Wester van Gaal

Incredibly instructive reporting on what appears well on its way to becoming the biggest, most concentrated, most energy- and resource-intensive, and most speculative wave of capital investment ever.
ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...

If you were curious about Tooze's new climate book, check out this convo with
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social

“This is the material dethroning of the west as the central driver of world history. This is really what the provincialization of the west really looks like.”
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

Still fresh after two months. 1/3

Von der Leyen unveils €2 trillion crisis and competition budget The EU's €2 trillion budget aims to crisis-proof the bloc and lock in green and social spending, modelled after pandemic-era funding.

The EU's €2 trillion budget aims to crisis-proof the bloc and lock in green and social spending, modelled after pandemic-era funding.

Did @theguardian.com ed.s just plagiarize @70sbachchan.bsky.social & @katemac.bsky.social's @thepolycrisis.bsky.social?

"The postwar order stood on three pillars: US dominance, hydrocarbons and open trade. Today, all three are cracking..."

Don't settle for cheap knock-offs from sunsetting empires.

Presenting the MFF in the late afternoon is a sign of the most absolute disrespect for journalists. Every comms person perfectly knows that most deadlines are around 17h/18h and that complex files need some time for processing.

cc. @chiefspokesperson.ec.europa.eu

EU delays Israel sanctions in 'green light for genocide' Israel will not face any EU sanctions before September, as diplomats monitor a sketchy Gaza aid deal and human rights groups cry "betrayal".

Israel will not face any EU sanctions before September, as diplomats monitor a sketchy Gaza aid deal and human rights groups cry "betrayal".

To save ourselves a delusional reform debate.

Why don’t we all just agree that EU budget reform will be 4 per cent less for CAP, 3 per cent less for cohesion, and a couple crumbs more for horizon. And call it a day.

Decarbonization’s Dollar Dilemma The U.S. is too enmeshed in the global financial system for the rest of the world to solve climate change without us.

And compounded by USD-denomination: "So long as much of the Global South is dependent on imported fossil fuels for energy, “local people’s livelihood and firms’ survival are made vulnerable to compound cycles of dollar capital flow and cycles of basic commodity trade."” @advaitarun.bsky.social

Far-right conspiracists have managed to politicise the nomination of an SPD candidate for the Constitutional Court, and now parts of the CDU no longer support her. Big drama in the Bundestag, as a 2/3 majority is needed.

“For the first time in two centuries, the West is no longer the leader in future technology, but the follower"
NEW: @katemac.bsky.social and I @phenomenalworld.bsky.social write about what China's tech acceleration means for the world. Subscribe & read here: www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...

Deutsche says new banking rules could hamstring Europe’s defence spending Risk chief says overzealous banking regulation could ultimately cost continent tanks

Deutsche Bank arguing making banks safer is bad for security as it makes it harder to finance arms-makers.

This is an incredibly tendentious point really.

I'll tell you what *really* weakens a country: an economic meltdown caused by banks blowing up the system (again)

www.ft.com/content/4ead...

It's working! Now would be the stupidest time to give up on the green transition.

EU’s shift to a US savings model risks dismantling its social contract Political choices should be debated democratically, not hidden in technocratic agendas of ‘financing gaps’

Ive written about @ecb.europa.eu and @ec.europa.eu push for a Savings and Investment Union:

SIU, the new answer to 'how do we pay for' , is a Trojan horse for the American welfare model, increasingly in the hands of (private equity) financiers

www.ft.com/content/052e...

*where she...oh well.

my report of @larawolters.bsky.social keynote in the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam yesterday she urged companies like Unilever and Philips to speak out against the wave of deregulation now rolling through Brussels under the banner of ‘simplification’.

A key driver of the economic divergence between the Netherlands and Germany?

The machine-tool sector—booming in the Netherlands thanks to chipmaking equipment, and stagnating in Germany.

Its performance is macro-relevant, shaping overall industrial output.

Chart from ING.

Senate Republicans have quietly inserted provisions in President Trump’s domestic policy bill that would not only end federal support for wind and solar energy but would impose an entirely new tax on future projects, a move that industry groups say could devastate the renewable power industry. The tax provision, tucked inside the 940-page bill that the Senate made public just after midnight on Friday, stunned observers. “This is how you kill an industry,” said Bob Keefe, executive director of E2, a nonpartisan group of business leaders and investors. “And at a time when electricity prices and demand are soaring.”

This is the real problem, not the imo off-base idea that “capitalism can’t save the planet”. Renewable costs are falling fast and, yes, lower costs reliably lead to wider adoption. The fundamental obstacle to decarbonization is politics, not economics. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/c...

Dispatch from Seville | Daniela Gabor Fracturing multilateralism at the UN Financing for Development conference

The UN Financing for Development FfD4 conference starts tomorrow!
In the first Dispatches from Seville, I show how FfD4 has put 'development outcomes' makeup over Billions to Trillions 'investible development' model (aka Wall Street Consensus)

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/dis...

CO2-heffing voor industrie geschrapt na draai VVD, meerderheid Kamer tegen belasting De CO2-heffing voor de industrie is van de baan. Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer heeft vandaag besloten dat deze belasting geschrapt gaat worden. Regeringspartijen BBB en VVD waren eerst voorstande...

Ik ben benieuwd wanneer men zich in Den Haag realiseert dat Nederland deze CO2-heffing had beloofd in ruil voor geld uit het coronaherstelfonds www.rtl.nl/nieuws/econo...

leuk, maar als niet direct wordt becijferd hoe dan wél denken veel mensen al snel: jaja, ok, LINKS, meer belasting zeker. Nee dankje.

Beste dat glpvda kan doen is nu al
direct helder zijn waar de lasten, én baten(!), exact vallen, liefst in een lekker tabelletje. Of is die er al?

hahaha ja. Meer heeft die euro niet nodig joh. die verkoopt zichzelf wel.

the ECB, with (in hindsight very brave) Isabel Schnabel, took Carney to the logical conclusion and admitted that the neoliberal foundation of modern central banking - market neutrality - meant carbon bias.

Far from being a neutral arbiter, ECB was complicit in financing dirty activities

All based on his report with @steffenmurau.bsky.social

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

What would it take for euro to dethrone king US dollar? As Trump ramps up his trade war, two economists outline how Europe could finally turn the euro into a global currency.

I wrote this in April, during the early days of Trump’s trade war. In it, @jvtk.bsky.social lays out where/why the euro internationalisation project has fallen short and what could be done about it. [Free to read]

ECB’s first president, Wim Duisenberg, said in 1999 that stable prices would “automatically foster” international euro use.

It didn’t. The ECB has since distanced itself from this but still treats euro internationalisation as a domestic issue that will somehow emerge from “deeper capital markets.”

While important that's not all a currency needs to thrive globally. To really grow, the euro also needs a tougher foreign policy that expands offshore money infrastructure and boosts the use of the euro as a trade currency — especially in green/clean supply chains.

What would it take for euro to dethrone king US dollar? As Trump ramps up his trade war, two economists outline how Europe could finally turn the euro into a global currency.

At today's EU summit, national leaders will discuss (or at least name-check) the 'international role of the euro' and how to strengthen it (and increase EU autonomy), especially vis-à-vis the dollar.

As usual, the focus will be on domestic stuff: finalising capital markets, EU bonds, and so on.

Awesome stuff.

Het Orakel uit Kralingen is ziedend, dus we zijn echt op het goede spoor: Dark Franna Rises!