
Musk fumes as Trump tax bill cuts electric vehicle credits
Elon Musk slammed the US Senate's latest version of president Donald Trump's multi-trillion dollar tax bill Saturday, warning that the cuts to electric vehicle and other clean energy credits would be 'incredibly destructive' to the country.
Mr Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX, posted on his social media platform X about the bill, which the Senate advanced in a contentious vote late Saturday.
Mr Musk recently left Mr Trump's side after working for several months as the head of Trump's so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The bill would destroy millions of US jobs and give 'handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future,' Mr Musk said.
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The tech billionaire's latest criticism of the package threatens to reawaken his public rift with Trump that began after the world's richest man left his cost-cutting job in the administration.
The bill would bring a quicker end to a popular $7,500 (€6,398) consumer tax credit for electric vehicles.
While the earlier proposal would have ended the incentive at the end of this year for most EV sales, the new version terminates the credit after September 30th. Tax credits for the purchase of used and commercial electric vehicles would end at the same time. – Bloomberg
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Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner view: In the era of AI, education is at a premium
While the rush by companies to crowbar artificial intelligence into every product imaginable continues — even if it's not actually artificial intelligence and just tools that are good at predicting the answer you're looking for — the technology is already showing detrimental effects on the human mind. A study published this month by researchers at MIT, with an admittedly very small sample size, suggests that the use of ChatGPT and similar tools results in reduced cognition, which is essential for independent critical thinking: 'Over four months, LLM [large language model] users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioural levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning. The rush from AI opponents online was to say something like 'AI makes you stupid', but that is both inaccurate and unfair. Still, the technology isn't going away any time soon, and quite apart from the environmental and, apparently, mental damage we had a warning just this past week that AI could come to the detriment of Irish jobs. Members of the AI Advisory Council — made up of 15 independent experts who advise the Government on Ireland's AI strategy — appeared at an Oireachtas committee to say that they predict software engineers, junior lawyers, and customer service jobs to be the first to take the hit. They note that entry-level programming jobs are already being replaced by AI, as the industry behind the technology applies it to itself first. But whether the technology ends up augmenting or replacing the humans in the loop remains to be seen, largely because most large-scale experiments seem to be giving mixed results at best. Tesla finally launched its seemingly eternally promised autonomous driving taxis in Texas (with a person sitting in the front seat by the way, even if not driving), only for them to make a plethora of basic driving errors. While the shareholders seem happy, especially after the first quarter's debacle on the back of Elon Musk's dalliance with government and despite slumping Tesla car sales generally, whether this will prove a triumph in the long road — pun very much intended — remains to be seen. That doesn't mean that the tech giants aren't prepared to gamble big on automation or artificial intelligence. Last week, Amazon, which employs some 6,500 people here in Ireland and 1.5m worldwide, told staff that AI would probably mean a reduction in the total number of employees, possibly replacing some of its current corporate staff. Microsoft is preparing to lay off another 6,000 people while it simultaneously increases spending on AI. The cuts are across sales and other teams, and the talk is of 'trimming' the workforce and 'aligning it' with company strategy (it still has 2.28m other employees). Microsoft should be warned, though, about expecting an AI solution to bridge any workforce gap: Payments platform Klarna laid off 700 people in 2022 only to have to scramble to rehire many when its AI tool wasn't up to the task of customer service. The head of the AI company Anthropic has claimed that half of all entry-level jobs could be replaced by artificial intelligence — but then, he would say that, wouldn't he? That said, the IMF has previously noted that as much as 60% of jobs in advanced economies are exposed to AI, and not all for the better. Good news, then, that in recent weeks University College Cork has risen in the international university rankings, holding a space in the top 1% globally. It shows that quality education is still in demand, and with it the training in critical thinking and reasoning that will stand to the whole of society in the long run. There are ways that AI tools and apps can be beneficial, but right now the biggest return on investment for the technology has been wanton devastation of climate and copyright. Employment equality With the last school now shut for the summer, we face into a time that prior to covid would have been increasingly fraught for working parents — not just keeping their children entertained, but physically kept hale and hearty while they are off working in an office. The rise of hybrid, flexible, and remote working options has, if not put paid to that, at least made it more easy to navigate for some, though not all. And it must be acknowledged that a great many jobs have never been able to allow for remote or hybrid options, such as retail or manufacturing. Still, for parents of young and not so young children, being able to be physically present in their youngsters' lives represents time reclaimed, with all the emotional and relationship development benefits that brings. Doubly so for the parents or carers of children with disabilities, for whom summer camps and other such activities might be a pipe dream. One might expect that remote and hybrid working, meanwhile, would have levelled the playing field for our disabled citizens. And, while there is evidence generally that more people with disabilities have been able to access employment in the Western world, Ireland is lagging behind. Last week's Feelgood pages noted that Ireland's disability employment rate of 32.6% is not only way below the EU average of 51.3%, but is the absolute bottom of the EU table. More than 1.1m people in this republic have at least one long-lasting condition according to census figures, with some 350,000 experiencing difficulty taking part in activities, and just over 300,000 experiencing a difficulty working at a job or attending school or college. Not all disabilities are visible. Disabled workers find a plethora of obstacles in their way, from losing their social protection payments to the interview and testing process, to not even being part of the conversation because they are not targeted for recruitment. Many companies offer adaptations to work environments, and there are other supports available to firms. The American civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer once said: 'Nobody is free until everybody is free.' Isn't it time we did a better job of ensuring that our citizens who face obstacles are given the same freedom as everybody else?

The Journal
8 hours ago
- The Journal
Senate pushes ahead on Trump's tax break and spending cut plan
CAPPING A TUMULTUOUS night, the Republican-controlled US Senate advanced President Donald Trump's package of tax breaks, spending cuts and increased deportation money, with more weekend work ahead as Congress races to meet his Fourth of July deadline for passage. By a 51-49 tally and with vice president JD Vance at the Capitol to break a potential tie, the Senate cleared a key procedural step on Saturday as midnight approached. Voting had come to a standstill, dragging on for more than three hours, with holdout senators huddling for negotiations and taking private meetings off the Senate floor. In the end, two Republicans opposed the motion to move ahead on Trump's signature domestic policy plan, joining all 47 Democrats. 'Tonight we saw a GREAT VICTORY in the Senate,' Trump said in a social media post afterwards. Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks. Not all Republicans are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programmes as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks. Trump had threatened to campaign against one Republican, senator Thom Tillis, who had announced he could not support the Bill because of Medicaid cuts that he worried would leave many without health care in his state. A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the Senate version of the Bill would increase by 11.8 million the number of people without health insurance in 2034. Advertisement Tillis and senator Rand Paul voted no. Renewed pressure to oppose the 940-page bill came from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who called it 'utterly insane and destructive'. Ahead for senators now will be an all-night debate and amendments. If they are able to pass it, the Bill would return to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House. With the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate, leaders need almost every lawmaker on board. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans released the bill 'in the dead of night' on Friday and were rushing through before the public fully knew what was in it. He forced a full reading of the text that began late on Saturday and continued into Sunday morning. At its core, the legislation would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump's first term that would otherwise expire by year's end if Congress fails to act, resulting in a potential tax increase on Americans. The Bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350 billion to national security, including for Trump's mass deportation agenda. But the cutbacks to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy investments are also causing dissent within republican ranks. Senator Ron Wyden said the environmental rollbacks would amount to a 'death sentence' for America's wind and solar industries.


The Irish Sun
10 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Inspectors BLOCKED from nuke sites as Iran says they will never stop enriching uranium amid fears bomb is ‘months away'
IRAN has blocked inspectors from entering its nuclear sites and pledged to never stop enriching uranium - amid fears the Ayatollah is months away from a bomb. The mullahs could possess a 9 The Fordow plant before and after the the US bombed the site Credit: Reuters 9 The moment the missile hit the earth in the test footage 9 The International Atomic Energy Agency's head Rafael Grossi made the bombshell revelation following Donald Trump's Operation Midnight Hammer. The US President hailed the strikes at the time and said they Speaking on the state of Iran's READ MORE WORLD NEWS "They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing He added: "But as I said, frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there." And the watchdog head made the explosive claim that It comes after a leaked preliminary Pentagon assessment found the US strikes only set the nuclear programme back by a few months. Most read in The US Sun On Wednesday, Iran's parliament agreed to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA. The ban means blocking experts from assessing the true extent of the Israeli and US attacks on nuclear facilities. Iran was building warheads 'capable of blitzing London' as twisted regime raced to have world's biggest missile arsenal And it makes it more challenging to locate any highly enriched uranium Iran may possess which could help them make a nuke. Iran's ambassador to the UN Amir-Saeid Iravani told "Our cooperation with IAEA will be suspended." It comes after Trump told Fox News on Sunday morning that the US bombs on Iran went through enemy nuclear sites "like absolute butter". Celebrating his blitz on the mullahs, he said: "It was obliterated like nobody's ever seen before. "And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions at least for a period of time." The war in the Middle East lasted just 12 days as it quickly turned into a major conflict when Trump decided to strike the Iranian nuclear sites. Iran responded to Trump's intervention by unsuccessfully striking a US army base in Doha, Qatar - before the Ayatollah claimed victory over America and Israel. But Tehran contradicted Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei by admitting that Israel struck Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, after Tel Aviv claimed Tehran was dangerously close to developing a nuclear weapon. 9 Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said Iran could be months away from a bomb Credit: AFP 9 Trump had posted this Truth shortly after launching the strikes Credit: Truth Social 9 Overview of the the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant one week after US strikes Credit: AFP The US attacks helped to end the war, according to Trump, with both Israel and Iran quickly declaring they had won the fight afterwards. Tyrant Khamenei, 86, claimed victory over Israel and America despite his country being hammered for almost two weeks. The Supreme Leader ludicrously claimed Iran had almost crushed Israel and the government in Tel Aviv was on the verge of collapse. That's despite the IDF controlling the skies over Tehran, assassinating dozens of top generals and nuclear scientists, and destroying dozens of valuable missile batteries in just 12 days of fighting. Even with a ceasefire being agreed upon, Trump made it clear he would "absolutely" consider bombing Iran again if it was ever needed. He told reporters in the White House he would "without question" attack the country if US intelligence pointed towards Iran enriching uranium to concerning levels. It comes as Iran held a funeral for the commanders wiped out in the war. The event was severely plagued by "Death to America" chants and the burning of Israeli flags across the day. 9 The Ayatollah bizarrely claimed victory over the US and Israel Credit: AFP 9 Trump sat in the Situation Room of the White House a day before the US strikes Credit: AFP 9 Over a million people reportedly lined the streets of Tehran for the funeral of Iranian commanders Credit: Getty