The Cefa Brief

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  • CommentaryIndustrial Policy

    Semiconductor subsidy should be judged on demand met at home, not on fabs opened

    Construction spending on manufacturing plant fell from an annual rate of 244 billion dollars in 2024 to 215 billion in 2025, while U.S. semiconductor production rose from 144 to 165 on a 2017 base, its largest step in five observations. The two yardsticks now available disagree about the same year, and the one that should settle the question appears in none of this data.

  • CommentaryWorkforce & Skills

    The binding constraint on American port throughput sits inland, not at the berth

    The occupational file puts the three heaviest concentrations of transport and material-moving work in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana, none of which fronts an ocean, and puts California, Florida and New York below the national share. No series held here counts a container, a berth or a crane, so the inland reading is an inference from where the work is counted.