US Tesla Delivers an 83% Increase in Q2

It was found that consumer demand for Tesla, which is leading price cut competition in the electric vehicle industry, has increased.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 2nd that the number of vehicles Tesla delivered to contractors in each country in the second quarter was 466,000 units, an 83% increase compared to the same period last year. This is a figure that exceeds the 445,000 that experts expected.

The rapid increase in Tesla vehicle deliveries seems to be due to the recent expansion of the plant in Austin, Texas, and increased production capacity. WSJ said that Tesla’s aggressive price cuts are also a factor in increasing demand. Starting with a price cut in the US in January, Tesla has led price competition in the electric vehicle industry.

As the company continued to make further cuts, the selling price of the Model Y fell by more than 20%. The selling price of the Model 3 was reduced by 11%. In addition to the US market, Tesla also lowered its sales price in international markets such as Korea, Japan, Europe, and China. Tesla’s share price, which shook off last year’s sluggishness due to increased demand, is also recovering.

At the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), on June 30, Tesla’s stock price soared more than twice compared to the beginning of the year to $ 261.7.However, it is not close to the level of November 2021, when it exceeded $ 400.This seems to be because the demand for Tesla has increased in the market, but the rate of return has decreased due to the price cut policy.

Tesla’s operating profit margin in the first quarter was 11.4%, down nearly half from 19.2% in the same period last year. In this regard, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in April, “I think it is the right choice to pursue large-scale production rather than reducing production and obtaining high returns.

Seattle Schools Rated ‘Overall Safe’

Despite the killing of a student at Ingraham High School in November last year and the recent shooting near Garfield High School, most Seattle residents still think schools are generally safe.

In a joint survey conducted by the Seattle Times and Suffolk University in the middle of this month, 66% of 500 respondents answered that schools are generally safe, while 24% said they were not. 10% answered that they did not know or were unsure.

By age group, 57% of the 25–34-year-old group and the 65+ year old group responded that they were safe overall, while the rate was much higher at 77% in the 55-64 age group. Among parents with two or more children, 71% responded positively, while among parents with only one child, only 58% responded.

In terms of the quality of education at SPS schools, more than one-third of the respondents rated it as ‘excellent’ or ‘excellent’, and 26% rated it as ‘average’.

Specifically, 6% of respondents said the quality of education was ‘excellent’, 31% said it was good, 26% said it was average, 9% said it was ‘not good’, and 26% said ‘don’t know’.  As a result, 82% of the respondents who said it was good and 97% of the respondents who said it was exceptional evaluated the school as safe, while among those who evaluated the quality of education negatively, the majority (51%) was analyzed to be dissatisfied with school safety as well.

The results of the survey on the quality of education at SPS schools showed a correlation with the previously announced evaluation results for Seattle as a residential area. Of those who said Seattle was not a great city to live in, 48% also rated the quality of education at SPS as low, and of those who rated Seattle as a great city to live in, 48% also rated the quality of SPS education as exceptional or excellent. evaluated and analyzed.

SPS Superintendent Brent Jones said in the survey that 66% of respondents rated schools as overall safe, but this was not satisfactory. I will do my best to make you feel like I am.”

Superintendent Jones added that he was satisfied that most respondents (63%) rated the quality of education at SPS schools positively.

Honolulu Light Rail to Partially Open June 30

The Honolulu Light Rail will officially open some sections after a long construction delay and controversy over excess costs. It has been 12 years since the groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2012.

Starting from the departure station Kuala Kai (East Kapolei), Keoneae (UH West Oahu), Honouliuli (Honopili), Oaeae (West Loch), Pouhala (Waipahu Bus Transit Center), Halaul There are nine stations in total, including Lani (Leeward Community College), Waiawa (Pearl Highlands), Kalauao (Pearl Ridge), and Halawa (Aloha Stadium).

The total length of the route is 11 miles, and the travel time to the end is 22 minutes.

It took about 20 years and a huge amount of money to complete the partial opening.

During this period, the mayor of Honolulu changed 3 times and the CEO of HART 6 times, and a large part of the total budget of 9.8 billion dollars was exhausted.

Roger Morton, director of the city’s Department of Transportation, expressed hope that the light rail project, despite spending a great deal of time and resources, would eventually usher in a new era of public transportation.

Discussions about the Honolulu light rail project began in earnest at the end of 2004 with the election of former mayor Mouffie Hahnemann.

In 2005, the state legislature approved Oahu’s general excise tax increase to build a high-capacity transportation system, and in 2008, a poll showed that most Oahu residents supported the light rail project.

At the time, the cost of the light rail project was estimated at $4.3 billion.

In 2010, former mayor Moofi Hahnemann announced at a press conference that the project was ready to be submitted to then-governor Linda Ringle’s administration for an environmental impact assessment.

The city government set East Kapolei and Ala Moana Center as the starting and ending stations, respectively, and continued discussions on the route, history, and initial opening section.

One of the initial initiatives, which came out in 2008, was to connect West Loch and Waipau first, starting in 2013, and then extend the route to East Kapolei and Pearl Highlands a year later.

There was also an opinion that partial opening should be started in the Urban Honolulu area from the initial stage to alleviate traffic congestion, but the objection that the central Honolulu area was not suitable for constructing a large-scale vehicle intermediate base was weighed on.

The current vehicle depot is located on 43 acres of land near Leeward Community College.

According to the 2010 environmental impact assessment by the administration of former mayor Moofi Hahnemann, the initial opening section was at noon on Saturdays and Sundays with three stations: West Loch, Waipahu, and Leeward University.

Also, next up was five stations: East Kapolei, Pearl Highlands, Aloha Stadium, Middle Street, and Alamona.

In 2011, former Mayor Peter Carlisle held a press conference on the main street next to the Salvation Army Croc Center, which was under construction near East Kapolei Station, to inform residents of the Honolulu city government’s high-capacity public transportation development plan.

At the time, some residents supported the construction of the light rail line, but voiced concerns that if the route was set up around East Kapolei Station, which was still undeveloped, there would be insufficient demand.

Since then, development has been carried out around the nearby UH West Oahu and Ho’o Folly stations, starting with about 2,500 homes.

Local development became a reality, and concerns about demand for use subsided to some extent, but the opening of the light rail system became unclear, and the city government’s light rail project faced another criticism.

The city government announced the partial opening of East Kapolei and Aloha Stadium in 2017 and plans for the terminal station at Ala Moana Center in 2019, promoting a plan to build a total of 21 stations.

However, during the test run in 2021, a defect was found that the train wheels and rail crossings had different specifications, and then additional cracks were found in the station pillars, further delaying the construction.

The city government eventually cut about 2 miles of the entire line and decided to cut 2 stations to reduce the construction cost and construction period by 2.6 billion dollars.

At the current stage, the light rail terminal is Kakaako’s Civic Center, and the Ward Village and Ala Moana Center stations are left to be discussed later.

Although the area around East Kapolei, the departure station, has been heavily developed, questions about demand still exist.

Aloha Stadium, the terminal station of the partially opened route, is also considered difficult to secure a large floating population until 2028, the expected deadline for completion of the redevelopment.

Meanwhile, proponents of light rail argue that future generations will enjoy the benefits of public transportation and station areas.

It seems that the city government is concentrating on linking with buses to increase the efficiency of using light rail.

According to the Star Advertiser’s report, many bus routes have been reconfigured to pass through nine stations that are partially open.

In addition, it is expected to provide convenience by setting the bus dispatch interval to 10 minutes at peak demand or at noon and providing direct buses from the transfer center to the station.

For example, between the Kapolei Transit Center and East Kapolei Station and UH West Oahu Station, there are direct buses at specific times.

Of the nine stations to be partially opened, except for Hopili Station and Leeward University Station, all other stations have bus stops.

UH West Oahu, West Loch and Aloha Stadium stations are home to multibay bus hubs that can accommodate multiple bus routes.

Seven of the nine stations also have sections for getting on and off handivans and shared vehicles.

Five of the seven stations have parking spaces for a total of 1,275 cars.

Three locations have 304-590 units, and two locations each have 20 units.

City Department of Transportation spokesman Travis Orta predicted that within a year of partial opening, the city could expect to see about 8,000 to 10,000 daily passenger demand.

The light rail division predicts that once the Kakaako Civic Center terminus is completed, the number of passengers traveling between the starting point and terminus will reach 84,000 per day during the week.

California Economy, ‘Beetle’ Hit Hard by Big Tech Slump

Carina Nuez, who works as a janitor in San Francisco’s financial district, is seriously contemplating her relocation to another location. She’s only making about $600 a week, as San Francisco’s bankruptcy cuts her cleaning services significantly due to her telecommuting. “She spends most of her income on rent, which has plummeted by nearly 50 percent compared to a few years ago,” said Nuez. said.

California’s economy, which once enjoyed a booming economy with big tech companies, is facing a crisis amid the stagnation of big tech companies. As the unemployment rate increased significantly due to large-scale job cuts by big tech companies and wages decreased, the aftermath of the economic downturn is spreading to small businesses such as cleaning companies, laundromats, and restaurants that are rooted in the local economy. Concerns are growing.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported recently that the ripple effect is spreading to small businesses in the region as the California economy suffers from measles in the aftermath of the big tech slump. The economic downturn at big tech companies has led to manpower cuts to the point of being called a job cut fever.

Mark Zuckerberg’s meta-announced plans to lay off 11,000 people, or 13% of the total workforce, in November last year, and then increased the number of job cuts by 10,000 in March this year. Microsoft is also planning to cut 10,000 jobs, less than 5% of its total workforce.

Big Tech’s job cuts acted as a driving force to raise the unemployment rate in California. According to the Department of Labour, California’s unemployment rate in April was 4.5 percent, the second highest in the nation. This is almost 1 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.4%. California’s unemployment rate, which is showing a different pattern from the national unemployment rate, which has been at an all-time low since 1969, was largely due to job cuts by big tech companies.

Falling wages also hurt the state’s economy. In San Francisco County, where big tech companies are concentrated, weekly wages plummeted 22.6% last year. Wage declines are unmistakable in cities with big tech companies, with Seattle falling 5.4% to 339th out of 356 large cities nationwide. The aftermath of big tech job cuts is also a factor slowing job creation in California.

In April, jobs at tech companies and construction companies in California declined significantly compared to the previous year, while the number of jobs in finance, trade, transportation, and logistics remained flat compared to last year. The stagnation of big tech companies coincides with the Federal Reserve’s rate hike, leading to contraction in consumer demand, making it more difficult for small business owners in the California area.

The California government was also not free from the stagnation of big tech companies. In May, the state government projected a budget deficit of $32 billion this year. From the deficit forecast in January, it has increased by $10 billion. Over the past two years, amid a boom in big tech, California has posted a budget surplus of $102 billion.

The sharp turnaround from a surplus budget to a deficit budget in just two years is because the income of the top 1% of the highest earners, who account for almost half of the income tax collected by the state government, has plummeted.

5 People in the Titanic Sightseeing Submersible, All Dead

Despite the participation of rescue efforts from around the world, the occupants of the submersible that went missing in the North Atlantic never returned alive.

The U.S. Coast Guard said on the 22nd that all five people on board the Titanic, a deep-sea submersible operated for tourists to see the wreckage of the Titanic, which sank 111 years ago, are believed to have died.

It has been four days since contact was lost 1 hour and 45 minutes after the start of the dive on the morning of the 18th.

The Coast Guard made this conclusion based on the remains of five submersibles, including a tail cone (conical structure at the tail of the aircraft) found on the seabed 488 meters from the bow of the Titanic.

An internal explosion appears to have occurred in the submersible.

“The debris supports that a catastrophic explosion occurred on this submersible,” Boston Coast Guard Major General John Moger said at a briefing.

It is difficult to know at this time whether the Titan exploded on the day of its disappearance or later, Moger added.

During the search, thumping underwater noise was detected over two days, raising hopes that the missing people were still alive, but it turned out that there was no relationship between the detected noise and the Titan.

However, when asked about the possibility of finding the body, Mauger said he was not sure, saying, “The seabed down there is an incredibly tough environment.”

The submersible includes Stockton Rush, CEO of Oceangate Expeditions, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani tycoon Shahjada Daoud and his son Suleman, and French maritime expert Paul Henri Nazolet. there was.

“His family was immediately notified (of his presumed death),” Mauger said.

The missing Titan is a 6.7m-long submersible made of carbon fiber and titanium, designed to carry a pilot and four passengers down to a depth of 4,000m.

As oxygen can be filled for up to four days, it was estimated that the ‘golden time’ was over in the morning, raising concerns.

As a result of this accident, it was also revealed that there had been issues raised inside and outside the company since 2018 that Oceangate had developed and operated this submersible without sufficient safety verification, causing controversy.

This submersible tour is an ultra-expensive tour product that costs 250,000 dollars per person.

Reckless Driving Crackdown to Private Parking Lots

On the 6th, the New York State Senate passed a bill that expands the punishment area for drivers of reckless driving to private parking lots.

This bill, proposed by Congressman John Liu, is to include private parking lots as areas subject to punishment for reckless drivers so that reckless driving vehicles that engage in idling and street racing with excessive exhaust noise can be cracked down in parking lots owned by private companies such as shopping malls is the main goal.

Currently, in New York State, when police detect reckless drivers on public roads or highways, they can conduct direct crackdowns, but reckless driving in private parking lots is not enforced unless the owner directly reports it.

Rep. John Liu said, “After the pandemic, vehicles for drag racing during late-night hours are gathering in parking lots with wide parking spaces such as Bay Terrace Shopping Mall and Fresh Meadow Shopping Centre, which threatens the lives and property of residents using nearby facilities. is being applied,” he explained about the background of the bill.

Currently, reckless driving is punishable as a misdemeanour in New York State, and for the first offense, up to 30 days in prison or up to $300 in fines, and penalties at the level of revocation of the driver’s license are applied.

Americans Divided Over Trump

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was indicted for illegally stealing classified documents, and about half of the American public thought the prosecution was natural, a survey found.

At the same time, a similar size of the American public responded that the indictment was ‘political’, confirming again that the public opinion of the American public is divided according to political inclinations over the prosecution of former President Trump.

According to a public opinion poll released on the 11th by ABC Broadcasting of the United States with the polling company Ipsos on 910 American citizens on the 9th and 10th, 61% of the total respondents said that former President Trump’s alleged transfer of classified documents was a ‘serious matter’.

By party support, 91% of Democratic supporters and 38% of Republicans viewed former President Trump’s allegations as serious, respectively.

48% said yes, 35% said no in answer to whether Trump should be prosecuted for transporting classified documents.

Another 46% of the total said former President Trump should stop his campaign.

Separately, 47% of all respondents said the prosecution was politically motivated. These responses were primarily driven by Republican supporters, Ipsos said.

On the other hand, Democratic supporters replied that former President Trump should be prosecuted, and the campaign should be suspended, the company said. This stark difference between Republican and Democratic supporters over the prosecution of former President Trump is consistent with the results of a public opinion poll conducted in April, when former President Trump was indicted for allegedly silenced sexual intercourse.

In a poll released by ABC and Ipsos on April 2, 88% of Democrats said, “should be prosecuted” for sexual intercourse silence, while 65% of Republicans said, “should not be prosecuted”.

In addition, 47% of all respondents at the time said the incident was politically motivated.

Republican supporters said that the case was a political investigation, regardless of whether they were in favour or against the prosecution of former President Trump.

12 Horses Died in 5 Weeks at Famous US Racetrack

Authorities launch investigation The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 3rd that authorities have launched an investigation after a series of deaths at a famous racetrack where the Kentucky Derby, one of the biggest horse racing events, was held recently.

Churchill Downs Racecourse in Louisville, Kentucky, announced the day before that it would move its racetrack to another racetrack in Kentucky following federal and state investigations into the deaths of 12 horses over the past five weeks. Only until this weekend’s race will be held at Churchill Downs, and from next week, horse racing will be held at Ellis Park, owned by Churchill Downs.

An accident in which two horses were killed in a Kentucky Derby match held on the 6th of last month was also included in the investigation by the authorities. Investigators interviewed Churchill Downs veterinarians this week and reviewed related documents, including autopsy reports of dead horses, poison reports and veterinary and trainer records of dead horses.

The condition of the racetrack surface is also being investigated. However, it is said that a certain pattern surrounding the death of 12 horses has not yet been found. Churchill Downs CEO Bill Kastangen said: “What happened on our track is so upsetting and unacceptable that we need more time to conduct a thorough investigation into all the details and circumstances.” said.

The NYT reported that Churchill Downs issued a recommendation on the 1st that it should not force horses that are not in good condition to compete.

Accordingly, the racecourse decided to abolish the current system of giving incentives to trainers of all horses that competed from first to last, and instead pay this money only to first to fifth trainers and restrict frequent participation in the race.

$275 Million in Delinquent Tolls on New York State Highways

The New York State Audit Office announced on the 30th that as of March of this year, as of March this year, as of March, the tolls passed on to the collection agency for using New York State highways and not paying tolls for a long time amounted to $275 million. Among them, unpaid tolls for vehicles registered in states other than New York State accounted for 43% of the total, at $119.3 million.

Vehicles registered in New Jersey accounted for $34.2 million, accounting for 28.7% of vehicles registered in other states, and those registered in Connecticut accounted for $16.7 million, accounting for 14%. According to the New York State Highway Administration, 90% of highway toll collection is done with E-ZPass, and the rest is collected through the mail. A $25 fee and a cancelled account will be the outcome if EZ Pass isn’t paid within 30 days.

In addition, an additional fee of $16 will be charged for non-return of the EasyPass device due to account cancellation. In the case of postal collection, if payment is not made within 30 days, a warning notice and a $5 penalty will be imposed, and if payment is still not made after 30 days, an additional $50 fee will be charged.

Thirty (30) days after the final notice of violation, documents relating to unpaid tolls are turned over to the collection agency. On the other hand, the New York State Highway Authority can request suspension of vehicle registration from the Parking Lot Bureau if tolls are not paid three or more times in five years.

230,000 Applications for Unemployment Benefits

The Federal Labour Department announced that the number of new jobless claims filed last week (May 14-20) was 229,000. Although it increased by 4,000 from the previous week, it was far less than the expert forecast (245,000) compiled by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Given that the number of claims filed last week was revised down to 225,000 from the previously announced 242,000, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits remains at a historically low level. The number of unemployment benefits claims, which showed an upward trend in April, fell back to the low 200,000 range because large-scale fraudulent claims were discovered in the state of Massachusetts and elsewhere.

The sharp downward revision in the number of claims last week is also a result of the Massachusetts crackdown. Previously, the state of Massachusetts launched a massive crackdown, saying that there was an attempt to apply for new unemployment benefits with stolen personal information or fraudulently obtain unemployment benefits using someone else’s account.

The number of “continued unemployment benefits” claims, which are claims for unemployment benefits for at least two weeks, also fell by 5,000 to 1,794,000.

The Wall Street estimate is 1.8 million. Media such as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) analysed that these results suggest that the labour market is still in a strong state. The fact that unemployment claims have hardly risen since the unemployment rate hit 3.4% last month, the lowest level in 54 years, is expected to complicate the calculations of the Federal Reserve at the crossroads of monetary policy.

For the Fed, this is because it is a factor that increases pressure to raise interest rates. The Federal Reserve, which has raised interest rates 10 times in a row until this month, is facing a tight confrontation between the theory of freezing and the theory of additional hikes over the decision of the base rate with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on the 13th and 14th of June.