Soft Skills Matter
Can AI end up humanizing bureaucracy?
Where Have All the Managers Gone?
One of the interesting consequences of AI is that the paper shuffling, the data sharing, the workflow organization become things that machines can do, implying that soft skills and leadership are more relevant. Not everyone is built for this skill set. We’ll need fewer, better leaders.
‘In all, U.S. public companies have cut their middle-manager head counts by about 6% since the peak of their pandemic hiring sprees, according to a new analysis of more than 20 million white-collar workers by employment-data provider Live Data Technologies. Senior executives, whose ranks have shrunk nearly 5% since the end of 2021, haven’t fared much better.’
When should DOGE scream in public and push for maximum transparency?
One big vulnerability for the DOGE team is their political inexperience. Not everything has to be a public fight.
Will they be able to learn? Will they learn fast enough before their window of credibility shrinks should they fail to deliver quick returns?
‘So in a non-public fight, you have a big advantage. Trump could maintain or up the number of o1 visas, or make other changes to please the tech people, and few MAGA voters would be very aware of this. But when you scream about this issue, and make it A BATTLE, suddenly it becomes “your pro-immigration sentiment vs. the anti-immigration sentiment of the voters.”’
Massachusetts Puts Its Education Excellence at Risk
Massachusetts chooses an equality of poverty in education.
Regulation promotes inequality.
‘For more than 20 years, Massachusetts high-school students needed to pass a standardized test to graduate—a requirement at least partially responsible for the state’s reputation for excellence in education. In November, voters approved a teachers-union backed ballot initiative to end the graduation requirement. It’s a bad idea, and top state lawmakers know it.
‘The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, tests students in third through eighth and 10th grades on English, math and science. The system was created by the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act, which established statewide educational standards geared toward students’ long-term success. Passing MCAS in 10th grade became a graduation requirement starting with the high school class of 2003.
‘From 2001 to 2018, as educators began teaching to the new standards, MCAS scores markedly improved—as did rates of high-school graduation and postsecondary success, particularly among low-income and minority students. This propelled Massachusetts in 2005 to the top spot in the National Assessment of Educational Progress rankings, where it has remained almost every year since. “Only after the MCAS test was introduced did scores begin to rise in Massachusetts relative to the nation as a whole,” Harvard economist Thomas J. Kane wrote in 2014.’
The Second Amendment, Reawakened
Regulation is power. It is control.
Here’s an example of control for its own sake.
‘The Second Amendment permits the government to disarm dangerous criminals, but what about people convicted of nonviolent paperwork offenses? Bryan Range pleaded guilty in 1995 to a state misdemeanor for lowballing his income on a form to get food stamps. He was put on probation and paid $2,458 in restitution. Decades later, federal law still bans him from owning a gun.
‘On Monday, however, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled en banc, 13-2, that this doesn’t satisfy the Bill of Rights. “The record contains no evidence that Range poses a physical danger to others,” Judge Thomas Hardiman writes in Range v. Attorney General United States. “Because the Government has not shown that our Republic has a longstanding history and tradition of depriving people like Range of their firearms,” the law “cannot constitutionally strip him of his Second Amendment rights.”’
Ursula von der Leyen gives top economic jobs to interventionist EU countries
Europe is going the wrong way.
It’s interesting. If individual countries pursue de-regulatory reform, will it make a difference? Will the EU occupy the abandoned bureaucratic room?
‘The European Commission president gave the most prominent growth-related posts in her team on Tuesday to Spain, Italy and France, which have called for more joint spending, looser budget deficit rules and a bigger role for industrial policy. Commissioners appointed by Paris, Madrid and Rome will oversee the critical arenas of antitrust regulation, state aid policy, EU spending and industrial strategy for the bloc’s 450mn-strong single market.
EU Tech Regulation—Good Intentions, Unclear Consequences: 2024 in Review
Bureaucrats looking to regulate online platforms should focus on processes.
Instead, they want to control speech. They want to control outcomes.
‘In 2024, our fears were realized, when the DSA’s ambiguity as to how systemic risks should be mitigated created a new, politicized enforcement problem. Then-Commissioner Theirry Breton sent a letter to Twitter, saying that under the DSA, the platform had an obligation to remove content related to far-right xenophobic riots in the UK, and about an upcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. This letter sparked widespread concern that the DSA was a tool to allow bureaucrats to decide which political speech could and could not take place online. Breton’s letter sidestepped key safeguards in the DSA: the Commissioner ignored the question of “systemic risks” and instead focused on individual pieces of content, and then blurred the DSA’s critical line between "illegal” and “harmful”; Breton’s letter also ignored the territorial limits of the DSA, demanding content takedowns that reached outside the EU.
‘Make no mistake: online election disinformation and misinformation can have serious real-world consequences, both in the U.S. and globally. This is why EFF supported the EU Commission’s initiative to gather input on measures platforms should take to mitigate risks linked to disinformation and electoral processes. Together with ARTICLE 19, we submitted comments to the EU Commission on future guidelines for platforms. In our response, we recommend that the guidelines prioritize best practices, instead of policing speech. Additionally, we recommended that DSA risk assessment and mitigation compliance evaluations prioritize ensuring respect for fundamental rights.
‘The typical way many platforms address organized or harmful disinformation is by removing content that violates community guidelines, a measure trusted by millions of EU users. But contrary to concerns raised by EFF and other civil society groups, a new law in the EU, the EU Media Freedom Act, enforces a 24-hour content moderation exemption for media, effectively making platforms host content by force. While EFF successfully pushed for crucial changes and stronger protections, we remain concerned about the real-world challenges of enforcement.’
NY Hopes to Offset Trump’s ‘Aggressive Regulatory Reduction’
States like NY are eager to occupy the regulatory room the federal government is creating with its DOGE reform efforts.
This will create a fantastic federal experiment. Some states will not take this opportunity in the same way that some states have very low tax regimes.
We’ll see who grows and who doesn’t. We’ll see where inequality increases and where it recedes.
Grab your popcorn.
‘With the incoming President Trump planning to roll back financial regulations, the Department of Financial Services will place more scrutiny on banks, insurers and cryptocurrency companies doing business in New York, the Financial Times (FT) reported Tuesday (Dec. 24).’
The politicization of CFIUS review was inevitable. It’s too much power. It’s a miracle that it took this long.
‘All-time corporate statement… The CEO of US Steel just torched Biden: “President Biden’s action today is shameful and corrupt. He gave a political payback to a union boss out of touch with his members…”’
Arizona’s Sunset Law Is an Example for DOGE
This could be the single largest impact DOGE could have. If they can pull it off.
Forcing Congress to affirm the continued need for a government agency would be groundbreaking.
‘To make these reforms last beyond his administration, Mr. Trump should also consider pushing for a federal law that has been effective at the state level. Every federal agency should be subject to a periodic sunset review requiring affirmative congressional reauthorization for the agency to continue in existence.’
Good Riddance to Net Neutrality
Loper for the win.
‘The Sixth Circuit decision illustrates how ending Chevron will make it harder for regulators to exceed their authority. It could also bring more certainty to businesses as regulations won’t shift based on arbitrary interpretations of law. This a victory for self-government and the private economy over the willful administrative state. There will be more, thanks to Loper Bright.’
The Consumer Fraud Promotion Bureau
The CFBP rolls out another Rube Goldberg machine.
CFPB rule says banks must share customer data with third parties on a customer’s request. This could mean that a con artist would be able to take money out of a customer’s account.
Another CFPB rule now requires banks to compensate customers for all of their fraud losses. Since customers won’t be on the hook, why bother being diligent? Just say yes to everything.
So, the CFPB is essentially helping scammers take money from banks.
Criminals are people, too, I guess.
‘The CFPB nonetheless demands that Zelle and its bank owners compensate swindled customers, which the law doesn’t require. Under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, banks must reimburse customers only for unauthorized transactions—i.e., when someone obtains access to a customer’s account or device and sends a transfer he didn’t approve.
‘But Mr. Chopra says banks must also reimburse customers for “induced fraud.” This will encourage more fraud. Customers will be less circumspect if they know banks are on the hook if they get conned. Scam artists could also exploit Mr. Chopra’s diktat by falsely claiming they were conned. Banks could have to reimburse the criminals.
‘The lawsuit follows a new CFPB rule that requires banks to share customer data with third parties upon a customer’s request. As we reported (“Jamie Dimon vs. Rohit Chopra”), the rule would let scammers initiate payments from customer accounts. Mr. Chopra’s Zelle lawsuit seeks to force banks to reimburse customers for fraud that will result from his own rule.’