The trade deficit with other developed nations is in large part US corporations avoiding US taxes by moving IP offshore and then importing goods based on that IP. ie: 1/2 of US-EU trade deficit is pharmaceuticals.
Ville de Quebec
We are living in science fiction: the Earthlings commit ~0.3% of global capital investment to building a super intelligence ($80B / $27.2T)
For comparison, to get to the moon NASA's budget peaked in 1966 at ~0.9% of global capital investment ($5.9B / ~$675B in today $s).
"In 1985, the CTA’s Final [environmental impact statement] for the Orange Line ran 378 pages. The 2022 Final EIS for the Red Line Extension is 50 times longer, at 17,899 pages. That’s for a project that’s half as long." citythatworks.substack.com/p/chicagos-s...
2/ Periodically making significant budget cuts & forcing the sub-organization to rationalize becomes one of the only effective strategies. If the cuts are too small then leaders accomplish them by removing poor performers without serious consideration to the activities & structure.
Re Department of Government Efficiency -- in any sufficiently complex organization that has evolved over time, some functions & activities are unnecessary (outlived their utility + scope creep) AND knowing which those are is extremely difficult from the top.
The whole narrative of buying Greenland from Denmark is hilariously out of touch with self-determination of native peoples, which the US is not terribly familiar with.
I wonder where Waymo's are going to be deployed next? www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/t...
EU's draconian AI regulations are guaranteed to quickly widen the technology adoption gap between EU & US firms, which will show up as widening labor productivity & GDP per person www.siliconcontinent.com/p/the-strang...
Are you sure the extra length is not for future proofing for longer trainsets? The short Canada Line stations have been heavily criticized.
The scale of Goggle/Microsoft/Meta/AWS data center CapEx is staggering. ~$60B in Q3. US just dominating. Even Tesla ($3.5B in Q3) is exceeding ex-US largest investments: Alibaba & Tencent each spending ~$1.5B / Q on CapEx. ByteDance in same ballpark?
Check out this recent beauty in Oslo.
October 11, 1924. One hundred years ago tomorrow, New York’s Judge Cobb went off topic:
- “‘Jay walker’ … is in effect a smoke screen to give the automobile violators an alibi.”
California is putting the cart before the horse on residential electric conversion with electricity at $0.50 / kWh, 3.5x the national average. Doesn't make any financial sense for houses to switch www.yahoo.com/news/switchi...
Here is a great example of the Coastal Commissions low cost visitor serving mandate: lookout.co/cruz-hotel-w...
The vast majority of crime is committed by a very small number of people https://www.ktvu.com/news/700-catalytic-converters-recovered-san-pablo-richmond-criminal-enterprise-suspected
Those parking lots are low cost visitor serving resources, which the coastal act protects
Lead paint banned in 1978. Leaded gasoline banned in 1996.
This is crazy: staged robberies to get preferential immigration status. 2 - 3 times per week for at least 2 years, with multiple immigrants at a robbery. Cops got suspicious because the crew was too professional https://cwbchicago.com/2024/05/chicago-fake-robbery-visa-scam.html
.@bgurley's fantastic talk on how regulatory capture kills innovation is required viewing for entrepreneurs. A Hippocratic Oath for lawmakers to "do no harm" is a great idea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9cO3-MLHOM
$12B just to avoid inconveniencing some businesses for a few years... it is unbelievable that the federal & state governments are going along with this...
Reading about City of Oakland's government incompetence is infuriating. We need a city council that focuses on getting the basics of public safety & roads functioning https://oaklandside.org/2024/02/26/oakland-has-fallen-way-behind-schedule-in-paving-roads/
15% under a $2.58B budget is an incredible achievement given the status quo of large government projects greatly exceeding budget. Congratulations @SFBART https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2024/news20240110-1
Canadian Gov is trying to force tech giants to pay for links to Canadian news. This will just drive more US content to Canadians
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-removes-canada-news-links-bill-c-18/490482/
I presume the Fed can't keep increasing its balance sheet forever & am unclear on what that end will look like. I am certain whenever this ends, we will look back and say "it was so obvious this was going to happen"
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL
"The thing that has surprised me most about Netflix is their struggles to get better at [creating great content]"
It's an interesting thought - why hasn't Netflix attempted to build space opera or fantasy universes with multiple supporting shows/films?...
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/business/economy/ftc-noncompete.html
Banning non-competes is *so* obviously a good thing for workers & competition. The mobility of workers is foundational to Silicon Valley. Non-competes from Amazon & Microsoft drag down the much smaller startup ecosystem in Seattle....
