"Authoritarian regimes don’t want competent people, who might sometimes take a stand on principle. They prefer crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty." - Hannah Arendt
America is a Democratic country, so why it has some of the most incompetent politicians? And the problem is not just trump regime, go and look track record of last 3 decades.
Bush regime - disastrous neocon era that ended with GFC
Obama regime (the economic adviser of Obama was Larry Summers) - the bailout era which rescued the Wall Street and gave austerity to main street
Trump regime 1.0 - A terrible disaster that ended with chaotic Pandemic
Biden regime (gerontocracy of people like Schumer, Pelosi & Biden) - While economic policies of Biden were good but Biden failed terribly by appointing Merrick garland. The failure of Biden regime to enforce rule of law enabled the return of trump.
With friends like Fetterman, Manchin, Sinema, Feinstein (RIP), Schumer etc , Democrats don't need enemies. On the other side, the entire GOP party is anti-America.
China is an AUTHORITARIAN country - by definition - but it has some of the most competent people in political leadership.
So don't fall into this mediocre thinking that Democracy brings competent people to forefront while authoritarian nations have incompetent people. Reality is more complex that simplistic appearance.
"America is a Democratic country, so why it has some of the most incompetent politicians?"
----
It's hard for a country to be better than its electorate, and our electorate follows crap media, from Fox News to "red rant radio" to Joe Rogan. Resentment radio and pulpit pounders actively disinform voters about who would be best for their interests.
My mother’s town, Viola, TN, pop. 500 at its peak, has in the last decades been “taken over by Mexicans,” according Cousin Libby. (The younger generations left for jobs far away.) What happened was that lovely old houses had been bought by people commuting from the city. They needed gardeners, cleaners, and nannies, after the remodeling contractors finished.
Cousin Ida was happy, though, to talk about her fine French son-in-law and wonderful Japanese daughter-in-law. This was fifteen years before Trump.
After reading your link and some comments following, now I'm lamenting my holiday decorating idea. Last year, I visited Spain over the New Year and in Granada, admired the large, iridescent lighted lanterns hanging from above on the arches of street poles/lights. It has attracted Muslims again due to the Alhambra, which is being restored. Epiphany is primarily a Christian holiday, but the three wise men coming to visit the new "prophet" were from other kingdoms in the mid-to-far-east that were not Jewish (before the era of Christianity or Islam?). So I wanted to do something similar, which leads into the season of carnival and leave the green, purple, & gold up through Ash Wednesday. Perhaps it was just a figment of my imagination that the local government of Granada was wanting to appear inclusive & internationalist, while retaining its Spanish Catholic Christian identity with the symbol of the lantern representing the wise men on their way...I'm still going through with it and removing the lanterns & major star after Epiphany, I guess.
Sanjeev, you are a brilliant writer but I hope you don't live in the US or travel in and out of it....I'm sweating about what may happen to my cats if I have an altercation when trying to return from traveling myself.
Here's what I think is the problem with some of your analysis: So much of the difficulties we have stem from the reaction to the oil crises of the '70s. The right successfully sold a theory that "government is the problem". As a result, it became nearly impossible to use government to do good things. To a large extent, all the good that *was* accomplished (and there was some) was accomplished as a rearguard action, through a severely shifted Overton window.
The right deserves very grudging credit for engineering that shift. There isn't a damn thing good about it but it was remarkably effective from media savvy to, in particular, being able to both sway those who don't pay a whole lot of attention to what's really going on in the public sphere (life consumes a lot of time and suburbanization reduces perceived commonality of experience) and echo the worst of tribal human instincts. Punching down (and thereby putting oneself in the "preferred group") is always easier than punching up.
Politics is the art of the possible. In such an environment doing the right thing may be impossible. Take the reaction to the GFC, for example: Letting it burn would have been immensely painful. Pushing all the money in from the bottom and clawing back the money as it percolated upwards through the system (you know, actual *fiscal* policy!) would have been the right thing to do; it was, however, politically impossible. The right is sufficiently dangerous with slim majorities; imagine a US Congress with a right wing supermajority. (I'm going to avoid doing that myself. Just because.)
The thing that keeps me going is that just as the post-war consensus led to the creation of the Great American Middle Class, but ultimately ran out of steam, so, too what replaced it is also due to run out of steam. May it be soon. In our days. And let us say, "Dammit!!! Let's go. Root out the damned grifters!!!!!"
I read your comment. I appreciate your thinking about post war era which was a golden age. But there is a little problem. Post war era ran out of steam so we may think that current phase of enshittified politics will also run out of steam. But there's no guarantee of repetition of political cycle and resurgence of golden era. It's more of a wishful thinking.
I don't think too much in terms of cyclical pattern. Good times fade away - Bad times emerge - Bad times fade away - Good times come back.
I am more into system analysis and I see too many problems in current political model of Democracy. Now that model performed good for some period and we are glad that it did. But we can't extrapolate that success forever. That success was probably a singular phase that may never repeat again. BTW, read my article here.
It wasn't so much a golden era (its advantages were economic -- as long as you were a member of "acceptable" groups ... and did progress). Our current will end; they all do, sooner or later. The question is always "how". A relatively orderly shift as was the case in the late '70s, would be preferable (though in a direction that would be more benign). That it's not something much uglier is only a hope.
Well, there’s dumb, and there’s dumber. I’d say we’re experiencing the latter at the moment. But it’s not merely, maybe not mainly, the incompetence but the corruption, racism, misogyny - flat out hatred - of this administration that’s taking a toll on me. This country has a long history of ALL of the above woven into its story, but once in a great while we get it right. I recently watched a docudrama about James Garfield, the president elected in 1880 who was assassinated before he had even a year in office. If what I saw was an accurate depiction of the man, he’d have been a great president, but he’d have been swimming in shark infested waters. A president may be necessary but not sufficient to achieve greatness.
They wouldn't be able to speak the language. But many tourists with guides visit China each year. Amazing country, they've spent billions on infrastructure. The U.S. should follow their lead.
In a great irony, some of the liberals who talk about fighting to save American democracy have themselves left America. Prime example of this hypocrisy is people like Timothy Snyder.
Timothy Snyder is still fighting to save American democracy. He is still working to keep us from allowing Putin to take Ukraine. Working to make it harder for Xi to invade Taiwan. Thereby making it less likely that small countries will decide they need their own nuclear weapons.
The American scientists who have taken research jobs in Europe, after they were sacked by DOGE—they could be called hypocrites, too, but that would be silly. They can do their work if they have a safe place to do it.
Every State has 2 Senators no matter how big or small they are in either area/population/GDP.
There ought to be more alignment between the number of Senators and the population of each State.
Gerrymandering of voting districts. This causes long sitting incumbents to have guaranteed seats. It also allows politicians to choose their preferred voters by disenfranchising certain categories of voters.
Elections for Representatives need to be State wide, not District wise. This will suppress First Past The Post effects.
I recall a quote from a Texas Congressman, perhaps 10 or 15 years ago...he was on a committee discussing renewable energy such as windfarms, and he said.. "But would too many windmills slow down the wind?"
It was a brilliant talk the two of you had. I highly appreciated your nuanced approaches to the unknowns of tomorrow - with concerns of an AI Bubble or the likelihood of a recession.
I’d just like to know, if you two were say in your twenty-year old versions of yourselves today, how would you safeguard yourselves against losing your job or livelihoods?
I think his voters need to feel the negative effects of his policies more fully while he is still in office. If he is removed too soon, they will conclude that they were better off with the tinpot dictator in power, and they'll want another one.
What a depressing thought, Rustbelter! I hope you are wrong, but you may be right. The question is, how many of them have already seen enough? What has improved for them since January, except for any pleasure they get from seeing the cruelty they wish on other people?
You're right, it sounds like a fair number of former maga people have seen enough already. I'm just thinking if there's some kind of big crash coming that will take years to climb out of, and it's already inevitable, I wouldn't want it to come just after Trump was removed from office. Because you can imagine how that would play, as a narrative going forward.
Interesting comments on Chinese doing AI with less. I think basic economics is on their side for this issue. Krugman's concern that those very expensive to build and to run they may become 'stranded assets' is likely in my view.
Res employment and AI: few in the Seattle area are doubting that layoffs are a result of AI and the costs of data centers is in fact at the center of the massive layoffs we are experiencing.
Are we in Seattle area 'experiencing massiv layoffs', or is it just Amazon, who is slashing its white collar labor force? What these 21st century tech-capitalists want to do is just the same old thing, with different words. They want to concentrate power (with AI data centers) and then complete their capture of America. You can google "AI data centers" and "images" and see what comes up- Open AI, whereever it is, is Computer prison - it looks like a campus of one-story buildings with no windows.....like the apex of brutalist architecture to serve non-humans. If only they could be blown up by anarchists of the former Vietnam resistance!
Musk has parked his Grok AI close to a Black residential area in Memphis (because that's what an 1980's Afrikaner would do!), and is polluting that neighborhood with dirty energy, but who cares if a neo-Nazi plunks himself down close to you and then builds a very slow gas chamber, eh?
It sounds like the Chinese are using decentralized, or distributed, AI to help run things like cars.
The bottom line is that the people trying to sell us on AI are still the same type as the robber barons, robber barons who don't know diddly about the rest of us, and don't care to. They'll always have their closests friends, which show up on screens.
From friends and families layoffs have been widespread, and new jobs in IT are not available for most people who are laid off. It is not confined to Amazon.
I heard there was an oversupply of sofware developers. But all the big name ITs have branches here.....them, too? Sorry, I live in one of the most recent multi-racial ghettos (Burien) and everyone who works with their hands, or at the airport, is still working to the max. My community may limit my vision re IT in the area.
If AI replaces workers, who will then have no money, who will buy all these rich assholes stuff? Aren't they shooting themselves in the foot? They built their fortunes on the backs of the middle and poor classes that they are not going to destroy.
This is the insight Henry Ford had - led him to offer what were then excellent wages and limited hours - and the great growth of the middle class began, was destroyed by speculative investments “on the margin”that wiped out ordinary savers who had been lured to the stock market for the first time. Now our pension funds are all invested there and heavily tied to tech stocks now borrowing to further AI growth. AI doesn’t need a pension.
Serfs weren't consumers in medieval feifdoms....a book I read about Hungary before WW II mentioned a prominent family's surname was Magyar...a few families owned most of the land--like thousands of acres, 20 villages--you get the drift....Jewish professionals and trades people contributed to its industrialization and then the horrors of WW II, after which, everything was nationalized under communism.
On a podcast I listened to recently, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse had a very cynical take on the Supreme Court's upcoming tariff ruling. He said the majority is caught in a bind, because their benefactor Leonard Leo doesn't like tariffs, while their tool Trump obviously does. He is convinced that whatever their ruling, it won't be based on the law. Sadly, he is probably right.
My career gave me the opportunity to observe a variety CEOs up close, which makes me think AI may ultimately prove a better replacement for top management than line staff who interact with customers on a regular basis. AI seems like an extension of large data synthesis and predictive analytics, which is at the core of CEO strategic planning responsibilities. AI bots certainly have “personalities” as enjoyable as those of CEOs (especially Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Musk). So replacing expensive executives with AI isn’t that much of a stretch.
I’m an economist, a regular reader and really appreciate your column. That said, I think you far underestimate the importance of housing prices, and in particular the complete loss of investment in public housing, ever since Reagan’s HUD “got out of the housing business.” The market will never house everyone, particularly with the consolidation and financialization of housing. We’ve got to have a substantial investment in publicly owned, permanently affordable, mixed-income housing!
An Idea! A Suggestion! When the Dems take over the House next year, take over the Gold Ballroom for use for massive House investigations of the Administration's, the DOJ's, Scotus, and their families' corruption for Nuremberg-style trials to come. The corruption is so blatant, it should not be too tough an assignment to do it relatively quickly. Jack Smith is the man for the job. Of course, impeach Trump again for Jan 6th as the work is done, and there is no double jeopardy for Impeachment.
I calculate that we’re hanging on at 3, by our fingernails, and I would note that this regime has had no difficulty employing people willing to do what they’re told regardless of legality or court orders - and it’s likely to stay that way at least until some of them end up in jail for that. Which seems unlikely. The number of institutional failures where there were supposed to be guardrails has been mind boggling.
Totally agree. It feels like some weird switch has been flipped. There is no law that cannot be circumvented; the norms are falling away. The institutions are not up to the task of righting the ship of state.
The amount of facism on the right shouldn't surpise us. Read Bob Altemeyer and, John Dean's Authoritarian Nightmare, written five years ago. And as Heather Cox Richardson writes, this isn't new either. It's why there was a Civil War. A group of rich men thought they knew best how to run the country and should therefore be the ones to run it. It's as old as time. The emergence of democracy is what is really new. After all, Britain still has a king. Humanity still has far to go and will never completely get there. That's just how it is. An ongoing struggle.
As the Chinese say, "the yin/yan of life". I just hope that every other creature doesn't become extinct before human realize that THEY are the apex predator.
What you guys missed about the cost of living for we commoners is the price of cars - used 25K and new 50K (averages). Truck prices are quite variable with abroader range, but still not a bargain. A huge tap on middle class budgets. Discussion of the morale of govt employees DOGED or still working would be of interest.
This calls for a chart. It would be interesting to see a comparison of the cost for a median family car (and the typical cost of maintaining and operating it) as a percentage of median family income over time with a discussion of what the chart show. Professor Krugman?
I have always been skeptical of the cost of living data. The average car at 50k and the average house at 600k (in Jersey) would not be a problem if health insurance, utilities and rent were not eating up the kind of money that once went into a down payment. I have seen reports of late payments on the increase, and I have to believe personal debt is rising. Jan-Feb is often when these downturns hit. So we shall see.
And I just read today that private equity has been taking over the payday loan industry (should we call loan sharks an industry???) .....as if it weren't already horrible enough WITHOUT private equity slinking into the picture. Suicides are still intolerably high for independent farmers.
I agree. Change begins with Truth and Reconciliation. Ida B Wells summed it up: “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” And follow truth with action and justice. Like running water for the Navajo reservation. https://www.navajowaterproject.org/ Returning the Black Hills, per the SCOTUS decision >100 years ago. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/448/371/ Reparations for what we’ve done and what we should have done but didn’t. Share more. Scare less.
What a silly utopian idea, which only takes Native American reparations into account. I like the sound of sharing and caring, and not scaring, but is there any Republican left who will consider it? Instead of reparations I love fantasizing about burning it all down. In the 1990's we all loved the idea of "reparations and reconciliation", ala South Africa. But it turns out that free Black South Africans today are mostly just free to be poor, since 85% of the capital is still held by 15% - white South Africans and corporations. Their revolution, somehow, must be completed, and few see the way foward. There's even an all-white town with white buildings - Orania, pop 5-6,000 and populated by "Deplorables",.
Old Mr. Musk still lives in luxury on a hill somehere on the Cape, where he sits muttering about "saving America" from a minority white, majority non-white status, which will mean the end of Western civilization as we know it - again! LOL! Poor western civilization!
An excellent Pink Floyd choice. I am going to hold on to the idea of a "Truth and Reconcilliation Commission." by that time of course we will have to find ways of defining, what truth, is.
And annoyingly probably, on the issue of vibes, I still want to argue that the negative perceptions about grocery prices may be less related to that measurable basket of goods or the overall collective value change. It is the industry driven careful data targeting of specific goods to deliver the needed markup to hit margin performance which is effecting specific groups of consumers in ways requiring purchasing changes they are not happy about. Dropping your grade choice of meat. Changing what meat is on the table. Not being able to spend the same amount on chocolate chips for the kids cookies. No gluten-free products anymore. Less organic purchases. Less dining out for families.
Suppose the Supreme Court rules Trump’s tariffs illegal and orders importers to be reimbursed. Won’t that infuriate American consumers, who have been paying for much of the tariffs through higher prices?
I can already imagine the picket signs in front of big-box retailers and auto dealerships: “We paid, you profited.” “Refund us a piece.” “Trump’s Actions Reward Importers, Fleece Families.”
"Authoritarian regimes don’t want competent people, who might sometimes take a stand on principle. They prefer crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty." - Hannah Arendt
America is a Democratic country, so why it has some of the most incompetent politicians? And the problem is not just trump regime, go and look track record of last 3 decades.
Bush regime - disastrous neocon era that ended with GFC
Obama regime (the economic adviser of Obama was Larry Summers) - the bailout era which rescued the Wall Street and gave austerity to main street
Trump regime 1.0 - A terrible disaster that ended with chaotic Pandemic
Biden regime (gerontocracy of people like Schumer, Pelosi & Biden) - While economic policies of Biden were good but Biden failed terribly by appointing Merrick garland. The failure of Biden regime to enforce rule of law enabled the return of trump.
With friends like Fetterman, Manchin, Sinema, Feinstein (RIP), Schumer etc , Democrats don't need enemies. On the other side, the entire GOP party is anti-America.
China is an AUTHORITARIAN country - by definition - but it has some of the most competent people in political leadership.
So don't fall into this mediocre thinking that Democracy brings competent people to forefront while authoritarian nations have incompetent people. Reality is more complex that simplistic appearance.
"America is a Democratic country, so why it has some of the most incompetent politicians?"
----
It's hard for a country to be better than its electorate, and our electorate follows crap media, from Fox News to "red rant radio" to Joe Rogan. Resentment radio and pulpit pounders actively disinform voters about who would be best for their interests.
There are incompetent politicians everywhere. I must admit, why did MAGA arise? Because there are a lot of a certain type of Christian:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/08/why-evangelicals-couldnt-care-less-about-trumps-epstein-scandal/
I think it's those small town/rural monocultures full of people who can't deal with people who are different.
My mother’s town, Viola, TN, pop. 500 at its peak, has in the last decades been “taken over by Mexicans,” according Cousin Libby. (The younger generations left for jobs far away.) What happened was that lovely old houses had been bought by people commuting from the city. They needed gardeners, cleaners, and nannies, after the remodeling contractors finished.
Cousin Ida was happy, though, to talk about her fine French son-in-law and wonderful Japanese daughter-in-law. This was fifteen years before Trump.
After reading your link and some comments following, now I'm lamenting my holiday decorating idea. Last year, I visited Spain over the New Year and in Granada, admired the large, iridescent lighted lanterns hanging from above on the arches of street poles/lights. It has attracted Muslims again due to the Alhambra, which is being restored. Epiphany is primarily a Christian holiday, but the three wise men coming to visit the new "prophet" were from other kingdoms in the mid-to-far-east that were not Jewish (before the era of Christianity or Islam?). So I wanted to do something similar, which leads into the season of carnival and leave the green, purple, & gold up through Ash Wednesday. Perhaps it was just a figment of my imagination that the local government of Granada was wanting to appear inclusive & internationalist, while retaining its Spanish Catholic Christian identity with the symbol of the lantern representing the wise men on their way...I'm still going through with it and removing the lanterns & major star after Epiphany, I guess.
Why did MAGA arise? I've written an ebook and it's free.
https://3rdworldecon.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-maga-and-american-oligarchy
Sanjeev, you are a brilliant writer but I hope you don't live in the US or travel in and out of it....I'm sweating about what may happen to my cats if I have an altercation when trying to return from traveling myself.
Here's what I think is the problem with some of your analysis: So much of the difficulties we have stem from the reaction to the oil crises of the '70s. The right successfully sold a theory that "government is the problem". As a result, it became nearly impossible to use government to do good things. To a large extent, all the good that *was* accomplished (and there was some) was accomplished as a rearguard action, through a severely shifted Overton window.
The right deserves very grudging credit for engineering that shift. There isn't a damn thing good about it but it was remarkably effective from media savvy to, in particular, being able to both sway those who don't pay a whole lot of attention to what's really going on in the public sphere (life consumes a lot of time and suburbanization reduces perceived commonality of experience) and echo the worst of tribal human instincts. Punching down (and thereby putting oneself in the "preferred group") is always easier than punching up.
Politics is the art of the possible. In such an environment doing the right thing may be impossible. Take the reaction to the GFC, for example: Letting it burn would have been immensely painful. Pushing all the money in from the bottom and clawing back the money as it percolated upwards through the system (you know, actual *fiscal* policy!) would have been the right thing to do; it was, however, politically impossible. The right is sufficiently dangerous with slim majorities; imagine a US Congress with a right wing supermajority. (I'm going to avoid doing that myself. Just because.)
The thing that keeps me going is that just as the post-war consensus led to the creation of the Great American Middle Class, but ultimately ran out of steam, so, too what replaced it is also due to run out of steam. May it be soon. In our days. And let us say, "Dammit!!! Let's go. Root out the damned grifters!!!!!"
"Government is a problem. Vote for us and we'll prove it!"
That's GOP slogan since Reagan
Hi Gold,
I read your comment. I appreciate your thinking about post war era which was a golden age. But there is a little problem. Post war era ran out of steam so we may think that current phase of enshittified politics will also run out of steam. But there's no guarantee of repetition of political cycle and resurgence of golden era. It's more of a wishful thinking.
I don't think too much in terms of cyclical pattern. Good times fade away - Bad times emerge - Bad times fade away - Good times come back.
I am more into system analysis and I see too many problems in current political model of Democracy. Now that model performed good for some period and we are glad that it did. But we can't extrapolate that success forever. That success was probably a singular phase that may never repeat again. BTW, read my article here.
https://3rdworldecon.substack.com/p/when-political-models-fail
It wasn't so much a golden era (its advantages were economic -- as long as you were a member of "acceptable" groups ... and did progress). Our current will end; they all do, sooner or later. The question is always "how". A relatively orderly shift as was the case in the late '70s, would be preferable (though in a direction that would be more benign). That it's not something much uglier is only a hope.
I'll read the article. Cheers.
Well, there’s dumb, and there’s dumber. I’d say we’re experiencing the latter at the moment. But it’s not merely, maybe not mainly, the incompetence but the corruption, racism, misogyny - flat out hatred - of this administration that’s taking a toll on me. This country has a long history of ALL of the above woven into its story, but once in a great while we get it right. I recently watched a docudrama about James Garfield, the president elected in 1880 who was assassinated before he had even a year in office. If what I saw was an accurate depiction of the man, he’d have been a great president, but he’d have been swimming in shark infested waters. A president may be necessary but not sufficient to achieve greatness.
How many people are hankering to live in China? Not very many.
They wouldn't be able to speak the language. But many tourists with guides visit China each year. Amazing country, they've spent billions on infrastructure. The U.S. should follow their lead.
They don’t attract refugees is what I meant. They don’t want refugees either.
They’ve accomplished a great deal but discourage immigration.
Hi Katze,
Many Americans don't want to live in America anymore and want to migrate to Canada or Europe.
https://www.newsweek.com/nearly-two-thirds-of-young-americans-are-considering-leaving-the-us-11010814
In a great irony, some of the liberals who talk about fighting to save American democracy have themselves left America. Prime example of this hypocrisy is people like Timothy Snyder.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/world/canada/trump-universities-professors-toronto.html
Timothy Snyder is still fighting to save American democracy. He is still working to keep us from allowing Putin to take Ukraine. Working to make it harder for Xi to invade Taiwan. Thereby making it less likely that small countries will decide they need their own nuclear weapons.
The American scientists who have taken research jobs in Europe, after they were sacked by DOGE—they could be called hypocrites, too, but that would be silly. They can do their work if they have a safe place to do it.
I have nothing against people who migrate to countries in search for better life prospects and opportunities. It's called 'voting be feet'.
But Timothy Snyder is an hypocrite.
https://bandyxlee.substack.com/p/i-am-remaining-in-my-country
American Democracy has some remarkable flaws.
Every State has 2 Senators no matter how big or small they are in either area/population/GDP.
There ought to be more alignment between the number of Senators and the population of each State.
Gerrymandering of voting districts. This causes long sitting incumbents to have guaranteed seats. It also allows politicians to choose their preferred voters by disenfranchising certain categories of voters.
Elections for Representatives need to be State wide, not District wise. This will suppress First Past The Post effects.
There are many more strange anomalies.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/
https://fixthecourt.com/
Awesome quote!
I recall a quote from a Texas Congressman, perhaps 10 or 15 years ago...he was on a committee discussing renewable energy such as windfarms, and he said.. "But would too many windmills slow down the wind?"
Keep in mind that it takes a lot of IQ points to be an outstanding crackpot or fool.
My cousin used to say, "Hey! It ain't EZ being stooopid!" 🤓
sez whu.😂
I just got your name!! Thanks for the lol
In other words, the government is then run only by lackey “yes men,“ so there’s no one to say “no” or push back on bad ideas.
Meaning, we get… lots of bad ideas.
The emperor has no clothes.
It was a brilliant talk the two of you had. I highly appreciated your nuanced approaches to the unknowns of tomorrow - with concerns of an AI Bubble or the likelihood of a recession.
I’d just like to know, if you two were say in your twenty-year old versions of yourselves today, how would you safeguard yourselves against losing your job or livelihoods?
the sooner trump is removed from office the better.
history does not look kindly on people who give in to dictators.
republicans obviously don't care what history teaches.
I think his voters need to feel the negative effects of his policies more fully while he is still in office. If he is removed too soon, they will conclude that they were better off with the tinpot dictator in power, and they'll want another one.
What a depressing thought, Rustbelter! I hope you are wrong, but you may be right. The question is, how many of them have already seen enough? What has improved for them since January, except for any pleasure they get from seeing the cruelty they wish on other people?
You're right, it sounds like a fair number of former maga people have seen enough already. I'm just thinking if there's some kind of big crash coming that will take years to climb out of, and it's already inevitable, I wouldn't want it to come just after Trump was removed from office. Because you can imagine how that would play, as a narrative going forward.
Republicans have always "interpreted" history to fit their agenda.
Interesting comments on Chinese doing AI with less. I think basic economics is on their side for this issue. Krugman's concern that those very expensive to build and to run they may become 'stranded assets' is likely in my view.
Res employment and AI: few in the Seattle area are doubting that layoffs are a result of AI and the costs of data centers is in fact at the center of the massive layoffs we are experiencing.
Are we in Seattle area 'experiencing massiv layoffs', or is it just Amazon, who is slashing its white collar labor force? What these 21st century tech-capitalists want to do is just the same old thing, with different words. They want to concentrate power (with AI data centers) and then complete their capture of America. You can google "AI data centers" and "images" and see what comes up- Open AI, whereever it is, is Computer prison - it looks like a campus of one-story buildings with no windows.....like the apex of brutalist architecture to serve non-humans. If only they could be blown up by anarchists of the former Vietnam resistance!
Musk has parked his Grok AI close to a Black residential area in Memphis (because that's what an 1980's Afrikaner would do!), and is polluting that neighborhood with dirty energy, but who cares if a neo-Nazi plunks himself down close to you and then builds a very slow gas chamber, eh?
It sounds like the Chinese are using decentralized, or distributed, AI to help run things like cars.
The bottom line is that the people trying to sell us on AI are still the same type as the robber barons, robber barons who don't know diddly about the rest of us, and don't care to. They'll always have their closests friends, which show up on screens.
From friends and families layoffs have been widespread, and new jobs in IT are not available for most people who are laid off. It is not confined to Amazon.
I heard there was an oversupply of sofware developers. But all the big name ITs have branches here.....them, too? Sorry, I live in one of the most recent multi-racial ghettos (Burien) and everyone who works with their hands, or at the airport, is still working to the max. My community may limit my vision re IT in the area.
If AI replaces workers, who will then have no money, who will buy all these rich assholes stuff? Aren't they shooting themselves in the foot? They built their fortunes on the backs of the middle and poor classes that they are not going to destroy.
This is the insight Henry Ford had - led him to offer what were then excellent wages and limited hours - and the great growth of the middle class began, was destroyed by speculative investments “on the margin”that wiped out ordinary savers who had been lured to the stock market for the first time. Now our pension funds are all invested there and heavily tied to tech stocks now borrowing to further AI growth. AI doesn’t need a pension.
How’s Meta making money?
“Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show”
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/
Anything for an extra buck. Disgusting.
Serfs weren't consumers in medieval feifdoms....a book I read about Hungary before WW II mentioned a prominent family's surname was Magyar...a few families owned most of the land--like thousands of acres, 20 villages--you get the drift....Jewish professionals and trades people contributed to its industrialization and then the horrors of WW II, after which, everything was nationalized under communism.
How do I know you're NOT AI, Robin?
On a podcast I listened to recently, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse had a very cynical take on the Supreme Court's upcoming tariff ruling. He said the majority is caught in a bind, because their benefactor Leonard Leo doesn't like tariffs, while their tool Trump obviously does. He is convinced that whatever their ruling, it won't be based on the law. Sadly, he is probably right.
Well, at least they’ll be consistent since they haven’t been ruling based on law for several years now.
...You feel that you earned your wage increase and then it was snatched away by inflation....
We are doing a disfavor by not mentioning CEO compensation being up 600% vs employee wages. Starbucks CEO is paid 6000+% over.
That is insane.
My career gave me the opportunity to observe a variety CEOs up close, which makes me think AI may ultimately prove a better replacement for top management than line staff who interact with customers on a regular basis. AI seems like an extension of large data synthesis and predictive analytics, which is at the core of CEO strategic planning responsibilities. AI bots certainly have “personalities” as enjoyable as those of CEOs (especially Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Musk). So replacing expensive executives with AI isn’t that much of a stretch.
Unfortunately, like those at the US Capitol, they make the rules and everyone else has to follow them. Until they don't.
I’m an economist, a regular reader and really appreciate your column. That said, I think you far underestimate the importance of housing prices, and in particular the complete loss of investment in public housing, ever since Reagan’s HUD “got out of the housing business.” The market will never house everyone, particularly with the consolidation and financialization of housing. We’ve got to have a substantial investment in publicly owned, permanently affordable, mixed-income housing!
An Idea! A Suggestion! When the Dems take over the House next year, take over the Gold Ballroom for use for massive House investigations of the Administration's, the DOJ's, Scotus, and their families' corruption for Nuremberg-style trials to come. The corruption is so blatant, it should not be too tough an assignment to do it relatively quickly. Jack Smith is the man for the job. Of course, impeach Trump again for Jan 6th as the work is done, and there is no double jeopardy for Impeachment.
I calculate that we’re hanging on at 3, by our fingernails, and I would note that this regime has had no difficulty employing people willing to do what they’re told regardless of legality or court orders - and it’s likely to stay that way at least until some of them end up in jail for that. Which seems unlikely. The number of institutional failures where there were supposed to be guardrails has been mind boggling.
Totally agree. It feels like some weird switch has been flipped. There is no law that cannot be circumvented; the norms are falling away. The institutions are not up to the task of righting the ship of state.
The amount of facism on the right shouldn't surpise us. Read Bob Altemeyer and, John Dean's Authoritarian Nightmare, written five years ago. And as Heather Cox Richardson writes, this isn't new either. It's why there was a Civil War. A group of rich men thought they knew best how to run the country and should therefore be the ones to run it. It's as old as time. The emergence of democracy is what is really new. After all, Britain still has a king. Humanity still has far to go and will never completely get there. That's just how it is. An ongoing struggle.
As the Chinese say, "the yin/yan of life". I just hope that every other creature doesn't become extinct before human realize that THEY are the apex predator.
What you guys missed about the cost of living for we commoners is the price of cars - used 25K and new 50K (averages). Truck prices are quite variable with abroader range, but still not a bargain. A huge tap on middle class budgets. Discussion of the morale of govt employees DOGED or still working would be of interest.
This calls for a chart. It would be interesting to see a comparison of the cost for a median family car (and the typical cost of maintaining and operating it) as a percentage of median family income over time with a discussion of what the chart show. Professor Krugman?
I have always been skeptical of the cost of living data. The average car at 50k and the average house at 600k (in Jersey) would not be a problem if health insurance, utilities and rent were not eating up the kind of money that once went into a down payment. I have seen reports of late payments on the increase, and I have to believe personal debt is rising. Jan-Feb is often when these downturns hit. So we shall see.
And I just read today that private equity has been taking over the payday loan industry (should we call loan sharks an industry???) .....as if it weren't already horrible enough WITHOUT private equity slinking into the picture. Suicides are still intolerably high for independent farmers.
I agree. Change begins with Truth and Reconciliation. Ida B Wells summed it up: “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” And follow truth with action and justice. Like running water for the Navajo reservation. https://www.navajowaterproject.org/ Returning the Black Hills, per the SCOTUS decision >100 years ago. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/448/371/ Reparations for what we’ve done and what we should have done but didn’t. Share more. Scare less.
What a silly utopian idea, which only takes Native American reparations into account. I like the sound of sharing and caring, and not scaring, but is there any Republican left who will consider it? Instead of reparations I love fantasizing about burning it all down. In the 1990's we all loved the idea of "reparations and reconciliation", ala South Africa. But it turns out that free Black South Africans today are mostly just free to be poor, since 85% of the capital is still held by 15% - white South Africans and corporations. Their revolution, somehow, must be completed, and few see the way foward. There's even an all-white town with white buildings - Orania, pop 5-6,000 and populated by "Deplorables",.
Old Mr. Musk still lives in luxury on a hill somehere on the Cape, where he sits muttering about "saving America" from a minority white, majority non-white status, which will mean the end of Western civilization as we know it - again! LOL! Poor western civilization!
Thank you for this morning’s thought provoking talk
“A political order focused on absolute power and control that suppresses individual liberty and truth” ~ George Orwell
An excellent Pink Floyd choice. I am going to hold on to the idea of a "Truth and Reconcilliation Commission." by that time of course we will have to find ways of defining, what truth, is.
Thank you Paul.
And annoyingly probably, on the issue of vibes, I still want to argue that the negative perceptions about grocery prices may be less related to that measurable basket of goods or the overall collective value change. It is the industry driven careful data targeting of specific goods to deliver the needed markup to hit margin performance which is effecting specific groups of consumers in ways requiring purchasing changes they are not happy about. Dropping your grade choice of meat. Changing what meat is on the table. Not being able to spend the same amount on chocolate chips for the kids cookies. No gluten-free products anymore. Less organic purchases. Less dining out for families.
Suppose the Supreme Court rules Trump’s tariffs illegal and orders importers to be reimbursed. Won’t that infuriate American consumers, who have been paying for much of the tariffs through higher prices?
I can already imagine the picket signs in front of big-box retailers and auto dealerships: “We paid, you profited.” “Refund us a piece.” “Trump’s Actions Reward Importers, Fleece Families.”