So. I wrote a dissertation on how economic crises can lead to the breakdown of authoritarian regimes.
Here are three key point to keep in mind as you watch the news this week π§΅
Here are three key point to keep in mind as you watch the news this week π§΅
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But, maybe π€·πΌββοΈ?
I mean, the pins.
β¦although I donβt understand how the pins function as discrete (distinct) bookmarks, or as a suitable workaround.
I think Iβm too stressed about whatβs happening to concentrate.
Eg The Swedish Match King was once the world's richest man.
I think we've already seen it, the open split over tariffs.
No.
Not an influencer. Retired Canadian.
Right now, you can download a free copy of "Pranksters vs Autocrats: Why Dilemma Actions Advance Nonviolent Activism" from the Cornell University Press.
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501756061/pranksters-vs-autocrats/
But tariffs are one of few things on which Trump has same view for 40+ years. In 1980s he paid for NYT ads saying US was being ripped off & should impose high tariffs. i.e. he always wanted to do this π±
Hell, even the right isn't being pro-free market these days.
Also, everyone should reread A Tale of Two Cities.
https://business.columbia.edu/sites/default/files-efs/imce-uploads/Joseph_Stiglitz/23%20Nobel%20Economists%20letter.pdf
Later, I think it was from The Economist, . . .
IOW, the price required to keep the leaders' heads off pikes.
Trump is a dick. Highlight the fact. Why don't huge numbers of protesters buy dildos, paint them orange, and go to the capitol building and throw them at the building.
It would go around the world.
Approximately no one among our leaders, private and public sector both, want anything but the return of the Gilded Age.
Thinking about this!
He is propped up by Congressional sycophants.
They were worried about being primaried because their constituents were ruby red.
Now they worry about the general because their constituents are bleeding.
I tried to call Ron Johnson today during office hours, though, and of course nobody answered in any of his four offices. He never responds to anything.
The country has had a series of autocrats, who built checks on resistance over time (including stoking cynicism in the population).
Vladimir Putin was put into power by oligarchs. He added more controls, and started killing oligarchs proactively.
Putin needed a whole-ass war in Ukraine to bleed pressure away from how the economic sanctions are starting to make things really tight for the oligarchs.
If the US hadnβt broken ranks with Europe, I canβt help but wonder where P-boy would be.
Part of the problem is learned helplessness β if nothing you do seems to matter, whatβs the point in doing anything. The solution is therefore to remind people that they matter.
If the person representing you wonβt see you, then maybe elect someone who will.
Carrot top, couch fucker, and potato boy are going to try and suppress or corrupt that signal, so we need to boost it.
Protests are an important part of free speech.
Wouldn't it be easier if like.....if like, he just dropped dead on the bog
Or am i just being a bit naive what if......
Furthermore, the crazy MAGAs will like have died off because of the policies hurting them first and foremost. Their mortality rate will dramatically decrease due to Trump
This is an old theme in the literature on democratic transitions, and it's matters. The key point is, the fight is not about principles. It is about who needs to avoid bankruptcy in an emergency.
Elon Musk says he hopes for 'free trade zone' between Europe and the US
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/06/elon-musk-says-he-hopes-for-free-trade-zone-between-europe-and-the-us
Insiders have an incentive to support the status quo even if they don't like it. Being the first to defect by putting your head out over the ramparts is dangerous. But regimes look a lot stronger than they actually are, until they aren't
We won't know what specific event leads insiders to turn on the regime. But right now, with probability = 1, someone is realizing that they can't make payroll next week. And that person just might start the process that ends this all
Now I don't think the "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" lobby will wait that long.
On the topic of bankruptcy, keep in mind DOGE is inside of Treasury. Congress ceded financial control.
The Saudis announced output hikes just recently.
US frackers are in trouble.
If Powell wasn't at the Fed money center banks are at risk.
Vance is hardly a consolation prize.
βIf you want someone to wake up quickly, take their money.β
Erdogan seems to have survived just fine.
No elite can challenge him - thus I'm not sure about elites turning on each other.
https://daily.jstor.org/the-unacknowledged-origins-of-the-deep-state/
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β¦ calcification anyone? β¦