U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $500K in Washington state maritime sector innovation
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 22/ 17 (link source)“Washington Maritime Blue 2050” project aims to lead the nation in sustainable ocean industry technology and practices, earns regional innovation strategy grant
OLYMPIA, WA – The Washington State Department of Commerce was awarded a $500,000 grant through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program to support Washington Maritime Blue 2050, a statewide vision for creating and expanding the nation’s most sustainable ocean industry and technology cluster. Every federal dollar is matched with state and local funds.
The ‘Blue Economy’ is taking off around the world, from ships humming with electric engines to port efficiency and automation and the first zero-emission terminal now under construction. Studies predict that in coming decades, scientific and technological advances will play a crucial role in addressing ocean-related environmental challenges and ocean-based economic activities.
“Maritime activity has long been a pillar of Washington state’s economy,” Gov. Jay Inslee said. “Today we are uniquely poised to lead the country in maritime clean tech innovation and best management practices that create living-wage jobs, a healthy environment, and resilient communities.”
Every segment of the state’s $37.8 billion maritime sector will be affected by technological advances in coming years, so leaders in government, research, businesses and academic communities are working together to capitalize on prime opportunities with Washington Maritime Blue: 2050 Vision for Accelerating Innovation.
The project has three main objectives:
• Set the course for sustainable maritime industry innovation. The Washington Maritime BLUE 2050 is a strategy to ensure Washington State is home of the most sustainable maritime industry by 2050, aligned with Governor Inslee’s plans for deep de-carbonization, innovation and workforce development.
• Support strong blue tech cluster coordination, forming strategic alliances, growth in trade, and increased jobs.
• Support development of the Washington Maritime Innovation Center at the Port of Seattle, in partnership with the Port of Seattle and the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab.
“Receiving this grant acknowledges the strong connections created through our sector lead program to ensure our state is positioned to thrive and lead in the increasingly competitive international marketplace for maritime services,” Commerce Director Brian Bonlender said. “Washington’s maritime industry strengthens communities all over the state by employing a diverse workforce of nearly 70,000.
Our goal is to build on that by creating a green, efficient, sustainable maritime sector that will serve as a model for the rest of the country.”
The $500,000 grant is matched in-kind by the Port of Seattle, which is providing space for the Washington Maritime Innovation Center, and the University of Washington Applied Physics Lab providing staff time.
The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE), housed within the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), leads the Regional Innovation Strategies Program to spur innovation capacity-building activities in regions across the nation. The program is authorized through the America COMPETES reauthorization Act of 2010, and has received dedicated appropriations since fiscal year 2014.
Commerce was one of 42 organizations — including nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and entrepreneurship-focused organizations from 28 states that received over $17 million to create and expand cluster-focused proof-of-concept and commercialization programs, and early-stage seed capital funds through RIS. The awardees were selected from a pool of more than 217 applicants.
NATIONAL LEVEL....
FROM THE US CHAMBER OF COMMERCESmall, Midsize Businesses Hold Key to Growth
Blog post by THOMAS J. DONOHUE, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce (link source)
The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 3% last quarter, the fastest pace in more than two years and a welcome sign of momentum following a sluggish recovery. What do we need to do to ensure this progress continues? For one thing, we need to listen to America’s small and midsize business leaders. These economic playmakers often get drowned out in our modern political discourse, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is working to make sure their voices are heard—because our country depends on them.
We’ll never kick our economy into high gear if we don’t understand the concerns and goals of the business leaders who are on the ground working to expand their companies every day. In debates over tax reform, health care, regulations, and more, input from these Americans holds the key to boosting the entire country. After all, two-thirds of new private sector jobs come from our 30 million small and midsize businesses. When we respond appropriately to their frustrations, we end up helping our workers and communities too.
The Chamber conducts surveys of small and midsize businesses every quarter, and we use the results to keep our government in tune with our economy. We also host events such as our recent National Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C., and our Small Business Series of events across the country. Our priority with these is to listen and then amplify what we hear.
In the case of our most recent surveys, about 60% of small business leaders in the second-quarter had a positive outlook for their companies and the environment in which they operate. Our third-quarter survey of midmarket business owners, released last week, was slightly less encouraging. These leaders are still optimistic, yet their outlook had dimmed from the previous quarter, partly due to a lack of progress on policy reform in Washington.
These business leaders are eager to hold government accountable. At our recent Small Business Summit, for example, we gave attendees the opportunity to engage directly with members of Congress—and the response was overwhelming. About 200 business owners stormed Capitol Hill to talk tax reform and other issues.
With the third-quarter ending this Saturday, we’ll soon get another official reading on America’s economic performance. The Chamber hopes to see continued momentum with another strong quarter. But regardless of the result, it is clear that small and midsize businesses are ready for real action on vital issues like tax reform and infrastructure. Government leaders would do well to listen up—and get moving.
U.S. Chamber's Donohue: Exiting NAFTA Would Be a 'Costly Mistake'
Blog posted 9/ 24/ 17 (link source)
Fourteen million American jobs depend on trade with Canada and Mexico, which are by far the U.S.’s largest export markets. Our North American neighbors buy more than $600 billion in U.S.-manufactured goods each year, more than the next 10 largest markets combined.
Thanks to Nafta, virtually all North American trade is tariff-free. After withdrawing from the deal, tariffs on all products would snap back to an average of 3.5% for the U.S., 4.2% for Canada, and 7.5% for Mexico—a terrible deal for all three countries.
The increased tariffs would hit American consumers and exporters in the pocketbook, but the losses would accumulate well before that. Supply chains would shift away from the U.S., as Canada and Mexico looked to their other free-trade partners, in Europe and Asia, for manufactured goods and food.
Hundreds of thousands of American jobs would be lost, and that’s a conservative estimate. Heartland states that voted for President Trump would be hurt most, and angry voters would know exactly whom to blame.
Beyond the trade retaliation and economic fallout, cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico in other areas would fall off. Today the two countries work closely on antiterror and antinarcotics efforts, and Mexico helps limit Central American migration northward. These efforts would end overnight.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AWARDS NEARLY $1.5 MILLION FOR WOMEN IN APPRENTICESHIPS AND NONTRADITIONAL OCCUPATIONS
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 21/ 17 (link source)
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded $1,492,095 to support the recruitment, training, and retention of women in skilled occupations.
The Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations grant program funds community-based organizations that provide employers and labor unions with one or more of the following types of technical assistance:
Pre-apprenticeship or nontraditional skills training programs;
Ongoing orientations for employers, unions and workers on creating a successful environment for women to succeed in these careers; and
Support groups and facilitating networks for women to improve their retention.
“Apprenticeships in the trades offer great opportunities for women to acquire the skills necessary for family-sustaining jobs,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta.
Women are severely underrepresented in apprenticeship programs, and in high-growth, high-wage occupations generally. While women make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force, they comprise less than 10 percent of apprentices.
Apprenticeships offer workers a pathway to the middle class and helps companies recruit, develop, and retain a highly skilled workforce. In addition to their long history in skilled trades such as construction, apprenticeships are also increasingly found in emerging and high-growth industries like energy, health care, and information technology.
The 2017 grants are administered by the Department’s Women’s Bureau. For information about the program see the Department’s FAQ.
IRS Issues Guidance for Allowance of Credit for Increasing Research Activities
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 9/ 22/ 17 (link source)
WASHINGTON--The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance to Large Business & International (LB&I) Division examiners regarding the examination of the credit for increasing research activities under IRC Section 41 (“Research Credit”) claimed by LB&I taxpayers.
Independently determining the correct amount of Research Credit claimed by LB&I taxpayers can be resource intensive for those taxpayers and LB&I examiners. The directive is intended to provide an efficient approach for determining the amount of qualified research expenses (“QREs”) for LB&I taxpayers while, at the same time, reducing the burden of doing so on LB&I taxpayers and examiners.
LB&I taxpayers may choose to follow the terms of the directive on original returns timely filed (including extensions) on or after the date of the directive. At the beginning of an examination that includes the Research Credit, the audit team will verify whether the taxpayer followed or plans to follow the directive. For taxpayers choosing to follow the directive, the audit team will ensure the taxpayer complies with the eligibility requirements provided in the directive.
The directive instructs LB&I examiners to accept the Adjusted Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 730 Financial Statement R&D for the credit year as the amount of QREs for that year. Adjusted ASC 730 Financial Statement R&D is made up of the research and development costs currently expensed on a taxpayer’s Certified Audited Financial Statement pursuant to ASC 730 for U.S. GAAP purposes and includes certain specified adjustments made to ASC 730 Financial Statement R&D.
The directive only applies to LB&I taxpayers (i.e. assets equal to or greater than $10 million) that follow U.S. GAAP to prepare their Certified Audited Financial Statements, which show as a separate line item on the income statement the amount of the currently expensed ASC 730 Financial Statement R&D included in their Certified Audited Financial Statements or show separately stated in a note to their Certified Audited Financial Statements.
The directive is not an official pronouncement of law, and cannot be used, cited, or relied on as such. In addition, nothing in the directive should be construed as affecting the operation of any other provision of the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations or guidance thereunder.
Op-Ed: These NAFTA Rules Are Killing Our Jobs
Posted on the US COMMERCE DEPT, and Published in the Washington Post on 9/ 22/ 17 by, By Wilbur Ross (link source)
As the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations unfold, there is a lot of loose talk being exchanged about automobile parts going back and forth among the United States, Canada and Mexico. NAFTA supporters assert that the U.S. content in cars assembled in Canada and Mexico is particularly high and that therefore our $70 billion-plus trade deficits with our NAFTA partners are not worrisome.
That would be a great argument if it were correct. But it isn’t. That argument is neither true of motor vehicles nor of manufactured goods in general.
A study to be released Friday by Anne Flatness and Chris Rasmussen of the Office of Trade and Economic Analysis within the Commerce Department proves its falsity. The study, based on Trade in Value Added data recently released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, shows that between 1995, the year after NAFTA went into effect, and 2011, U.S. content of manufactured goods imported from Canada dropped significantly — from 21 percent to 15 percent. U.S. content in goods imported from Mexico fell even more — from 26 percent to 16 percent. The data is available only until 2011, but there is no reason to think that the situation has improved since then.
The numbers for the automobile industry specifically are similar — not surprising because automobiles account for 27 percent of total imports from Canada and Mexico. Indeed, automobiles drive the U.S. trade deficit with those countries; the United States would enjoy a trade surplus with its NAFTA partners were it not for the trade deficit in autos and auto parts.
These data debunk the claim that U.S. content in the form of parts is so high that we shouldn’t worry about headline gross-deficit figures. Nor is this a trivial concern: Canada and Mexico combined are the largest source of manufactured products imported into the United States, accounting for nearly a quarter of our imports. (see link source for full article)
WORLD AND NATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
From Reuters;North Korea says U.S. 'declared war' warns it could shoot down U.S. bombers
UNITED NATIONS/BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s foreign minister said on Monday that President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserves the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. bombers even if they are not in its air space.
Austria's far right gives two cheers for German sister party's success
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria’s anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO), seeking to soften its image before Austrians go to the polls next month, offered only lukewarm praise on Monday for a record election showing by its sister party in neighboring Germany.
Jews around world concerned by far-right breakthrough in German election
BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Jewish groups in Europe and the United States have expressed alarm at the far-right Alternative for Germany’s success in Germany’s parliamentary election and urged other parties not to form an alliance with the AfD.
NATION
Ex-U.S. Rep. Weiner sentenced to 21 months in teen 'sexting' case
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Monday for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl, setting off a scandal that played a role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Kushner used private email account for White House business: Politico
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, has used a private email account alongside his official White House account to exchange messages with other administration officials, Politico reported on Sunday.
Republicans revise Obamacare repeal bill amid tepid support
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators made a last-ditch effort on Monday to secure support for the latest Republican attempt to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, releasing revised legislation to appeal to undecided senators.
Daily Bible Verse: My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 John 2:1 NKJV
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