Fabian Schmidt

Ruthlessly correct

While the #AirPollution result is the most important one, most business will be sold on the latter

It’s pragmatism to use the latter even if air pollution is a health issue

Another thing is it’s safer for us all as no vehicles means no incidents. A life saved is a step to #VisionZero

The glass half full take would be that European pols want to present capital markets union to voters as “we have finally triumphed over those lazy bureaucrats in Brussels”

The Utilities Analyst Who Says the Data Center Demand Story Doesn't Add Up Utilities may be building twice as much power as needed.

Listened to this Oddlots episode with utilities analyst Andy DeVries this morning. Some useful pushback on the data center/AI power demand narrative that's worth working through. 1/

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Russia's regional budget deficits increased significantly in 2025, reaching 1.5 trillion RUB. The reason: Increased war financing from the regions and lower profit tax revenue. Regional spending rose by 10%, while regional revenues increased by only 5%.

It Turns Out Waymos Are Being Controlled by Workers in the Philippines During a Congressional hearing, Waymo's chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, was grilled over the company's reliance on overseas workers.

Once again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”

here’s my new article on chips and the limits of a defense industrial anti-neoliberalism both as an alternative to neoliberalism and as a solution to American decline in (esp leading edge) chip manufacturing for @theprospect.bsky.social prospect.org/economy/2025...

You rarely see a bike ride interview done like this.
youtu.be/FZnGd8QBboc?...

Energiewende in Asien: China und Indien wenden sich von fossilem Strom ab Die Stromproduktion in China und Indien ist ein Treiber globaler Emissionen. Das ändert sich nun: In beiden Ländern sank 2025 die fossile Strommenge.

taz.de/Energiewende...

The US is failing its green tech ‘Sputnik moment’ [FREE TO READ] Prejudice and protectionism are dismantling Joe Biden’s environmental legacy

My Trade Secrets today. Imagine the US in 1957 had seen the Sputnik satellite overhead & said "Nah, we'll leave space to the Soviets".

Thanks to climate change denial, mindless prejudice and trade protectionism, that's just what it's doing now with China & green tech, esp EVs and batteries. 1/2

YouTube video by London Review of Books (LRB) Adam Tooze: Electrostates, Petrostates and the New Cold War

Adam Tooze gave the inaugural 𝘓𝘙𝘉 Autumn Lecture, ‘Electrostates, Petrostates and the New Cold War’, at the New School in New York City on 27 October 2025.

Watch the lecture in full here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLnx...

… a matter of aligning with the expectations of the occupying powers.

Well, this is pure speculation and distinguishing this empirically is certainly not too easy.

I was primarily looking at Berlin, but it could be true for all of Germany - to a certain extent and in different directions. For many Germans in the West voting for parties compatible with liberal capitalism might have been a deliberate choice (and relief), for others it might just have been …

The Authoritarian Stack

How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next.

➡️ ➡️ ➡️ ➡️ www.authoritarian-stack.info

This looks more like some sort of „vorauseilender Gehorsam“ with people knowing very well in which sector they live and whom they are expected to vote for - and less like social structure.
Just coming from 12 years of NSDAP rule they knew how to be obedient.

Well put

Demande de permis 13/PFD/1989199 Place Maurice Van Meenen, 1060 Saint-Gilles. Requalifier et réaménager les abords de l’hôtel de ville de Saint-Gilles.

Projet de rénovation des abords de l’Hotel de Ville de Saint-Gilles !

Réactions jusqu’au 24 février !

Allez-y !

openpermits.brussels/fr/_13/PFD/1...

The crisis whisperer: how Adam Tooze makes sense of our bewildering age The long read: Whether it’s the financial crash, the climate emergency or the breakdown of the international order, historian Adam Tooze has become the go-to guide to the radical new world we’ve enter...

“Part of what motivated the unhinging of my relationship with the Biden people was being invited on to calls with their climate team,”

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

…

Indeed, any city that is not considering a pro-cycling agenda must have ample fiscal space.

Why LCOE is meaningless, in one chart (from Spain). Not much good your electricity being a bit cheaper to produce, if it earns just 10% of the revenue of other electricity....

This is a great PHOTO ESSAY on “solar hockey stick of hope”, and countries breaking free of oil and gas dependence.

IF your country's media isn't telling you about the renewables global boom, then consider why....
www.science.org/content/arti...
bsky.app/profile/scie...

Erbschaftssteuern in Milliardenhöhe in Bayern erlassen Wird ein Vermögen von mehr als 26 Millionen Euro verschenkt oder vererbt, kann die Steuer teilweise oder ganz wegfallen: wegen "Bedürftigkeit". Bundesweit wurden in vier Jahren fast 7,4 Milliarden Eur...

Dazu muss man wissen, dass zweimal die Amtsleiter des Finanzministeriums von Bayern, welches für Steuererhebungen zuständig ist, direkt zu August von Finck (Mises-Institut: "Steuern sind Raub!") wechselten und dort Geschäftsführer zahlreicher Finck-Unternehmen wurden. www.br.de/nachrichten/...

EVs At The Tipping Point: Why You Don’t Want To Be A Late Adopter These graphs tell an important story. On the left is how horses disappeared from cities once cars took off. On the right is the same kind of substitution curve - petrol and diesel powered cars giving ...

"We’ve got roughly 120 kWh sitting in our garage, thanks to our Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Ioniq. And we’ve got almost 40 kW of solar on the roof. So we’re already at the delicious point where we don’t get power bills - the energy company pays us."

www.lyrebirddreaming.com/post/colour-...

Though worth noting the French and Italians argue that in bouncing the Germans and Finns into accepting a path towards Eurobonds they have put EU Europe's geopolitical ambitions on a more sustainable long term footing

Are they? From an anthropological point of view, there were and still are plenty of non-capitalist societies living their steady-state way of life.

Human psychology under capitalism I‘d say

Energy dependence with geopolitical blunder are our speciality.

Makes sense. Another assault on Germany‘s Industrie 4.0 competitiveness.

Or the Chinese just understand what’s better for their broader industrial ecosystem