andreeson used to chat widely, then he blocked anyone who might say anything he might find uncomfortable to hear. in retrospect that has proven consequential.
“When there is a need to address a specific weakness (say chip production), subsidies for reshoring are far superior to tariffs. Subsidies for chip making help our industries that use chips, while tariffs on chips hurt those industries.” #ScottSumner https://scottsumner.substack.com/p/nonzero-trade-edition
Chimerica is doing a remake of the pandemic. China will bring back PPP-style business “loans”. The US will reprise shortages of basic goods.
“The group chats that changed America” by @Buzzfeedben https://www.semafor.com/article/04/27/2025/the-group-chats-that-changed-america
was Milton Friedman the first MMTer? https://xcancel.com/jbsteinberg/status/1915783062698217716
the version of capitalist democracy where we tolerate intercessions into deliberation motivated by capitalist ROI (lobbying, campaign contributions, “gratuities”) can’t work. injects noise into democratic deliberation at best, more often worse, supercharges Matthew effects democracy exists to blunt.
“China surely does not have a great record in respecting the rule of law, but it actually is probably a better bet at this point than what we have seen in Donald Trump’s first 100 days.” @DeanBaker13 https://cepr.net/publications/turning-america-into-russia/
war is always unsustainable the question is for whom it’s unsustainable first.
[new draft post] How can taxing foreign investors balance trade? https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/04/27/how-can-taxing-foreign-investors-balance-trade/index.html
[new draft post] Balance as a norm https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/04/24/balance-as-a-norm/index.html
“The atrophy of Congress has left a gaping wound at the heart of our Constitutional order. The net effect has been the breakdown of our system of checks and balances and a combination of institutional gridlock and institutional unpredictability.” @sjshancoxli https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-present-crisis-and-the-end-of-the-long-90s/
@light @ryanlcooper there’s nothing wrong with "people should eat healthy and exercise to fight off disease".
there’s a lot wrong with discouraging effective and defunding promising medical interventions on the pretext that if people eat right and exercise they won’t need them.
RFK jr, in his pre-Trump antivax advocacy and his current destruction of research and public health programs, is clearly, at least in my view, engaged in the latter project.
@light @ryanlcooper No. No one is convicting him of a crime. His approach to disease is just reminiscent of the attitude, you’ll survive if you’re fit, if you deserve to. Medical interference is to be disdained.
If you, viewing the totality of his interventions, have a more flattering view of him, you are welcome to it.
@light @ryanlcooper eugenics is applying Darwinism prescriptively to “improve” the human race.
one way a eugenicist might do that is encourage selection via the stressor of infectious disease — refrain from applying “artificial” remedies, let the fittest, due to natural strength and immunity or behavioral excellence in health maintenance, survive.
“all that will really have happened is a confirmation that you can’t trust anything this administration says, including its threats.” @pkrugman https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/cronyism-capitulation-and-chaos
anyone else in JVM land find sonatype behaving weirdly this afternoon? atm https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/mchange/c3p0/ still doesn't show an 0.11.0 release from almost three hours ago. but oddly, as of a few minutes ago, https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/mchange/c3p0/0.11.0/c3p0-0.11.0.pom is served, even though the apparent directory index won't show or serve its parent directory.
@light @digby ( i have some sympathy for the complaint. but i have no sympathy for choosing or accepting or apologizing for or tolerating the "remedy". ) https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2024/06/09/authority-minimization/index.html
"Standing alone, Trump’s executive orders represent a serious threat to the First Amendment. But the orders are backed by agency enforcement powers that drastically expand the danger... What we have seen in the early days of Trump 2.0 is an unprecedented government-wide and society-wide broadside against fundamental First Amendment commitments. And there is no indication that the Trump administration’s campaign is going to end any time soon." https://www.thefire.org/news/blogs/ronald-kl-collins-first-amendment-news/executive-watch-breadth-and-depth-trump ht @light
There are good reasons to consider industrial policy that some might deride as “protectionist”.
There are no good reasons for Trump’s combination of chaotic tariffs and smothering government, which can’t possibly deliver good industrial policy.
cf @jwmason https://jwmason.org/slackwire/at-barrons-trumps-tariffs-dont-offer-an-alternative-to-free-trade/
“Donald Trump could not care less about ‘promoting freedom and combatting tyranny.’ In fact, he’s more interested in the opposite: promoting tyranny and combatting freedom.” @digby https://digbysblog.net/2025/04/23/soft-power-is-dead/
// from a depressing piece on the state of the state department