4 ms·

Why are corporations announcing business deals from the White House? There doesn’t seem to be any public ownership/benefit here, aside from potential job creati

Why are corporations announcing business deals from the White House? There doesn’t seem to be any public ownership/benefit here, aside from potential job creation. Which could be significant. But the American public doesn’t seem to gain anything from this new company.

username135 2y ago
[flagged]
rqtwteye 2y ago
We are currently witnessing the merging of government and corporations. It was bad before but the process is accelerating now.
- luckydata 2y ago
  there's some pretty good quotes about that by Mussolini. Things are getting bleak at an incredible pace.
  - cpursley 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - d3nj4l 2y ago
      You make broad assumptions about someone, talk down to them, and then claim they need to grow up? E: parent edited their comment.
    - notyourwork 2y ago
      Can you elaborate on what you mean?
      - cpursley 2y ago
        Sure, tl;dr: Coastals are in a cultural bubble and Orange Man Bad™ is not literally Hitler/Mussolini/{insert-favorite-despot}.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
  - luckydata 2y ago
    Judging by the reactions it seems fascism has become very popular around here too lately. The original quote I was referring to: Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. - Benito Mussolini
- redeux 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - talldayo 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - dang 2y ago
      If you keep posting in the flamewar style we're going to have to ban you again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - talldayo 2y ago
        Then you need to ban me again, because I have no idea how I violated the guidelines any more than the OP submission did. My comment was a digression along relevant, imperative and inoffensive lines that were introduced by the source. I am not the only person raising this point, I am not inviting extremist interpretations, and I'm not misrepresenting the consequences presented in the article. For years, Hacker News has tolerated pugilist insults being hurled at the EU with the sole purpose of starting ideological flamewars. Now that someone steps up to accuse America of a double-standard, it's offensive and insensitive? I really don't get it. What culture are you even trying to foster, at this point? Certainly not one that gratifies an audience's curiosity. If you want to threaten people with the guidelines, then they have to be interpretable. The current "politics is bad except when it's not" rationale is not going to age with grace - it's going to create a series of unsustainable and conflicting precedents that only get worse as America's political landscape further deteriorates. Take a stance on it and stand your ground, people will not listen if your guidelines "maybe" enforce something or provide "probably" off-topic criteria.
        dang 2y ago
        Your GP comment, like the one you were replying to, was just ideological flamebait, without substance or information. We want thoughtful conversation here, not people taking swipes at enemies. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > For years, Hacker News has tolerated pugilist insults being hurled at Other people breaking the site guidelines doesn't make it ok for you to do it (I don't mean you personally, of course, but anyone who comments here). Otherwise we just end up in a downward spiral (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=downward%20spiral%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...). If you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=likeliest%20explanation%20by%3Adang&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...). You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com.
jfactorial 2y ago
This is my question too, but I haven't seen a journalist ask it yet. My baseless theory: Trump has promised them some kind of antitrust protections in the form of legislation to be written & passed at a later date. An announcement of a public AI infrastructure program joined by multiple companies could have been a monumental announcement. This one just looks like three big companies getting permission to make one big one.
- aksss 2y ago
  Easier: Trump likely committed that the federal agencies wouldn't slow roll regulatory approval (for power, for EIS, etc.). Ellison stated explicitly that this would be "impossible" without Trump. Masa stated that this (new investment level?) wouldn't be happening had Trump not won, and that the new investment level was decided yesterday. I know everyone wants to see something nefarious here, but simplest explanation is that the federal government for next four years is expected to be significantly less hostile to private investment, and - shocker - that yields increased private investment.
  - jfactorial 2y ago
    That is a better one. I don't know why three rich guys investing in a new company would result in a slowness that Trump could fix, though, and a promise to rush or sidestep regulatory approval still sounds nefarious.
everfrustrated 2y ago
It's foreign investment money into the US. Softbank and MGX are foreign and presumably stumping up much of the cash.
dwnw 2y ago
I thought the business prop for AI was that it eliminates jobs?
- adamredwoods 2y ago
  It will. The short-term sale is that it will create thousands of temporary jobs, and long-term reduce hundreds of thousands of jobs, while handing the savings to stock holdings and moving wealth to the stockholders.
  - jimbokun 2y ago
    Looks on pace to eliminate every human job over 10 years. What is the hard limiting factor constraining software and robots from replacing any human job in that time span? Lots of limitations of current technology, but all seem likely to be solved within that timeframe.
    - goatlover 2y ago
      What data to you have to support such a claim?
      - adamredwoods 2y ago
        From Zuckerberg, for example: >> "a lot of the code in our apps and including the AI that we generate, is actually going to be built by AI engineers instead of people engineers." https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/meta-developing-ai-engineers-to-write-code-instead-of-humans/485806 https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/meta-developing-a... Ikea's been doing this for a while: >> Ingka says it has trained 8,500 call centre workers as interior design advisers since 2021, while Billie - launched the same year with a name inspired by IKEA's Billy bookcase range - has handled 47% of customers' queries to call centres over the past two years. https://www.reuters.com/technology/ikea-bets-remote-interior-design-ai-changes-sales-strategy-2023-06-13/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/ikea-bets-remote-interior...
signatoremo 2y ago
Weird question. Business deals are announced by politicians all the time, especially on overseas trips. Just an example: https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2015-04-10-Presidents-Varela-Obama-Witness-Signing-of-Historic-Airplane-Order https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2015-04-10-Presidents-Varela-Ob...
- AlotOfReading 2y ago
  This isn't an overseas trip though. It's a private partnership announced by the sitting president in the Roosevelt room, literally across the hall from the oval office. I don't know how unprecedented that truly is, but it certainly feels unusual.
wesselbindt 2y ago
For profit? I don't understand what's complicated about this.
guybedo 2y ago
> Why are corporations announcing business deals from the White House? You're answering your own question: > potential job creation. Which could be significant
wbl 2y ago
Lots of politicians announce major investments in their area.
HotHotLava 2y ago
If the announced spending target is true, this will be a strategic project for the US exceeding Biden's stimulus acts in scale. I think it would be pretty normal in any country to have highest-level involvement for projects like this. For example, Tesla has a much smaller revenue than this and Chancellor Olaf Scholz was still present when they opened their Gigafactory near Berlin.
sensanaty 2y ago
The US is now officially a full on oiligarchy. It always was one, it's just that the powers that be don't care to hide it anymore and are flaunting that they have the power.

username135 2y ago

[flagged]

rqtwteye 2y ago

We are currently witnessing the merging of government and corporations. It was bad before but the process is accelerating now.

luckydata 2y ago
there's some pretty good quotes about that by Mussolini. Things are getting bleak at an incredible pace.
- cpursley 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - d3nj4l 2y ago
    You make broad assumptions about someone, talk down to them, and then claim they need to grow up? E: parent edited their comment.
  - notyourwork 2y ago
    Can you elaborate on what you mean?
    - cpursley 2y ago
      Sure, tl;dr: Coastals are in a cultural bubble and Orange Man Bad™ is not literally Hitler/Mussolini/{insert-favorite-despot}.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
- luckydata 2y ago
  Judging by the reactions it seems fascism has become very popular around here too lately. The original quote I was referring to: Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. - Benito Mussolini
redeux 2y ago
[flagged]
- talldayo 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - dang 2y ago
    If you keep posting in the flamewar style we're going to have to ban you again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - talldayo 2y ago
      Then you need to ban me again, because I have no idea how I violated the guidelines any more than the OP submission did. My comment was a digression along relevant, imperative and inoffensive lines that were introduced by the source. I am not the only person raising this point, I am not inviting extremist interpretations, and I'm not misrepresenting the consequences presented in the article. For years, Hacker News has tolerated pugilist insults being hurled at the EU with the sole purpose of starting ideological flamewars. Now that someone steps up to accuse America of a double-standard, it's offensive and insensitive? I really don't get it. What culture are you even trying to foster, at this point? Certainly not one that gratifies an audience's curiosity. If you want to threaten people with the guidelines, then they have to be interpretable. The current "politics is bad except when it's not" rationale is not going to age with grace - it's going to create a series of unsustainable and conflicting precedents that only get worse as America's political landscape further deteriorates. Take a stance on it and stand your ground, people will not listen if your guidelines "maybe" enforce something or provide "probably" off-topic criteria.
      - dang 2y ago
        Your GP comment, like the one you were replying to, was just ideological flamebait, without substance or information. We want thoughtful conversation here, not people taking swipes at enemies. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > For years, Hacker News has tolerated pugilist insults being hurled at Other people breaking the site guidelines doesn't make it ok for you to do it (I don't mean you personally, of course, but anyone who comments here). Otherwise we just end up in a downward spiral (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=downward%20spiral%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...). If you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=likeliest%20explanation%20by%3Adang&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...). You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com.

jfactorial 2y ago

This is my question too, but I haven't seen a journalist ask it yet. My baseless theory: Trump has promised them some kind of antitrust protections in the form of legislation to be written & passed at a later date. An announcement of a public AI infrastructure program joined by multiple companies could have been a monumental announcement. This one just looks like three big companies getting permission to make one big one.

aksss 2y ago
Easier: Trump likely committed that the federal agencies wouldn't slow roll regulatory approval (for power, for EIS, etc.). Ellison stated explicitly that this would be "impossible" without Trump. Masa stated that this (new investment level?) wouldn't be happening had Trump not won, and that the new investment level was decided yesterday. I know everyone wants to see something nefarious here, but simplest explanation is that the federal government for next four years is expected to be significantly less hostile to private investment, and - shocker - that yields increased private investment.
- jfactorial 2y ago
  That is a better one. I don't know why three rich guys investing in a new company would result in a slowness that Trump could fix, though, and a promise to rush or sidestep regulatory approval still sounds nefarious.

everfrustrated 2y ago

It's foreign investment money into the US. Softbank and MGX are foreign and presumably stumping up much of the cash.

dwnw 2y ago

I thought the business prop for AI was that it eliminates jobs?

adamredwoods 2y ago
It will. The short-term sale is that it will create thousands of temporary jobs, and long-term reduce hundreds of thousands of jobs, while handing the savings to stock holdings and moving wealth to the stockholders.
- jimbokun 2y ago
  Looks on pace to eliminate every human job over 10 years. What is the hard limiting factor constraining software and robots from replacing any human job in that time span? Lots of limitations of current technology, but all seem likely to be solved within that timeframe.
  - goatlover 2y ago
    What data to you have to support such a claim?
    - adamredwoods 2y ago
      From Zuckerberg, for example: >> "a lot of the code in our apps and including the AI that we generate, is actually going to be built by AI engineers instead of people engineers." https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/meta-developing-ai-engineers-to-write-code-instead-of-humans/485806 https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/meta-developing-a... Ikea's been doing this for a while: >> Ingka says it has trained 8,500 call centre workers as interior design advisers since 2021, while Billie - launched the same year with a name inspired by IKEA's Billy bookcase range - has handled 47% of customers' queries to call centres over the past two years. https://www.reuters.com/technology/ikea-bets-remote-interior-design-ai-changes-sales-strategy-2023-06-13/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/ikea-bets-remote-interior...

signatoremo 2y ago

Weird question. Business deals are announced by politicians all the time, especially on overseas trips. Just an example: https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2015-04-10-Presidents-Varela-Obama-Witness-Signing-of-Historic-Airplane-Order https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2015-04-10-Presidents-Varela-Ob...

AlotOfReading 2y ago
This isn't an overseas trip though. It's a private partnership announced by the sitting president in the Roosevelt room, literally across the hall from the oval office. I don't know how unprecedented that truly is, but it certainly feels unusual.

wesselbindt 2y ago

For profit? I don't understand what's complicated about this.

guybedo 2y ago

> Why are corporations announcing business deals from the White House? You're answering your own question: > potential job creation. Which could be significant

wbl 2y ago

Lots of politicians announce major investments in their area.

HotHotLava 2y ago

If the announced spending target is true, this will be a strategic project for the US exceeding Biden's stimulus acts in scale. I think it would be pretty normal in any country to have highest-level involvement for projects like this. For example, Tesla has a much smaller revenue than this and Chancellor Olaf Scholz was still present when they opened their Gigafactory near Berlin.

sensanaty 2y ago

The US is now officially a full on oiligarchy. It always was one, it's just that the powers that be don't care to hide it anymore and are flaunting that they have the power.