The United States has been leaping from one moral panic to the next: Black Lives Matter, MeToo, George Floyd, and now data centers plus the specter of AI-driven human extinction. In every case a genuine problem exists, but the threat is inflated out of all proportion and the costs of overreaction are overlooked. The resulting hysteria blocks clear thinking and closes off rational discussion. Consequently, individuals never notice that self-appointed experts are distorting the facts for their own gain. Companies with billions in AI stakes are perfectly capable of staging “rogue LLM” incidents to stampede politicians into regulation that keeps out competitors or simply reduces their own liability. Previous panics have already damaged trust in institutions and among ourselves. They have also intensified the political polarization that now endangers American democracy. We should resist the current panic rather than feed it. The costs of getting this one wrong dwarf those of the last several.

This is basically what I’m seeing in academia over the past 12 years: the trends that institutionally “win” are the ones that explicitly tap into this wider societal impulse to lurch from one panic to the next.

I've been talking about the end of the Euro for a while. The status quo where Germany carries the can for all the countries in Europe that are out of fiscal space - as with aid for Ukraine - is politically unsustainable. My recent live stream on this: robinjbrooks.substack.com/p/…

This is exactly what you would expect to happen. Socialism (or "social democracy") reduces social mobility and prosperity, raising the stakes of the remaining status competition which it then channels through central bureaucracies. Like yes, it's depressing when you are wrong.

Switzerland is a treasure trove for those looking for answers to Germany's troubles. Inter-regional competition, less financing for badly run states, no cordon sanitaire, shifting majorities, more direct democracy (which you can start implementing at the state level first).

Europe is adopting climate change goals that will take 2% off GDP by 2035, on top of losses already incurred. But climate change will probably cost around 5-10% of global GDP by 2100! Insane. They should just grow their economies and fund mitigation. richardhanania.com/p/climate…

Unlike in America, European popular anger at immigration doesn't appear to be cyclical. If European leaders don't become more restrictive, they could be tossed out in favor of the far right.

Germany's PISA score rises 41 points if you exclude immigrant kids. Switzerland: +30. The UAE's score drops 45 points without immigrants. Singapore, Macao, the UAE, and Qatar recruit immigrants smarter than their native populations; Europe, the opposite

really started questioning if I want to move back to Germany at all it would great for family (my son being close to grandparents again etc) but everything else just keeps on telling me i'm not really welcome as an entrepreneur the latest berlin election is another sign that people just haven't learned anything from the past we need innovation and growth but all signs point in the other direction it feels like the economy needs to get so bad that people literary feel poor again but this could take some time it makes me very sad, this is my home country, my native language and i still feel deeply connected to it I want my kids to have grandparents around but it also makes me so angry to see a country just butcher it's economy I want to feel valued in a society by contributing as an entrepreneur it's entrepreneurs who create jobs, who create change, who drive countries foward but it really is a mind virus that most Germans have lost their appreciation for this and only want the Nanny State to become bigger it will just lead to more entrepreneurs and companies leaving to more pro business countries global mobility has never been easier it's all so tiresome really

As a foreigner, one of the most interesting political developments in Berlin for me is that so many young people don't want to get richer, but want to stay poor and lower prices. This won't achieve anything, rent will only get worse, but the comrades will still vote for them.

She really sucked but at the end of the day Merkel kept getting elected because she did what the voters wanted It’s easy to hate the elites, do you have the courage to hate the people

I don‘t agree with the „extremist“ terminology and also don‘t believe that Angela Merkel had the foresight to really grasp what she was doing. However, the basic analysis is correct. Merkel was a major disruptor and her immigration, energy, and military policies harmed Germany. Unless the CDU truly recognizes this painful reality, it will never recover.

Carney has become so popular by treating people like intelligent adults. No populism, no appealing to base instincs, no talking to us as if we're children. He doesn't make stupid people his core audience. He understands there's a supermajority beyond the knuckle-draggers.

“Trump Derangement Syndrome” is a fun little concept. There absolutely are normal Trump decisions that make people madder bc they dislike him so much. But if you’d said two years ago, “Trump will threaten to bulldoze the Kennedy Center unless his name is on it,” you’d have been hospitalized for late stage TDS.

Normalize going to a library on your first date and reading about German employment law

Ya stop spending on war and we Weill have a big welfare state is the fiscal equivalent of stop buying lattes and you’ll buy a house

RT @JessicaBRiedl: A problem with dumb economic interventions (tariffs, Iran war, big deficits) is they create damage that in turn requires…

The European Union is a successor for the Ottoman Empire. Everyone wants a permanent government job where you barely work and can't be fired. Most people spend their days reading magazines at a café. There are regular rebellions because the emperor tried to cut pensions by 2%.

Brandt was a charismatic symbol, a passionate anti-Communist and overall a very brave and admirable man. He also was economically illiterate, paralyzed in governing by personal depression and overall saved by the subject-matter quality of the people around him.