DRAMageddon Deepens As Samsung Prepares 20% Memory Price Hike
There is no immediate price relief coming for cutting-edge memory chips, even as South Korea moves to double memory capacity. New fabs and expanded lines take time to build and then ramp production, meaning the supply response will lag demand. For now, DRAM inventories remain tight through year-end as data center buildouts accelerate, keeping producers like Samsung in control of the market, with more price hikes likely ahead.
The memory-chip squeeze is not easing anytime soon. That is the clear takeaway from a new report by the Shanghai-based Chinese financial media group Yicai, which says Samsung plans to raise average third-quarter DRAM prices by about 20% from the prior quarter.
More color from Yicai:
On July 3, it was reported that Samsung Electronics plans to raise the average selling price of its DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) by 20% in the third quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter.
“It’s true,” an executive from a consumer electronics manufacturer told CBN reporters. “Samsung had already spoken with us in June and we have now received verbal notification from Samsung about raising DRAM prices.”
“The significant price increase of upstream components will be passed on to the final price of the finished product, which will curb market demand to some extent. However, since the overall price of consumer electronics products is not high now, even if prices rise, it is not expected to significantly affect users’ purchasing decisions,” said the person in charge of the aforementioned consumer electronics terminal manufacturer.
Another industry veteran also told reporters that the news that Samsung plans to raise DRAM prices by 20% in the third quarter is true, and Samsung has already notified some customers of the verbal price quote.
DDR4 DRAM spot prices tracked by inSpectrum Tech suggest the memory squeeze still has room to run, with the latest rebound pointing to another potential leg higher.
The industry response, and in South Korea’s case, a national-level response, has been a massive push by giants Samsung and SK Hynix to double memory-chip production. But that chip capacity buildout will take years, meaning the current supply crunch is unlikely to ease quickly in the near term.
The situation is worsening, with a recent report detailing Apple’s plan to buy cheaper DRAM from China. Meanwhile, there have been price hikes on popular gaming consoles, from Xbox to PlayStation, as tech giants can no longer shield consumers from memory-chip inflation and are now being forced to pass those costs along to customers.
At what point does Trump start raging at soaring memory prices
The Declaration of Independence. (National Archives.)
Today is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Over the years, I have written various posts and articles on the American Revolution and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the American Founding. Some have obvious continuing relevance to such issues as identity politics, nationalism, immigration, the role of slavery in American history, and more. Particularly relevant, given recent political developments, are the various pieces on the liberal universalist ideals of the Founding and their opposition to ethno-nationalism.
I hope the links are useful, and stir reflection on the principles of the Declaration. Unless otherwise noted, all of these pieces were published as posts on the Volokh Conspiracy blog. I put them in chronological order:
“Frederick Douglass on Immigration,” April 10, 2014. A discussion of Frederick Douglass’s great 1869 speech on how American ideals require openness to immigration.
“The Case Against Nationalism,” National Affairs, Winter 2024 (with Alex Nowrasteh). This article is a more general critique of nationalism. But it includes a section explaining why nationalism is inimical to the ideals of the Declaration and the Founding.
“Trump vs. the Declaration of Independence,” July 4, 2025. Several items on the Declaration of Independence list of grievances against George III also apply to Trump today, most notably on immigration, trade, and deportation without due process. Like King George, he is “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
“My House Judiciary Subcommittee Testimony Against the “Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act,” Feb. 9, 2026. Summary of my testimony before the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, explaining why discrimination against immigrants based on their speech and religion is unconstitutional and contrary to the ideals of the Founding. The testimony itself is available here.
A massive $126 billion spending plan approved by the New York City Council earlier this week includes nearly $7 million for so-called ‘trans equity’ programs and drag queen story hours.
The New York Post reports that the budget was approved by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and directs the taxpayer money to programs and services “to help empower the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) community.”
NYC budget funnels $7M to transgender programs, drag story hours
For the record, Drag Queen Story Hour now receives more city funding than the Department of Veterans Services.
The city council said, “Funding may support education programs, employment services, workforce development, healthcare navigation, legal guidance, community workshops, or academic research, among others.”
According to The National Review, the new budget doesn’t include any spending for the additional 580 police officers Mayor Mamdani promised to hire.
State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar questioned, “Why isn’t there more money for police?”
“This goes way beyond recognizing transgender individuals into spending millions of taxpayer dollars to promote transgenderism.”
Key funding initiatives of the nearly $7 million earmark include $1 million for directed to Destiny Tomorrow for the first transitional housing program for transgender individuals in the Bronx as well as $705,000 for community health for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and $600,000 for the Caribbean Equality Project.
The allocation also includes funding for education and tolerance with funds for the Advocates for Trans Equality Education Fund and the Trans Formative Schools program, alongside localized funding from city council members for drag story hours in schools and libraries.
Allen Roskoff, head of the Jim Owles Liberal LGBT Democratic Club, told the New York Post, “Transgender youth need our support. These individuals are the most vulnerable people out there. We will do everything in our power to protect these children from hate orchestrated by far right Republicans. We are going to see to it they get the health care and protection they deserve.”
The approval of the nearly $7 million earmark comes on the heels of Mamdani encouraging New Yorkers to set their thermostats to 78 degrees to conserve energy, with Republicans calling the mayor’s budgeting priorities into question.
Ships Abruptly U-Turn Near Hormuz As Some Shift To Iran-Approved Routes
The reopening of the Hormuz chokepoint has proceeded relatively smoothly for weeks, but an overnight development shows that the process remains fragile. At least eight ships attempting to exit the Persian Gulf abruptly reversed course near the critical waterway.
Bloomberg cites ship-tracking data showing that the vessels, including oil tankers, product carriers, bulk carriers, and vehicle carriers, were moving toward the strait along the Omani coast before abruptly turning back. Several ships later resumed their transits through the strait by shifting northward onto a route closer to the Iranian coast, in line with Tehran’s request that ships use authorized Iranian-designated lanes.
via Bloomberg:
It is unclear why the ships abruptly altered course, though Tehran has repeatedly warned vessels by VHF radio to follow designated routes.
Earlier on Saturday, Iran warned Western powers that the Hormuz waterway is not a “theater for the military display of extra-regional powers.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran views itself as the responsible power and security guarantor of the strait, adding that Tehran would closely monitor any foreign military movements in the waterway.
Gharibabadi’s warning came shortly after the UK and France announced that their navies were ready to support freedom-of-navigation operations in the waterway.
“Iran, as the responsible power and guarantor of the Strait’s security, warns with sensitivity to any military movement in this waterway,” Gharibabadi said on X.
He added, “The security of Hormuz lies with the coastal states; the crisis-makers will be held accountable for the consequences of their adventurism; this is a serious warning.”
While daily commodity vessel crossings have averaged around 34 since Monday, Hormuz vessel traffic remains well below pre-war levels.
Natasha Kaneva, JPMorgan’s top commodities strategist, provided clients with more color on Hormuz ship flows and what it means for energy markets:
There is now a rush to move stranded cargoes out of the Strait of Hormuz. Average crude exports from the Persian Gulf plus re-routed volumes over the last ten days have already recovered to about 19 mbd, just 3 mbd below pre-war levels. The backlog is also disappearing quickly: floating storage has fallen to just 20 million barrels, while another 10 million barrels remain in onshore tanks awaiting exports.
Meanwhile, inbound tankers are lining up to enter the Strait, preparing to load barrels that have been sitting in storage tanks for months. More entering vessels will be needed as production across the Gulf gradually returns to normal operating levels. We are already seeing a growing queue of ballast VLCCs moving towards the Gulf.
The line is long and deep—an important signal that the logistical chain is reconnecting and that loadings can continue uninterrupted as the system works its way back toward normal.
The Declaration of Independence. (National Archives.)
Today is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Over the years, I have written various posts and articles on the American Revolution and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the American Founding. Some have obvious continuing relevance to such issues as identity politics, nationalism, immigration, the role of slavery in American history, and more. Particularly relevant, given recent political developments, are the various pieces on the liberal universalist ideals of the Founding and their opposition to ethno-nationalism.
I hope the links are useful, and stir reflection on the principles of the Declaration. Unless otherwise noted, all of these pieces were published as posts on the Volokh Conspiracy blog. I put them in chronological order:
“Frederick Douglass on Immigration,” April 10, 2014. A discussion of Frederick Douglass’s great 1869 speech on how American ideals require openness to immigration.
“The Case Against Nationalism,” National Affairs, Winter 2024 (with Alex Nowrasteh). This article is a more general critique of nationalism. But it includes a section explaining why nationalism is inimical to the ideals of the Declaration and the Founding.
“Trump vs. the Declaration of Independence,” July 4, 2025. Several items on the Declaration of Independence list of grievances against George III also apply to Trump today, most notably on immigration, trade, and deportation without due process. Like King George, he is “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
“My House Judiciary Subcommittee Testimony Against the “Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act,” Feb. 9, 2026. Summary of my testimony before the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, explaining why discrimination against immigrants based on their speech and religion is unconstitutional and contrary to the ideals of the Founding. The testimony itself is available here.
The United States has transformed from a collection of 13 eastern colonies into a transcontinental nation spanning 50 states, one district, and five major territories—a geographic expansion forged through land purchases and war treaties.
America’s two-and-a-half-century evolution includes not only geographic growth, but also transformations in population, family structures, wages, the housing market, and health.
Through data and graphics, here is a look at how the country has changed over 250 years.
Changing Face of America
In 1790, 95 percent of Americans resided in rural areas; by 2020, that figure had dropped to 20 percent.
This demographic shift transformed the rural landscape itself. More than 50 percent of rural residents lived on farms prior to 1940, but that share dwindled to a mere 5 percent by 2000.
Although the U.S. urban population surged from 5 percent in 1790 to 80 percent in 2020, this growth shifted heavily toward suburban and outlying areas after 1950, leaving central cities with less than half of the total urban population.
While domestic migration altered where Americans lived, shifting global immigration patterns simultaneously refined who made up the nation.
The number of U.S. foreign-born residents grew from 2.2 million in 1850 to 50.2 million in 2024, or from 9 percent of the national population to nearly 15 percent.
Europe supplied the majority of immigrants during a century-long window from 1850 to 1970, though its share dropped from 92 percent to about 62 percent.
The Mexican-born population of the United States multiplied more than 15 times between 1970 and 2010, exploding from fewer than 800,000 to nearly 12 million.
The pivot point of modern immigration was the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, according to a 1999 study from the Organization of American Historians.
Men sit on a bench outside a Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles on April 27, 2005. The Mexican-born population in the United States grew from fewer than 800,000 in 1970 to nearly 12 million in 2010. Hector Mata/AFP via Getty Images
The law was “instrumental in transforming Mexican immigration” from a seasonal flow of undocumented workers into settled families across the country, according to the journal.
Spurred by economic instability in Mexico in the late 1980s, migrants “opted to remain abroad, accept the proffered legalization, and settle more permanently into a United States life.”
By 2010, the regional makeup of the foreign-born population was led by Latin America (over 50 percent), followed by Asia (28 percent) and Europe (12 percent).
California, Texas, and Illinois were the leading states of residence for Mexican-born populations.
Despite the global immigration and an 84-fold population increase over 230 years, the most common American last names have remained consistent, according to an April report from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Surnames such as Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, Jones, Miller, Davis, and Wilson all placed in the top 15 in both the 1790 and 2020 censuses.
Notably, Asian last names such as Zhang, Liu, and Wang ranked among the fastest-growing surnames between 2010 and 2020, according to the bureau’s data.
Evolution of the American Household
America was young in 1800, with high fertility rates and abundant land. Its population was young, too—roughly 50 percent of the population was 16 years old or younger.
In the 18th century, the average American woman bore at least seven children.
Benjamin Franklin attributed the high fertility rates to the ease of acquiring good farmland.
A portrait of the D.D. Miller family of Goshen, Ind., from an album dated 1910–1920. Large families were common in the United States in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Mennonite Church USA Archives/Public Domain
“So vast is the Territory of North-America, that it will require many Ages to settle fully,” he said in a 1751 essay. “Land being thus plenty … a labouring man, that understands Husbandry, can in a short Time save Money enough to purchase a Piece of new Land sufficient for a Plantation, whereon he may subsist a Family.”
The American population grew and lived longer. It expanded from from 3.9 million in 1790 to roughly 342.6 million by June 2026, while its median age more than doubled, from 16 to around 39.
In 1790, large families dominated the landscape, with 36 percent of U.S. households containing seven or more members. Conversely, small households (one to two people) made up just 11.5 percent of the population.
The trend reversed over time. By 2010, large households with seven or more people dwindled to under 2 percent, while small households of one or two individuals surged to a 60 percent majority.
Despite the shrinking size of the American family, the cultural ideal of a stable, self-sufficient home remained a cornerstone of national policy.
“A family that owns its home takes pride in it, maintains it better, gets more pleasure out of it, and has a more wholesome, healthful, and happy atmosphere in which to bring up children,” President Herbert Hoover said in a 1931 handbook for homebuyers.
The federal government implemented standardized housing, city plans, and building codes to increase homeownership beginning in the 1920s.
By 1930, the federal government introduced long-term, fixed-rate mortgages that self-amortized over 20 years—later expanded to 30 years.
Homes in Staten Island, N.Y., on April 10, 2025. The modern, long-term mortgage introduced during the 1930s, to combat a foreclosure crisis during the Great Depression, enabled widespread middle-class homeownership. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times
But before 1940, homeownership never exceeded 50 percent.
Then began, in 1945, the economic miracle of the postwar era—a “golden era” for the American family.
Homeownership climbed steadily through this era and reached almost 65 percent by the end of the 1960s, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Since then, it has stayed relatively stable, rising to just over 66 percent in 2000 and dropping to 63 percent in 2020.
In the pre-Depression era, most homeowners were mortgage free. Those who carried mortgages often had short-term contracts of around one to five years, with large downpayments of more than 50 percent. Many homeowners turned to second mortgages as a source for downpayments.
The modern, long-term mortgage introduced during the 1930s to combat a foreclosure crisis during the Great Depression enabled widespread middle-class homeownership.
At the same time, it had the effect of reducing the number of homeowners who owned their homes outright. Less than 19 percent of Americans owned their homes free and clear in 2000, but the number is rising, according to Census Bureau data. Almost a quarter of Americans owned their homes outright in 2020.
Cost of the American Dream
The U.S. government sold land at just $1 an acre in the 1790s. But there was a catch.
Congress needed a way to raise funds to support the fledgling government after the costly American Revolutionary War. The Land Ordinance Act of 1785 raised those funds through land sales. The acreage was cheap. However, buyers had to purchase a minimum of 640 acres and had to pay in cash or military land warrants.
Before 1800, the average wage for laborers—such as hod-carriers, mortar-mixers, diggers, and choppers—was $65 a year, “with food and, perhaps, lodging,” estimated historian John Bach McMaster in his book “A History of the People of the United States, From the Revolution to the Civil War.”
Wages varied by occupation and state. Women at a cotton factory in New York were paid around $104, Henry Wansey reported in his traveling journal, published in 1796 as “An excursion to the United States of North America, in the summer of 1794.” Salaries of seamen were from $240 to $288.
Clergy’s salaries were higher. A Connecticut clergyman could earn 100 pounds—about $475 in 1794, according to Wansey’s journal.
Farmers harvest potatoes in an unknown location in the United States, in this file photo from the 1930s. Before 1880, the American workforce was rooted in agriculture, but by 2000 the proportaion of farm-related workers had fallen to less than 1 percent of the workforce. Stringer/Files-ACME/AFP via Getty Images
Before 1880, the American workforce was rooted in agriculture. Nearly 30 percent of working adults aged 16 and older were farmers, and an additional 20 percent or more worked as laborers.
By 2000, the number of farm-related workers had dropped to less than 1 percent of the workforce. Instead, professional roles grew to command over 20 percent of American jobs, followed closely by office and administrative occupations at more than 15 percent.
No matter how much the job market changed, the difficulty of translating that income into property ownership has remained a permanent financial hurdle.
While a buyer in the 1790s might have paid almost 10 years wages’ for land, a modern buyer may pay over six years’ salary for a home.
Houses line sidewalks in the Manhattan Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., circa 1945. Formerly occupied by the U.S. Coast Guard, the properties were turned over to veterans to ease the city’s post-war housing shortage. The national homeownership rate rose to 55 percent by 1950. European/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images
A closer look at the 1790s housing market reveals that while a basic roof was within reach for some, luxury estates demanded an astronomical premium.
A log house in Hamburg, Pennsylvania—with four rooms on a floor, including doors, windows, wainscoting, and locks—cost roughly $200, Wansey observed in his travels.
A New York villa on 80 acres of improved land was listed for around $19,000 in 1794, according to Wansey.
That was a fortune compared to laborers’ wages.
Then as now, the steep premium on New York real estate also extended to the rental market. “House rent is very dear,” Wansey said in 1794 from New York City. “One hundred and fifty pounds sterling is a common rent for storekeepers and tradesmen to give.”
That yearly rent was equivalent to more than $600 in 1794, or around $18,000 today.
Causes of Death
In 1811, tuberculosis (23.5 percent), diarrhea (6 percent), pneumonia (5 percent), and stillbirths (5 percent) dominated the causes of mortality among 942 deceased Boston residents, according to an abstract reprinted in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012.
Teething, worms, and drinking cold water were also found to kill, according to the study.
In the early 20th century, tuberculosis was still a leading cause of death in the United States, along with pneumonia and influenza.
By 2010, influenza remained on the list but heart disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions assumed more dominant roles.
Circulatory diseases accounted for the largest number of excess U.S. deaths—the number of deaths over the estimated number based on historical trends—from 1999 to 2022, according to a study of more than 63.5 million deaths published in May in JAMA Network Open. The nation’s death rate fell in 2025 to its lowest point on record, according to CDC data. The leading causes of death in 2025 were heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries.
Over two-and-a-half centuries, the American population has lived longer.
In the late 1700s, the life expectancy was around 35 to 40 years old, according to historical estimates. Today, the average American life expectancy is about 79 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Average life expectancy in the 18th and 19th centuries was heavily influenced by high infant and childhood mortality rates. Infections such as dysentery, diphtheria, scarlet fever and pneumonia killed many babies and children.
Over the nation’s history, advances in technology, sanitation, food safety, and medicine, including the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century, reduced infant mortality—the death of an infant before its first birthday—dramatically.
Mothers and their babies gather at a health station for feeding babies with bottled milk, on Madison Street, New York City, circa 1930. Infant mortality—which claimed about 100 babies per 1,000 births in 1915, fell throughout the 20th century to 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 births in 2025, due to advances in medicine and other factors. Keystone View Company/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images
A lack of data on births and infant deaths in the 19th century United States makes it hard to gauge infant mortality, although by some historical estimates, up to 20 percent of infants died in the first year of life in the 19th century United States.
By 1915, when U.S. Census Bureau annual data on the subject was first available, the infant mortality rate in the United States was 100 per 1,000 live births.
In 2025, the infant mortality rate dropped to an all time low of 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000, according to the CDC.
Maternal mortality rates also plummeted. In 1900, the maternal mortality rate in the United States was about 850 women per 100,000 births, according to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 2026, that number stands at just 17.9 deaths per 100,000 births, according to the CDC.
Russia Planning Provocation Against Poland To Test NATO Resolve, US Reportedly Warned
The Telegraph along with various Eastern European media outlets, including Polish national sources, are reporting that United States passed Warsaw a warning based on intelligence that Moscow is considering an armed provocation against Poland to “test NATO’s resolve”.
Provocation scenarios are said to potentially include drone attacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants, or else testing airspace by simulating a large-scale air attack to try and force Poland to prematurely activate its air defenses.
An official within President Karol Nawrocki’s administration said the US “systematically informs Poland about ever-new Russian plans for a conventional attack on NATO’s eastern flank, from which Poland is by no means excluded.” These reports are rife with wild speculation, however, and thus could be standard wartime propaganda.
A “hybrid attack” on the border region, possibly involving Belarusian armed forces, is considered to be the most serious possibly scenario, according to the reports.
It would be portrayed as an ‘accidental’ incursion:
Moscow could portray such an incursion as accidental, claiming troops crossed the border because of a GPS failure or entered Poland to retrieve a malfunctioning helicopter, according to the report.
Russia could then seek negotiations rather than a military response, betting that the United States would pressure Poland not to open fire on Russian or Belarusian personnel.
The Telegraph lays out a potential motive in the following:
Russia would count on the fact that, instead of opening fire on Russian or Belarusian soldiers in such a situation, Poland would be forced by the US to negotiate with Russia or Belarus rather than respond forcefully, Polish sources told Onet.
A scenario in which the Russians would withdraw from Poland as a result of those negotiations, rather than because they were forced to do so by military means, would be seen as a win from Moscow’s perspective.
An end to Western support for Ukraine could even be a central Russian demand of such talks in return for withdrawal from Poland.
Given the reporting on all of this ultimately originated in Polish media, and cited sources close to the presidency, there’s also the likelihood that it is pure propaganda – aimed at dialing up Western pressure and ‘readiness’ with an eye on Moscow.
Poland is meanwhile busy with ongoing plans to complete a new set of anti-drone fortifications along its eastern borders, part of a broader EU and NATO push for a protective ‘drone wall’ in defense of European airspace.
There’s been much speculation that ‘Union State’ Belarus could play a key role in future Russian maneuvers targeting Poland.
This planning began in earnest in 2025 after repeat aerial spillover incidents related to the Ukraine war – at various times errant drones, missiles, interceptors – and also even warplanes – have breached Baltic and Eastern European nations’ airspace. Often, however, these incidents arise from off-course Ukrainian drones.
