7.93 billion over 9 years, less a massive 20-33% cut for the lawyers, divided by 120,000 people. These people will be lucky to see 45k, spread over 9 years. And 3M admits no liability.

Wrong. The article is behind a paywall but the gist of the situation in Japan is that cards mostly use chip & pin for payment terminals but not ATMs. Japanese ATMs still accept magnetic stripes which can be cloned by skimmers or various REMOTE attacks - phishing sites, e-skimming, guessing attacks, data breaches, PC malware and so on. Japan also has unique localized attacks like elderly people being tricked into handing over cards and pins by fake police / inspectors so they can be cloned. Thieves have even used stolen cards and bound them to Apple Pay accounts so they don't even need physical cards themselves. The proof of it is that Japanese banks have lost billions of yen in such attacks.

So an app is defacto more secure than app AND a card since there is less attack surface. A banking app is protected by the phone's screen lock / biometric protection, integrity / attestation services in the OS, trusted execution & keystore in hardware, and any additional MFA within app itself. That doesn't mean banks should be complacent since apps do have their own means of attack - phishing, rooted devices, replay attacks and so on to worry about. But the ability for thieves to systematically clone and steal money is far less.

America has a political system where politicians spend more time fundraising than legislating, lobbiests all too keen to assist raising funds, an election cycle where any superpac can dump money into supporting candidates, and piss weak advertising & social media rules. So special interests like oil companies, automotive have plenty of opportunities to engage in white & black hat campaigns to spread FUD and conspiracies that make people act against their own best interests.

Is it any worse than trusting a plastic card with a chip in it?

I definitely think Iran will be happy by this change and might be more willing to negotiate now Trump is hamstrung. Probably not going to happen with Russia even if congress is likely to throw more weight and support behind Ukraine.

Trump is such a terrible president that having the congress in opposition can only be a good thing. But it also has the potential to descend into infighting and bickering so Democrats need to maintain focus and they need to be methodical about exposing corruption, investigating dealings by Trump and his cronies, hauling his appointments over the coals and generally being a pain in the butt.

I wouldn't be thinking of legislation willynilly. Joined up thinking is required with a goal in mind and incentives (and disincentives) to achieve that goal. Europe, Australia, New Zealand are in the process of doing it. Norway has already done it. There is already precedent that could shape what laws were passed.

But I'm not holding my breath since the US is dysfunctional, and something as straightforward as adopting a cleaner, more efficient form of energy and vehicles which are objectively better is somehow contentious.

Yeah and clearly you think "YOU" here means "ONLY YOU". Maybe you're one of those people who resent that government takes money from you to build schools, roads, prisons, police & fire stations, sanitation, hospitals, social housing, water treatment / sewage etc and enforce rules and regulations if you'll never personally derive benefit from. Maybe you think building codes, zoning, speed limits, occupational safety, drug / alcohol rehab, air quality, welfare, parks & wildlife are for losers.

But if you agree with even a single one of these things, then you're conceding government exists for the betterment beyond your own personal selfish whims. Because many people are selfish assholes - "hey I don't have kids so why should I pay for teachers", "I love a few beers before I drive home", "I don't want to pay for trash collection so I shall just dump it in this pond".

Government exists for the betterment of all and that should extend to how people move around - public transportation, foot & cycle paths, low / zero emissions vehicles, air quality, pollution. Whether you like it or not. Some countries get this. Some apparently do not.

Europe manages it. Every country is separate and sovereign with its own laws whose rights extend far greater than any US state has. They're not a federal system even.

But they still get together and they define policy, directives etc that are for the benefit of free trade, standards, safety, environment etc. and each country transcribes those directives into national law. So since you mention banking Europe has SEPA. I can, and I have transferred money from Ireland to Spain, UK, Germany in seconds.

This is slightly OT since Norway is not in the EU, but the EU has enacted laws to mandate a single EV charging standard, public charger payment methods, CO2 emissions / clean vehicles, EV charging infrastructure expansion proportional to EV sales, requring chargepoints/wiring on new / renovated buildings & carparks, carbon taxes on fuel, and EV purchase incentives.

Norway has trains, like any sane country. But people still drive and drive long distances. So Norway has lots of fast chargers and they are run by companies for profit. They are built in accordance to a national strategy. It's joined up thinking. There is no reason the same cannot happen for other countries including the United States.

I get it, you're a selfish prick and there is no such thing in your mind as a government acting for the betterment of everybody.

No, that's your silly straw man argument. Other countries are managing this roll out. The US isn't.

Actually it was funded by throwing taxes and other punitive charges on ICE vehicles that EVs were exempt from and then using the money to build out EV adoption. And yeah Norway has some oil wealth that contributes to the balance sheet but it's not ringfenced and NOBODY is denying it contributes to climate change. The reality is Norway is a sparsely populated country with some cold and extreme weather and lots of road and yet somehow manages to adopt EVs. And the simple reason is they planned to do it and followed through with the plan.

The problem is not the means it is the will. Norway made it expensive to own an ICE vehicle and incentivized EV adoption. So now nearly all new vehicles sold are pure electric (with a few % PHEV) and there are chargers everywhere including communal ones. Likewise virtually every EV country and the UK has incentives and schemes to push EV adoption and the buildout to support it. It's not perfect and some countries are behind the curve but its happening.

But that requires joined up thinking. The US does not do joined up thinking.

This is a chicken and egg situation which is easily resolved with legislation. The government mandates that apartments, supermarkets and other car parks gain charging spots. They mandate new builds have chargers as part of construction sign off. They offer grants and retrofit assistance for existing properties and private dwellings to install chargers. They mandate that there be superchargers every X number of miles along designated motorways and major roads. Basically they use law and taxes to progress things in the direction they wish things to go.

This is what any sane country should do. But the US is not sane. Some states might do some of the above but then there is the federal (lack of) initiative made worse by having a senile asshole in power who hates renewables and electrification because of a windfarm dispute at one of his golf courses.