Just rearranged a shelf of books in a way that probably makes little sense. But it does to me. I put Neoliberalism next to Eliade’s books about religious primordial myths. That’s not a coincidence either.

Wow, Benjamin Disraeli wrote this chapter

A society that is in advanced state of breakdown and in the early stages of disintegration (where America currently is) cannot be salvaged by technological advancement. That’s a crucial mistake of the technofascists. If anything, technological advancement is likely to exacerbate such problems.

Call it affordability, vibes, politics: asking people how they're doing financially has been a grim exercise for some time. Only 21% in 4th quarter said they're better off financially than a year ago, near Great Recession lows. Drop in 3 steps: pandemic '20, high inflation '21-22, and past year.

An aggressor wins a war by forcing the attacked country to stop fighting back, something Russia is eminently incapable of doing with Ukraine. The idea that an aggressor who makes minuscule advances over two years at an enormous cost is winning is a bit ridiculous.

America is a declining & untrustworthy power. China is an ascendant but untrustworthy power. That means Europe will need to gradually replicate on its own turf all critical services that US companies provide now. This is feasible. Almost no US technology is out of reach for Europe.

Brussels right now

Oh, those AI agents! 😂

Turns out Italy puts the US to shame when it comes to building frigates. America is simply incapable of doing that in the near term.

We badly need grand narratives again. The times to dig into ever narrower topics using quant methods on the assumption that the big picture is clear and settled, are gone. (photo of Luxembourg)

#economics A new #book «Liberating Economics From Ideologies and Dystopia» - Towards Proper Debate – by George Kararach - New Directions in Modern Economics series @elgarpublishing.bsky.social 2025 www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/lib...

Fine should have been twice as high

Europeans are no longer shocked. Message is well understood already more than six months ago. US is retreating. The power vacuum will be filled by Europe itself.

I’m not necessarily staunchly against a more pragmatic foreign policy. But Trump’s version is a policy based on stupidity, incompetence and corruption

Trump seems to want to sell the American national interest in order for his family and cronies to make a few quick bucks

Weakening ties with allies just as China is becoming more powerful and assertive. Trump seems to be quite incompetent in the foreign affairs arena

Why would you tie your legacy, right now, to a failing old would-be dictator in the White House?

Book just arrived

“Hey, it’s bubble!”

Five-byline alert: 🚨 “.. the full scope of [Witkoff’s talks] went much further, according to people familiar .. They were privately charting a path to bring Russia’s $2 trillion economy in from the cold—with American businesses first in line .. to the dividends. 🇺🇦 www.wsj.com/world/russia...

Demolishing the East Wing of the White House before finalizing plans for what will be built above its ruins is a near-perfect metaphor for Trump's approach to economic policy. The only difference is the wrecking crew doesn’t claim the rubble is evidence of unprecedented growth.

German infrastructure would be critical for defeating a potential Russian war of aggression against European NATO countries

It’s not about *still*. I’d say increasingly. As Europe rearms, scales up and develops new military capabilities that make it less and less dependent on the US, America is rendered less able to unilaterally decide on anything in the region. Most US analysts don’t seem to grasp that.

Russia has no veto over Kyiv’s bid to join NATO, alliance chief Mark Rutte said today — rebuffing a peace deal proposal floated by Moscow and Washington that would block Ukraine from the alliance.

I’m now convinced more than ever that Novo Nordisk’s bottom is in the rearview mirror. Yesterday was peak bad news. It’s not going to be easy to have any new huge damning news. Shares recovering well on/after peak bad news is good news.

Trump could have said something like: “What are you talking about? We’re not issuing or planning any illegal orders!” But he didn’t…

Peak Russo-American hubris and power in Europe. My take is that from here on these two will gradually be diminished as important political factors in Europe.

America First will make America so powerful and indispensable… oh, wait!

Chatbots (that also go by the sexier name AI) are expected to increase productivity but there’s evidence that they often do the opposite…

Even if technically chatbots (also called AI) are not a bubble, the expected return on the investment falls short of what’s needed to justify the massive build up of data centres. This is concerning.

Putin’s plan for Ukrainian surrender does not serve American national interests

Just added Novo Nordisk again. Added also Energiekontor (EKT). I can’t lie. Investing in US large cap growth was more fun than bottom fishing in European stocks. So far it mostly sucks.

Many startups do the fake-it-until-you-make-it stuff. The problem for OpenAI is theirs is mind-blowingly capital intensive. And all they offer is a chatbot that hasn’t yet proven exactly how useful it will be in increasing productivity.

Private credit does not involve maturity or liquidity transforming the way classic shadow banking does. LPs that provide private credit are primarily equity financed. They’re not borrowing short term in order to make long term lending. Systemic risks from private credit is not comparable to 2008

“Radicalization doesn’t usually mean that someone abandons their old beliefs. Instead, it usually means that someone is convinced to embrace the worst version of themselves.” Holy shit yes that’s exactly it

Believe it or not, I never owned a car before. But now I got this plug-in hybrid Golf. Second hand, of course, since buying a new vehicle is a terrible investment, losing value immediately 😀

The feeling of invincibility around Donald Trump has been materially diminished by the decisive victories the Democrats scored.

Chris Murphy: "There will be pretty substantial damage to a Dem brand that has been rehabilitated if on the heels of an election in which the people told us to keep fighting, we immediately stop... if we surrender without having gotten anything, I worry it'll be hard to get them back up off the mat"

Consumer sentiment by income-level tells you everything. #UMich @sofiabaig.bsky.social

This is a bit extreme but it’s important to know that this perspective exists and has some logic and merits

The invaluable scotusblog.com is liveblogging here: www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/oral...

AI accuracy. How the hell can this happen!

Trump floats Treasury secretary Scott Bessent as new Fed chair on.ft.com/4hxb58c

Fed nears end of QT amid signs of stress in money markets on.ft.com/4ocVlK9

Musk proves yet again that “For me it was never about money, but about solving future problems of humanity”

Trump beware, you’re not dealing with the same Xi Jinping as back in 2017. This time around Mr Xi is less interested in trying to “understand” and more likely to “point out”. Nowadays he rarely uses the word “hope” or “believe” and prefers to “govern” and “defend”.

🇸🇪🇺🇦 Swedish defense company Saab is considering establishing a plant in Ukraine for the final assembly and testing of Gripen fighter jets, - FT The agreement with Ukraine could double Saab's production capacity needs. One option for financing the project could be the use of frozen Russian assets.

This video from Portland is a metaphor for what is going on in America. ICE trying so hard to get Americans to cross a line and if they don't, dragging them across the line and violently attacking.