The African
Haters are gonna hate.
Elon Musk at Cato Conference: Government Needs a “Regulation Removal Department”
Capitalism and the success it creates seem to contain a counter-balancing force: bureaucracy. We have spoken before of regulation qua luxury good.
Capitalism has natural cycles of growth and retrenchment. But as Tupac wrote, “As wars come and go, my soldier stays eternal.”
Bureaucracy doesn’t go anywhere. It’s a ratchet moving only in one direction, adding complexity. Eventually, everything is illegal or so difficult to appear to be practically impossible.
Nobody prunes old, useless regulation.
‘“When things have been prosperous for a long time, you get an accumulation of laws and regulations, naturally,” said Musk. “And these laws and regulations are immortal whereas humans are obviously mortal. So, the longer you have this generation of – this creation by rules and regulations, you sort of get to the point where each law or regulation is not perhaps crippling in and of itself but they’re all like little strings, like a million little strings that tie Gulliver down. So, each little string – eventually the giant can’t move.”’
Elon Musk: Senior EU official is ‘the epitome of banal, bureaucratic evil’
The level of our public discourse is descending right through undergraduate, uninformed earnestness into ad hominem attacks that have become devoid of meaning through frequent repetition.
‘Elon Musk lashed out at the EU's rule-of-law chief over her characterization of him as a “promoter of evil.”
‘Outgoing European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová said in an interview with POLITICO earlier this week that Musk, unlike other tech bosses, “is not able to recognize good and evil.”
‘She added that the multibillionaire tech mogul and boss of X, Tesla and SpaceX is amplifying hatred. “We started to relativize evil, and he’s helping it proactively. He’s the promoter of evil,” she said.’
The DC bureaucrat who could deliver billions to Elon Musk
Politico targeting FCC Commissioner over his support for Elon Musk.
There was no mention of the FCC Chair’s support for Charlie Ergen. Or for the streaming companies. But I digress.
‘In an interview, Carr downplayed the idea he’s showing any special favor to Musk, saying he has held meetings and engaged with many industry figures over the years. He pledged even-handedness as a regulator — but said he does want the U.S. government to play a bigger role in fostering the expansion of Starlink and future satellite broadband players. And he said he has only met Musk in person once.
‘“I understand the focus on Musk is on a lot of people’s minds in the media space and otherwise,” Carr told POLITICO. “But I feel like my own conduct and my amount of posting on social media and the style and the type is pretty consistent with what I’ve done for the last four years.”’
EU Bureaucrats Consider Targeting Elon Musk's Entire Empire Over X's 'Free Speech'
They’re targeting the man, not the company, not the putative offense.
When people show you who they are, believe them.
Also, where is the European Musk? Asking for a friend.
‘Under the EU's Digital Services Act, the bloc can slap online platforms with fines of as much as 6% of their yearly global revenue for failing to tackle illegal content and disinformation or follow transparency rules. Regulators are considering whether sales from SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company, in addition to revenue generated from the social network, should be included to determine potential fines against X, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information isn't public. -BBG’
Who will be the EU bureaucrats’ next watchdog?
Interesting. Apparently, the EU has a bureaucracy ombudsman.
Why doesn’t the US?
‘Ireland’s Emily O’Reilly, who’s been responsible for probing maladministration in EU institutions since 2013, is stepping down. The six candidates hoping to replace her face an uphill struggle for support – and to define what the role is for.’
Can you name the head of one of the most influential agencies in the US government? I didn’t think so.
Why is that?
‘How many people can name the head of EPA or even know the official title of that office? About 5% of the population, would be my guess. Apart from Scott Pruitt, who became famous for his $20,000 phone booth, few people outside of the field could name any previous holder of the office. Michael Regan seems to be doing a great job there right now, but hardly anyone knows his name, and hardly anyone had heard of him before his appointment. I’d bet that even among members of the Washington press corps he’s an obscure figure.’
Science Needs a Check-Up. Bureaucracy is Failing the Integrity Test.
The federalization of science has made it more bureaucratic, distorting outcomes.
It’s a prime driver of the replication crisis in science.
‘Scientists are now reduced to being the turnkeys for opening up the spigots of government spending on science, which disproportionally empowers institutions, not scientists. Frankly, it’s a small wonder that there’s any integrity left in the sciences. What’s not a surprise is the rampant disintegrity that now prevails: we’re subsidizing it, and lucratively.
‘As science has become more and more a bureaucratic enterprise, the more it has stifled an essential creative dimension of science. As I put it in my 2017 book Purpose and Desire, describing how my research partners and I carried out an off-the-wall experiment with termites that we dubbed “complete moundectomy”:
‘“And because these were termites, we could act on our whim—glorious freedom!—safe from the bureaucratic killjoys that would have to be given a say if we were studying any creature that had a backbone.”’
Harris Goes Old-School Argentine on Housing
The Argentina analogy is going to be vital going forward.
Studying Argentine economic history might end up being quite profitable.
Everything old is new. Everything new is old.
‘One of the Biden-Harris proposals would “cap rent increases on existing units at 5%.” Another is passing the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act (PAFRHCA). The law would prohibit landlords from obtaining property-management advice from providers who consider information from multiple properties.
‘In 2020, Argentina implemented its Ley de Alquileres (Rental Law), which set a minimum three-year duration for rental contracts and prohibited rent increases during the life of the contract, except for annual adjustments based on a government formula. Rents went up, and the number of available properties fell. When the requirements were rolled back last year by the government run by the newly elected Javier Milei, rents fell and the number of available properties surged. All of this is the opposite of what rent-control advocates promised.
‘Landlords reacted to the Argentine regulation by beginning their leases at higher rents, which help mitigate losses taken later in the contract. In this way, rent-inflation restrictions require tenants to not only find an available apartment but also bring their own financing to afford the high early-contract payments. Expect American landlords to react in the same way.
‘One reason that households choose to rent rather than opt for home ownership (beyond straight unaffordability) is that they can leave the financing concerns to a landlord. Built-in financing is particularly attractive to young and low-income households who have not yet established good credit. Under a Harris plan, those households should expect to continue living with relatives or in government housing, or even to be unhoused (homeless).’
Secret Service has become ‘bureaucratic, complacent and static,’ report says
Bureaucratic sclerosis is like atherosclerosis. Our finest institutions become like fat, addled former college football players, relying on their glory days for identification, even as they loosen their pants when they sit down to eat a massive steak their current metabolism cannot handle.
It sounds like the Secret Service is going to have to go on a diet and exercise regime.
‘“The service has become insular and stale,” Napolitano said in an interview, The New York Times reported. “It is time for the service to kind of break out and to reach out beyond its own agency to bring in talent that can really take a fresh look at what it is they do, and how they do it.” Per the Times, the agency has only appointed one director over the past century who was not promoted from within.’
Ringside: Would Suing the Bureaucracy Bring Us More Water?
Social justice groups are motivated neither by the social nor by justice. Discuss.
‘The alliance of social justice groups with environmentalist organizations is perhaps even more inexplicable. California’s water scarcity impacts low income communities more than any other sector of the state’s population. According to a 2024 report released by the State Water Resources Control Board, we now have almost 400 municipal water systems serving nearly a million Californians that don’t meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water supplies. The report also finds that two thirds of these failing systems serve communities of color, half of them also coping with poverty and pollution. Social justice groups should be fighting for more water supply projects, not helping environmentalist groups kill them.’
Germany continues to chip away at bureaucracy, even as it blossoms here.
‘The BEG IV brings progress for the digitalization of the world of work in Germany. In particular, the introduction of the text form for proof of working conditions and the agreement of age limits represent important steps towards reducing bureaucratic hurdles for the economy. Nevertheless, BEG IV does not lead to the possibility of the complete digitalization of all employment contracts. Some regulations, such as the strict written form for fixed-term contracts or in certain sectors, remain in place. The path to an end-to-end digital world of work has therefore already been paved, but unfortunately not yet fully achieved. According to Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann, a further law to reduce bureaucracy is to follow in 2025.’
New Mexico Can’t Afford California’s Green Deal
New Mexico goes full California.
You never go full California.
‘Travis Hicks, managing partner for several dealerships in Roswell, says he sells about one EV every six months. The majority of his sales are pickups for the ranchers and oil-field workers who drive the economy in the state’s southeast, which overlaps with the oil- and gas-rich Permian Basin. Most of his customers travel long distances daily and haul heavy loads, which EVs aren’t designed for. “Dealers like me will be forced to buy EVs I can’t sell,” he says, “and I won’t be able to sell the vehicles my customers want to buy. No business can survive that.”’
It’s not an irony that government plans will benefit Big Tech.
It’s the whole point.
Big government and big business are like kissing cousins.
‘One irony is that Ms. Harris’s plans to regulate and subsidize AI could benefit Big Tech firms that progressives want to break up. Larger businesses can better manage regulatory burdens and lobby regulators for rules and taxpayer subsidies that help them while undercutting smaller rivals. Ms. Harris promises to support small businesses, but bigger government boosts big business.’