Europe
Maybe all this regulatory overhang is an asset, like stored potential energy.
There is plenty of room for improvement across the pond.
‘Draghi: “The IMF estimates that Europe’s internal barriers are equivalent to a tariff of 45 per cent for manufacturing and 110 per cent for services.”’
EU Delayed Punishing Apple, Meta Just Before Trade Talks Started
Make no mistake: EU regulatory zeal for censuring American Big Tech is a non-tariff barrier to trade that is on the table.
‘The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, had initially planned to announce cease-and-desist orders targeting the tech giants on Tuesday and had informed at least one of the companies of that timing, people familiar with the matter said. Both companies could have also been slapped with fines.
‘The decision to postpone the announcement was made shortly before EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met with U.S. officials in Washington on Monday, for his first in-person talks since President Trump announced a 90-day pause on some tariffs. In addition, this week Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with Trump, who said he would have “very little problem” making a trade deal with the EU.
‘The rulings are still expected to go ahead, and it isn’t immediately clear how long the delay might last.’
After 75 Days, Los Angeles Has Issued Four Permits to Rebuild Houses
At one point do they just declare eminent domain and get it over with?
‘As of Monday, March 24, 75 days after the fire, the city had issued . . . four permits for homeowners to rebuild their properties. Not forty. Not fourteen. Four.’
California Coastal Commission Unites Musk and Newsom
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
‘Elon Musk and Gov. Gavin Newsom don’t agree on much these days, but they’re both gunning for the California Coastal Commission. Mr. Newsom sees it as blocking the rebuilding of Los Angeles after the wildfires, while Mr. Musk is aggrieved by its denial of a U.S. Air Force plan to allow SpaceX more rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, which is federal property. “I’m with Elon,” Mr. Newsom said. “I didn’t like that.”
‘The commission’s denial in October of the Air Force’s request was blatantly political. “We’re dealing with a company, the head of which has aggressively injected himself into the presidential race,” chairwoman Caryl Hart griped. Commissioner Gretchen Newsom, a former union official who is no relation to the governor, railed against Mr. Musk for “spewing and tweeting political falsehoods.”’
On Green Energy, Now They Tell Us
Subsidizing energy consumption leads to more energy consumption, both green and non-green.
It’s only now become politically correct to say this obvious fact out loud, apparently.
‘I’m joking but not really. Exactly nobody advised the Obama administration that subsidizing green energy was a way to reduce emissions or substitute for a carbon tax. But it turns out reality can’t be suppressed forever. In the very bible of the blob, Foreign Affairs magazine, a peak Obamaist, former White House budget chief Peter Orszag, discovers the truth, aided by co-authors including the energy sage Daniel Yergin: An “energy transition,” in the sense of displacing fossil fuels, isn’t happening. “Energy addition” is happening.
‘“Rather than replacing conventional energy sources,” they write, “the growth of renewables is coming on top of that of conventional sources.”’
The pluses and pitfalls of US bank deregulation
Interesting to suggest that Quarles’ loosening of rules for banks created the Silicon Valley run.
It was plain vanilla interest rate risk tied to bank capital. Shameful to suggest it.
‘The Fed is a crucial conduit for deregulation. And while Powell has maintained a robust line on the sanctity of an independent monetary policy, he seems far more accommodating on bank rules. In addition to his enthusiasm for SLR reform, Powell said last week that a (further) watering down of the so-called Basel III Endgame — the US implementation of the latest global rule book on capital — would be ready “soon”. Michelle Bowman, Trump’s light-touch nominee as the Fed’s vice-chair for supervision, is set to be approved in the coming weeks. The benign analysis of all this is that US banks would be freed up to support the economy and markets and offset short-term disruptive pressures. But there is a more cautionary reading, too: the loosening of rules for regional banks under Randy Quarles, Trump Mk 1’s appointee as Fed supervision boss, was a major contributing factor to the regional banks crisis of 2023. Swinging the pendulum from super-safe to reckless is in no one’s interest.’