TSMC looks to double down on U.S. chip factories as talks in Europe falter

EU is loosely coupled peace union with a lot of sovereignty left to the individual states. If I remember correctly, ones Rupert Murdoch famously said that it’s impossible to find a phone number to call.

So, It’s probably not up to the EU to care about automotive, that must be Germany. France and Spain likely cares about other things and no one cares about cutting edge chips. EU can push from the top by easing state aid rules, I guess, however it must be a particular country to strike a deal.

R.M. probably meant it more as a figure of speech.

>Please don't signal boost easily falsifiable claims like this. The function of it is to sow division and prevent proper nuanced discussion.

The phone numbers on that page is a hotline for general questions. It is absolutely not the same thing as the point mrtksn's Murdoch quote mentioned.

A media magnate like Murdoch has the phone number to the White House central switchboard and can get the President on the phone. Maybe not immediately, but probably within an hour. He might even have the President's personal cell phone number.[1] In turn, the President can either do what Murdoch requests, or transfer him to someone who can.

What is the EU equivalent to this sort of access? Murdoch can probably get Ursula von der Leyen on the phone more easily than he can Biden. But is she the right person for what Murdoch needs? Even if she is, her position certainly does not have the breadth of authority, or depth of command structures, that a US president can call upon. If Murdoch learns from a reliable source that Russia is going to full-on invade western Ukraine tomorrow, would calling von der Leyen to warn her be of any particular help for Ukraine, or for Europe? No; calling Biden, Merkel, Macron, and Johnson would be more effective.[2] That's the sort of thing Murdoch meant.

[1] Trump is well known for giving his cell phone number out and personally responding to calls, both before and after his election

[2] In this scenario, whether the UK is a EU member or not does not matter

Yeah, that's nice cover.

This is a meme that is meant to heighten emotions in politics. It's small but intentionally destructive and each repetition of one of these little demonizations further prevents cool-headed nuanced discourse.

It's death by a thousand cuts for our society.

> If I remember correctly, ones Rupert Murdoch famously said that it’s impossible to find a phone number to call.

Irbid question is attributed to former US foreign secretary Henry Kissinger who supposedly asked:

> Who do I call if I want to call Europe?

Like many famous quotes, it seems to be false: https://www.ft.com/content/c4c1e0cd-f34a-3b49-985f-e708b247e...

Even if he had said it, the EUs political framework has changed and there‘s now a “foreign minister”-like Post that is the EUs phone number for other foreign ministers.

Murdoch meant "who should I call to have the deals I want to make facilitated?" (to put it in PC terms)

Whether one thinks that Rupert Murdoch is a supervillain who manipulates politics in the UK and Australia as easily as a dog's owner gives orders to his pet, or merely an influential billionaire media mogul who gets the ear of world leaders like other billionaire media moguls, my point stands: There is no "there" in the EU for him to talk to.

That sounds like you paint corporate control over politicians in positive light. I am glad that American mogul don't have direct line (preferential treatment) to EU top level officials.

I would further that and say it's a good thing there is no "top" EU official - distributed governance makes this way more resilient, e.g. should the head honcho be a bad guy with a taste of dictatorship

Which is a good thing and one of the many differences between the EU and the US. Trump is known to be happy to give out his number to big tech which is absolutely anti-democratic as this is backaccess to power. It is on par with corruption in destroying democracies.

If you want EU to do something you can call Angela Merkel, and she can beat EU Parliament and other institutions into submission quite quickly.

Seems correct however it's not actually about the existence of a phone number to call but a tool to portray the nature of the EU. Of corse, every organisation within the EU have phone numbers that can be reached but there's no EuroTrump/EuroBiden/EuroErdogan to make deals with.

Exactly, it's not about actually finding a number to call but to convey the nature of the organisation. It might not even be a real quote by anyone but it is used to portray EU. It is a bad thing or good thing, depending on your opinions on governmental centralisation and the relations of businesspeople with politicians.

Unfortunately we can no longer have conversation on politics without rage, so I agree that it is a bit provocative. That said, I don't see how we can talk about the TSMCs failure to strike a deal with the EU without pointing out about this fundamental difference between EU and USA.

> If I remember correctly, ones Rupert Murdoch famously said that it’s impossible to find a phone number to call

Others have pointed out that the quote is false, but the real question is: why should EU answer to Murdoch phone calls?

He's just a billionaire with no political relevance.

People who really mattered had phone numbers to call, for example Henry Kissinger was a close friend of Gianni Agnelli, principal shareholder of FIAT.

Trump gave/gives out his number to almost anyone, including reporters. I can't find it right now, but there is a Times article in which the author recounts how after "a reporter' (i.e., the author) left a voicemail on Trump's cell phone, the man himself called back late that night.

> A media magnate like Murdoch has the phone number to the White House central switchboard and can get the President on the phone.

If you think this is a good thing this entire discussion is futile.