The Red Count

Ich finde das sehr großartig, was die Autor*innen hier machen. Das mindeste was wir tun können, ist teilen & das ein oder andere Buch kaufen.

You could even use targeted tariffs to keep competition out. But all of this is outside of the imagination of current decision makers, except as something that just happens to the EU and Germany unfairly enacted by others.

It is interesting that media institutions like the Economist or the FT, who have been quite sympathetic to this vassalization (in softer form) for the last 30 years, are changing course this quickly.

Political leaders are slower in changing their perspective and lots of business leaders even slower

Zumindest bei allem was Richtung Außenpolitik geht hast du Recht.

Andererseits ist da das Gefühl, dass ähnlich wie am Ende von Kohl null Interesse bzgl. Innenpolitik da ist und das deswegen die Revolte in der CDU und sonst erst so langsam richtig losgeht.

Very good thread by @historyned.bsky.social and @tinido.bsky.social about the pol. economy of German industry and how asleep at the wheel lots of business leaders still are.

You can see it also in how complaints against the Trump tariffs are framed by lobbies in D: as if the world is still in 1999.

For all the talk about "engineering excellence", etc., the one thing that always helped German industry over the last 40-50 years was, that it is very good in adjusting to different sources of demand if one collapses (see e.g. US->China->US switches). But it always takes demand existing as given.

This is a very good threat.

What the politicians are doing is/was in many ways more rational given the demographics of D and especially the demographics of people who (are allowed to) vote.

The management/owners of corporations on the other hand..., and especially their lobbying organisations...

Lustigerweise veröffentlicht das Ifo jetzt nicht-saisonbereinigte Umfragewerte. Wahrscheinlich passt es @clemensfuest.bsky.social einfach nicht, dass Deutschland schon vor einem Jahr ohne Strukturreformen die Rezession überwunden hat. Der Reformdruck darf ja nicht einfach so weichen...🤣🤣🤣

If only it worked that way. Pharmacies tend to love that stuff because, unlike real medicine, lots of that "medicine" is not price regulated. The producers of all the magic sugar balls are one of the prime lobbies to keep the status quo.

And the pandemic has really turned a lot of the wellness/alternative medicine followers towards the far right when they experienced the coercive power of state for the first time.
That was really noticeable in Germany.

Interesting amongst other things because it identifies that for all the talk of populism it’s our narcissistic and nihilistic elites that are dragging us towards catastrophe

Really good stuff on the outdated worldview of 90s media studies leading down the conspiracy route.

As we are starting to see in the US: The chance that it will end in labor camps and quasi-slave labor is uncomfortably high.

Partly, but his idea of how to establish trust is a complete fantasy that only works for some people.

Narratives >>>>> facts.

For most people: Unless you have demonstrated that you are on my side for a longtime the default is no trust. And if your narrative has no villains, it is worthless.

Priorities always matter and tell what someone really values. And if it smells like it is people currently in charge of society, then it will always be more likely that you are just a defender of the status quo.

I think your work is valuable and that there is clearly foreign interference via actors like Grayzone.

But unless you are attacking the more malicious actors (including directly naming and shaming them) coming directly from your own society you will never be seen as credible.

It is the only good position in the German university/research system. Which means that there are roughly 1-2 per subject countrywide.

The German discussion about an "airlift" for Gaza is completely absurd given that everybody in DE should know what kind of herculean effort is necessary to supply millions of people via air and how far away this "airlift" is from that goal.

Otherwise go to check24 and the like and get the best deal. Decide if you want cable or fiber (if available).

Telekom tends to be most reliable but the premium isn't worth it in my opinion, especially in big cities.

Be prepared that setup will be a pain. In the best case scenario everything is already done, I.e. (cable/telephone/fibre) cable to your flat. In that case you may get lucky and no technician has to come but prepared that you will have to sacrifice a day.

The first part is basically true. Any pro-Palestinian protest is suppressed in Germany and being publicly vocal about it ends your career and especially costs you your public sector job

I kinda think the way people use ChatGPT is sort of aspirational because it seems to emulate the way rich people have sycophants lying to them all the time until they lose touch with reality and also their entire minds

Underrated big shift in the influencer era in terms of who has cultural capital: away from performers, writers, artists, musicians etc and to people who are really good at running a small business and doing SEO/social media.

Pretty polar opposite political valences in those skillsets.

Totally normal for the German (and European) new left/Frankfurter Schule. The German wiki article about Schmitt gives a good introduction.

Wie Ökonomen die Ampel kritisiert haben, als sie zum 1. Jan die Kurzarbeit ausweitetet hat – mitten in der nunmehr klaren Rezession. Eine Begründung: Gibt eh keinen Aufschwung...

Nur blöd, dass es dieses Jahr auf +0,3/0,5% zuläuft, die Auslastung steigt zu Beginn des Sommers...

Yes, these are the numbers without seasonal adjustment and it happens every year. Basically it is the end of the holiday period plus some construction work not happening in January/February, etc.

With seasonal adjustment the increase would be more like +10000.

Yeah, the last years seems to have broken at lot of people's brains (incl. Hayes) on inflation and the general public. The completely different circumstances between today and the 1970s (demographics, extent of the externality of inflation, modes of production) seem to have been completely lost.

🇪🇺Europe Must Stop Paying Tribute to Washington The EU’s $1.35 trillion trade and energy concessions to Donald Trump cement Europe’s junior‑partner status. Unless leaders endure short‑term pain, they will sacrifice long‑term power and sovereignty.

🇪🇺Europe Must Stop Paying Tribute to Washington

The EU’s $1.35 trillion trade and energy concessions to Donald Trump cement Europe’s junior‑partner status. Unless leaders endure short‑term pain, they will sacrifice long‑term power and sovereignty.

www.frenchdispatch.eu/p/europe-us-...

There is nothing more american-coded than talking about "proteins" and "staying hydrated".

Unfortunately, yes. Despite very slim evidence that the American way is actually better for you.