Burning Bush
Rules defeat rationality.
How L.A. Bureaucracy Made It Harder to Clear Flammable Brush
It’s amazing to think that some people saved their homes in LA by paying a $150 fine to clear the brush from near their homes.
It’s even more amazing to think that more people didn’t do this.
Some of the wealthiest, smartest, most brilliant people just assumed that the bureaucracy would take care of them.
Also, the penalties for not clearing brush on private land are enforced aggressively. But, do the public sector agencies perform to the same standard on public land?
Not so much.
This article also talks about the glacial pace of government action.
If only there were a syndicated crime organization that would step in to do the things that government is supposed to do but is incapable of making happen. Think of it as “self-policing” as someone once described Boston’s North End’s approach to safety to me when I first moved there.
‘Impatient with government bureaucracy, including a $150 fee for permission to remove brush from state parkland, some of Josephson’s neighbors cleared it on their own.
‘They might have saved some of their homes. Of 81 houses in the vicinity, Josephson said 54 are still standing amid the wreckage of this month’s Palisades fire, including his. It is particularly remarkable because investigators believe the blaze could have started a few hundred feet away, around a popular hiking destination known as Skull Rock.’
Nebraska Will Fight the Radical Campaign for Electric Trucks
You know what sounds like an oligopoly?
Greentech.
‘First, state regulators, such as the California Air Resources Board, have issued regulations that force trucking companies to add electric trucks to their fleets if they make even a single trip to California. California’s most radical regulation also phases out the production of internal-combustion trucks, with a total ban on their sale set to take effect in a decade. Given California’s size and control over some of our most important international ports, Sacramento is effectively attempting to force electric-truck mandates on the rest of the country. Several other states have adopted California’s standards or announced their intent do to so.
‘Second, the regulators in the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency have used statutes that Congress passed well before electric vehicles were commercially viable to impose nationwide mandates. Today, less than 0.001% of all heavy-duty vehicles are battery powered. The Biden administration projects that its EV rule would require 45% of all heavy-duty vehicles sold nationwide to be electric in seven years.
‘Third, the private companies that make semi trucks are using their market power to force this change. The country’s largest truck manufacturers agreed not to push back against California’s electric-truck mandates and to abide by them even if they are struck down in court. This effectively operates as a restriction on output, a classic antitrust concern, which will increase prices for consumers of internal-combustion engine vehicles.’
Xi Tells Officials Scared of Being Purged: It’s OK to Make Mistakes
Only a communist would think that he can direct people to be entrepreneurial.
‘To help his bureaucrats rediscover their mojo and revive a stagnating economy, Xi is also promoting the message that some mistakes are acceptable. His decree to the Communist Party: Enforcing strict discipline shouldn’t fuel a climate of fear that saps the can-do spirit that once helped power China’s economic rise.
‘The approach is to “combine strict control with loving care,” Xi has said, to “encourage cadres to forge ahead and be enterprising.”
‘To that end, Xi has ordered party enforcers to absolve blame for honest mistakes and rekindle entrepreneurial verve across the rank and file. The party elite approved a new economic plan that embedded Xi’s directive, dubbed the “Three Differentiates,” which calls for leniency for well-meaning officials who make honest mistakes, and differentiating them from those who willfully break the rules.’
Bureaucracy and distance mean TSMC's U.S. fabs may always be behind Taiwan
It’s hard to run a competitive footrace when you are dragging a rock.
‘There is another reason why it is hard for TSMC to move on with the latest process technology in the U.S.: bureaucracy. The facility in Arizona has taken at least twice as long to build compared to Taiwan due to the need for extensive permits, local construction regulations, and a lack of streamlined processes, according to C.C. Wei. Addressing regulatory complexities alone cost the company $35 million, as it developed 18,000 rules to meet compliance requirements. Also, chemical supply costs are five times greater, prompting TSMC to ship sulfuric acid from Taiwan to Los Angeles and then transport it to Arizona.
‘"Every step requires a permit, and after the permit is approved, it takes at least twice as long as in Taiwan," Wei said at a National Taiwan University event, reports Reuters. "We ended up establishing 18,000 rules, which cost us $35 million."’
Why China Should Be Terrified of DOGE
We’ve said it before, but one of our theses here is that DOGE will make the US more efficient, with the productivity gains in the private sector from the cultural change and the benefits of smoother interaction with the government overwhelming any changes to the government cost profile or internal bureaucratic efficiency improvement.
‘It is for this reason that Chinese leaders fear DOGE. Anything that makes the U.S. government more efficient also makes the U.S. economy more efficient and by default gives the country an added edge against China.
‘Worse for the CCP, they have no answer to DOGE, because their socialist model is built on bureaucracy. For the communists, endless layers of bureaucracy are as vital as the cardiovascular system is for a person. During a meeting in December, Xi Jinping reportedly demanded a “comprehensive response” to DOGE from top party strategists. But as they explained to him, creating a Chinese version of DOGE would mean dismantling the CCP itself.’