As a grit I'm, of course, pleased though I admit a certain trepidation as well. The Liberals of Canada did a fantastic job in the late 90's and early 2000's then benefitted from a stint in the wilderness to come back and do a tolerable job in the late teens and early 20's but Trudea forgot a lot of ol' Jonny Cretchien and Paul Martins hard won lessons. The Liberals maybe could do with another trip to the wilds in a world where the right wing party was, well, *looks at Poilievre* ...not that and a world with no Trump. In this world, though, I'm pretty happy to be able to vote for Carney and expect him to do well.
Oh I agree; I noted as such in my original comment. But I can't help but notice that all the stories of power transmission and power generation projects being blocked seem to be in blue states. NY and CA cost per mile of mass transit is a global joke but, to be fair, I suspect red states simply don't build mass transit.
That is a fair critique to a very broad blanket statement but Florida and Texas are, iirc, the largest red states and they do build both infrastructure, housing and utilities to a degree that leaves the largest blue states; New York and California, looking like punch lines. It's also not like the smaller blue states do much better though Minnesota has made some progress on housing at least.
Red states build a lot more infrastructure, housing and such development compared to their Blue state compatriots. There's not much getting around that fact. Part of it, assuredly, is that Red states are less developed and have more space to grow but the other part is Red states do not let people fish up development in the quixotic and self defeating ways that Blue states do.
Freddie has always had this squeamishness about YIMBY’s that I think stems from the fact that he, intellectually, knows that the YIMBY position is right but he personally and emotionally identifies with the NIMBY coalition, the regulators, the restrictionists and, especially, the minority filled communities that NIMBY’s in New York use as the Baptist part of their Baptist/Bootlegger coalition against development. He knows, on some level, they’re flat out wrong- ludicrously wrong, on the merits but he really really doesn’t want the developers/deregulators/abundance folks to be right.
His analysis on this one strains badly for both this reason and because he hasn’t actually read the book in question. He leaps on the education debate as a parallel both because it’s a subject is both very informed on (and largely right about) and because it’s virtually the opposite situation from the NIMBY/YIMBY debate. The deregulators, neolibs and privatizers in education have enacted lots of policies and failed to produce durable improvement both because the problem is extremely hard and also because the goal is logically impossible. No Child Left behind demands that no child be below average which is, of course, impossible unless every child produces perfectly equal results. The disaster of that whole line of thinking is hard to over state.
But the Abundance debate doesn’t fall into those traps or quandaries. Unlike education we’re talking, here, about the construction of material, measurable “real’ things. Manufactured educated children is incredibly complex and the goal- no subaverage child, is mathematically impossible. In contrast the development of infrastructure, housing etc is, fundamentally, a material thing. Education advocates scream “Education isn’t like manufacturing widgets” and they’re right but housing and infrastructure is near EXACTLY like measuring widgets. Our laws , economics and regulations make it easier or harder and the output is not difficult to measure. Moreover no one anywhere has really “cracked’ the education question (certainly not on NCLB terms) whereas many other societies both liberal (Japan, parts of continental Europe) and illiberal (red states, China) have enormous and obvious successes on the Abundance question.
In short, Freddie hasn’t read the book, he is tired and hazy from his new blessing (and good for him for it!) and he really really doesn’t like the nerds who push the abundance agenda and wants them to be wrong even though he knows they’re largely right.
On further reading it looked like the market turmoil got so bad that even Trump got nervous. Specifically the bond markets for Federal debt and the dollar started to get wobbly. Trump, evidently, isn't worried about a recession but a full on financial crisis makes him nervous.
My 2 cents: he's starting to get worried that this is weakening him so much that congress won't be able to get their clowns in order to pass his tax cuts and safety net evisceration budget. So he's pausing to try and get the big victories through congress first.
I think I get all that but the question of free trade is more nuanced in the Dem coalition than describing it as "adopting the opposite" covers. Clinton, after all, oversaw NAFTA and Obama was a relatively decent free trader too while W had significant apostacies on Trade and Trump, of course, never met a tariff he didn't love.
The complexity of packaging that and selling it is why politics is difficult. The Dems have had a pretty nuanced and sensible approach to trade. Biden certainly wasn't an enthusiastic free trader- he didn't ink any free trade bills, but he primarily rolled back free trade in an area of industrial policy that was based on national security considerations rather than economic/moral arguments and was pretty easy to defend (unless you're a doctrinaire free trader).
But, really, the Dems are early in a wilderness phase so all the factions trotting out their positions and aligned journalists, like Chait, flying the banners for their respective positions is part of the operational process of a healthy party. Marketing trade to voters is hard to fit into a sound bite but a clever enough politician can be both appealing and vague enough to sell just about any policy and, after Trumps idiocy, just about any nuanced trade position should be a political winner.
And this is all presuming that A) Trump doesn't eventually realize that his Tariff nonsense is killing him, declares victory and rolls it all back or B) the GOP in congress realizes the tariff nonsense will kill THEM before it kills Trump and joins with the Dems to end all of it.
Why am I not surprised a Shapiro is involved with this outfit?
R.R. Martin cuddling the pups was a super cute pic but my cruel brain just grunted and thought *well anything to put off writing the next book*.
I don't know, I have doubts. This is the whole legacy media system writ large. The distribution pipe this is all going through is rotting through- not rotted through yet but not being renewed. It's all running on theaters that were established on economic theories that no longer apply. I suspect/fear the whole thing is just going to vanish in time. At least in journalism the new things (social media mostly) still depends on the legacy zombie journalism media for stuff to steal so some degree of money pumping into Reuters and actual news gathering has to somehow occur. I am not sure the streaming model needs theaters at all. Movie making will just shift to making movies for streamers on TV rather than theaters.
I agree- I think the movie theater model is deep into the death spiral now. The masses aren't turning up which is jacking up the ticket prices which is making going to the theater even less appealing. Theaters were descending pre-covid but Covid just accelerated the process a lot.
Yes, all true. There's a bit of a structural element in that Lettuce Head Liz Truss was, effectively, the Speaker of the House in American contexts and, thus, Trump would be a lot harder, functionally and procedurally, to ditch. The underlying point, though, that tanking the economy is going to reduce Trumps power is a good one though- it should and will.
It is hard to imagine much more that Trump would do if he were actively working for the Chinese or Russians. I don't believe he is (he's just an elderly idiot) but it remains a daunting mental exercise.
On “Canadian Leaders Debate Amongst Themselves”
'Zactly, I'm a grit from childhood but even I'll admit they richly deserve a hiding periodically.
"
As a grit I'm, of course, pleased though I admit a certain trepidation as well. The Liberals of Canada did a fantastic job in the late 90's and early 2000's then benefitted from a stint in the wilderness to come back and do a tolerable job in the late teens and early 20's but Trudea forgot a lot of ol' Jonny Cretchien and Paul Martins hard won lessons. The Liberals maybe could do with another trip to the wilds in a world where the right wing party was, well, *looks at Poilievre* ...not that and a world with no Trump. In this world, though, I'm pretty happy to be able to vote for Carney and expect him to do well.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/14/2025”
Thank you.
On “From Freddie de Boer: Abundance, Up To A Point”
Oh I agree; I noted as such in my original comment. But I can't help but notice that all the stories of power transmission and power generation projects being blocked seem to be in blue states. NY and CA cost per mile of mass transit is a global joke but, to be fair, I suspect red states simply don't build mass transit.
"
That is a fair critique to a very broad blanket statement but Florida and Texas are, iirc, the largest red states and they do build both infrastructure, housing and utilities to a degree that leaves the largest blue states; New York and California, looking like punch lines. It's also not like the smaller blue states do much better though Minnesota has made some progress on housing at least.
On “The Emergency Ordinary Times Facelift”
I have zero complaints, you've done an amazing job and, frankly, the site looks fantastic.
On “From Freddie de Boer: Abundance, Up To A Point”
Red states build a lot more infrastructure, housing and such development compared to their Blue state compatriots. There's not much getting around that fact. Part of it, assuredly, is that Red states are less developed and have more space to grow but the other part is Red states do not let people fish up development in the quixotic and self defeating ways that Blue states do.
"
Freddie has always had this squeamishness about YIMBY’s that I think stems from the fact that he, intellectually, knows that the YIMBY position is right but he personally and emotionally identifies with the NIMBY coalition, the regulators, the restrictionists and, especially, the minority filled communities that NIMBY’s in New York use as the Baptist part of their Baptist/Bootlegger coalition against development. He knows, on some level, they’re flat out wrong- ludicrously wrong, on the merits but he really really doesn’t want the developers/deregulators/abundance folks to be right.
His analysis on this one strains badly for both this reason and because he hasn’t actually read the book in question. He leaps on the education debate as a parallel both because it’s a subject is both very informed on (and largely right about) and because it’s virtually the opposite situation from the NIMBY/YIMBY debate. The deregulators, neolibs and privatizers in education have enacted lots of policies and failed to produce durable improvement both because the problem is extremely hard and also because the goal is logically impossible. No Child Left behind demands that no child be below average which is, of course, impossible unless every child produces perfectly equal results. The disaster of that whole line of thinking is hard to over state.
But the Abundance debate doesn’t fall into those traps or quandaries. Unlike education we’re talking, here, about the construction of material, measurable “real’ things. Manufactured educated children is incredibly complex and the goal- no subaverage child, is mathematically impossible. In contrast the development of infrastructure, housing etc is, fundamentally, a material thing. Education advocates scream “Education isn’t like manufacturing widgets” and they’re right but housing and infrastructure is near EXACTLY like measuring widgets. Our laws , economics and regulations make it easier or harder and the output is not difficult to measure. Moreover no one anywhere has really “cracked’ the education question (certainly not on NCLB terms) whereas many other societies both liberal (Japan, parts of continental Europe) and illiberal (red states, China) have enormous and obvious successes on the Abundance question.
In short, Freddie hasn’t read the book, he is tired and hazy from his new blessing (and good for him for it!) and he really really doesn’t like the nerds who push the abundance agenda and wants them to be wrong even though he knows they’re largely right.
On “What To Expect When You’re Expecting a Trade War”
On further reading it looked like the market turmoil got so bad that even Trump got nervous. Specifically the bond markets for Federal debt and the dollar started to get wobbly. Trump, evidently, isn't worried about a recession but a full on financial crisis makes him nervous.
"
My 2 cents: he's starting to get worried that this is weakening him so much that congress won't be able to get their clowns in order to pass his tax cuts and safety net evisceration budget. So he's pausing to try and get the big victories through congress first.
"
We could have worse candidates, but I'd prefer better ones. Still, I wish him well.
"
I think I get all that but the question of free trade is more nuanced in the Dem coalition than describing it as "adopting the opposite" covers. Clinton, after all, oversaw NAFTA and Obama was a relatively decent free trader too while W had significant apostacies on Trade and Trump, of course, never met a tariff he didn't love.
The complexity of packaging that and selling it is why politics is difficult. The Dems have had a pretty nuanced and sensible approach to trade. Biden certainly wasn't an enthusiastic free trader- he didn't ink any free trade bills, but he primarily rolled back free trade in an area of industrial policy that was based on national security considerations rather than economic/moral arguments and was pretty easy to defend (unless you're a doctrinaire free trader).
But, really, the Dems are early in a wilderness phase so all the factions trotting out their positions and aligned journalists, like Chait, flying the banners for their respective positions is part of the operational process of a healthy party. Marketing trade to voters is hard to fit into a sound bite but a clever enough politician can be both appealing and vague enough to sell just about any policy and, after Trumps idiocy, just about any nuanced trade position should be a political winner.
And this is all presuming that A) Trump doesn't eventually realize that his Tariff nonsense is killing him, declares victory and rolls it all back or B) the GOP in congress realizes the tariff nonsense will kill THEM before it kills Trump and joins with the Dems to end all of it.
On “Next Throughput: An Electronic Resistance to Unreason”
Why am I not surprised a Shapiro is involved with this outfit?
R.R. Martin cuddling the pups was a super cute pic but my cruel brain just grunted and thought *well anything to put off writing the next book*.
On “What To Expect When You’re Expecting a Trade War”
https://archive.ph/JcWUC
"
They have been.
On “Group Activity: Manic Monday Market Watchalong”
That would be a fine feat considering they don't own anywhere near 5 trillion in US treasuries.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/7/2025”
I mean even in math terms it's knee slappingly idiotic.
"
I don't know, I have doubts. This is the whole legacy media system writ large. The distribution pipe this is all going through is rotting through- not rotted through yet but not being renewed. It's all running on theaters that were established on economic theories that no longer apply. I suspect/fear the whole thing is just going to vanish in time. At least in journalism the new things (social media mostly) still depends on the legacy zombie journalism media for stuff to steal so some degree of money pumping into Reuters and actual news gathering has to somehow occur. I am not sure the streaming model needs theaters at all. Movie making will just shift to making movies for streamers on TV rather than theaters.
On “What To Expect When You’re Expecting a Trade War”
Oh yes, no denying that the GOP is way deeper into the deranged mindless right wingism that the Tories ever got.
On “Open Mic for the Week of 4/7/2025”
I agree- I think the movie theater model is deep into the death spiral now. The masses aren't turning up which is jacking up the ticket prices which is making going to the theater even less appealing. Theaters were descending pre-covid but Covid just accelerated the process a lot.
On “What To Expect When You’re Expecting a Trade War”
Yes, all true. There's a bit of a structural element in that Lettuce Head Liz Truss was, effectively, the Speaker of the House in American contexts and, thus, Trump would be a lot harder, functionally and procedurally, to ditch. The underlying point, though, that tanking the economy is going to reduce Trumps power is a good one though- it should and will.
On “Tariffs Making China Great Again”
It is hard to imagine much more that Trump would do if he were actively working for the Chinese or Russians. I don't believe he is (he's just an elderly idiot) but it remains a daunting mental exercise.
On “When a Maiden Needs a Friend”
Well done.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25”
Precisely.
"
Yes, other writers have observed that Trump has made protectionist mouth noises for decades.