Wired)

- Microsoft’s Old-School Database Was the Surprise Software Hit of the Year (Wired)

BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:

- This digestive tracker can help you control your farts (Mashable) "While AIRE claims it can help with digestive tracking, it's designed mainly to help people with bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and constipation. If you want to find out if the apple you ate with lunch or the ice cream you stuffed in down your gullet two hours later gave you a bad case of the runs, then this may be able to help you figure it out."

- The 10 most unusual things TSA agents confiscated at airport checkpoints in 2016 (Boston Globe)

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