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wesapien commented on AI adoption linked to 13% decline in jobs for young U.S. workers: study   cnbc.com/2025/08/28/gener... · Posted by u/pseudolus
jimmont · 2 days ago
Organizations are choosing to eliminate workers rather than amplify them with AI because they'd rather own 100% of diminished capacity than share proceeds from exponentially increased capacity. That's the rent extraction model consuming its own productive infrastructure. The Stanford study documents organizations systematically choosing inferior economic strategies because their rent-extraction frameworks cannot conceptualize workers as productive assets to amplify. This reveals that these organizations are economic rent-seekers that happen to have productive workers, not production companies that happen to extract rents. When forced to choose between preserving rent extraction structures or maximizing value creation, they preserve extraction even at the cost of destroying productive capacity. So what comes next?
wesapien · 2 days ago
Late Stage Capitalism. The real paper clip maximizers are the Silicon Valley and Wallstreet bros we met along the way.
wesapien commented on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU   bbc.com/news/live/c1dr7vy... · Posted by u/belter
wesapien · 5 months ago
If you got time, this is IMO a very good critique of the recent events by senior Americans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594yN8rxIJo
wesapien commented on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU   bbc.com/news/live/c1dr7vy... · Posted by u/belter
ccorcos · 5 months ago
I really want to read a good response to this comment. I have the same questions, and I’ll add one more thought.

Lots of people talk about how the US should be more like Europe. People say the average European has a better quality of life, etc. Well, Europe has tariffs…

wesapien · 5 months ago
Tarrifs can be useful in protecting your players in an new industry. In specific situations not using it like carpet bombing.

Thomas Sowell who is 94 has some wisdom to share: https://x.com/HooverInst/status/1907630250135273527?ref_src=...

wesapien commented on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU   bbc.com/news/live/c1dr7vy... · Posted by u/belter
rayiner · 5 months ago
I’m saying it seems like a scam when we consume more than we make by giving other countries pieces of paper. Why doesn’t the EU make the world’s reserve currency if that’s so great? Why doesn’t China try to make the Yuan the world’s reserve currency?Why did Angela Merkel cry when Obama tried to get Germany to engage in deficit spending? https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1084075/EU-news-Angela-...

And why do other countries keep doing it if we are the ones getting the better end of the deal?

wesapien · 5 months ago
Read up on 1900s world history and what path dependency is. The dollar is the reserve currency because the USA won the title of world power near the end of the first of half of the 1900s. It was formalized in the Bretton Woods agreement in 1944. The US helped win the war and gained enormous trust and goodwill around the world which it has slowly been squandering since then. POTUS hit the turbo button just a few months ago.

The PRC has strict controls of their money because that is how they can became the factory of the world. They played the hand that were dealt with and battled adversity and they are reaping the rewards.

The president said today that the US trade partners and allies/friends have been taking advantage. You can easily verify if that is true or false. US capitalists moved production overseas to make more money at the expense of the local workers. That's the scam.

wesapien commented on Why I don't discuss politics with friends   shwin.co/blog/why-i-dont-... · Posted by u/shw1n
wesapien · 5 months ago
Timur Kuran writes about this idea (preference falsification) in "Private Truths, Public Lies".

He explains that its this idea that had kept the Soviet Union (this bad idea/system) from dying sooner. People thought it was the system of oppression but in reality it was people who hated the system showed approval. https://youtu.be/xzjqjU2FOwA?si=aTG0GnJKVDoK_-qb&t=819

"Accordingly, for all the hardships of life under communism, they remained politically submissive for years on end." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preference_falsification

wesapien commented on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU   bbc.com/news/live/c1dr7vy... · Posted by u/belter
rayiner · 5 months ago
Doesn’t that seem fake to you? To me it sounds like a scam that’s destined to collapse in spectacular fashion.
wesapien · 5 months ago
Fake, no not at all. Look around your where live. Think about who, where, and how those things were made. Scam? From whose perspective? There is only one global reserve currency. For all intents and purposes, that is the crown and heavy is the head that wears it. Sure it feels like a scam for anyone outside of the 1% or the political class or the plutocracy.

The world followed the lead and it just wanted reciprocity (exclude the enemies of course). What seems fake to you and who is getting scammed by who?

wesapien commented on Why I don't discuss politics with friends   shwin.co/blog/why-i-dont-... · Posted by u/shw1n
daanlo · 5 months ago
Imho opinion, what you are describing are republicans of the past. As parent says, there used to be shared values. Two of the shared valued were peaceful transition of power and respect for the rule of law / division of power between executive, legislative and judiciary.

Imho the values of MAGA republicans are clearly distinct from GWB republicans (even if it may be precisely the same voters). Specifically the two values described above are no longer shared values.

I believe there are more, but for the two values above we have irrevocable proof.

wesapien · 5 months ago
I think the outcomes achieved for domestic vs foreign is another interesting angle. The degradation of purchasing power of working and middle class is have been consistently getting worse.
wesapien commented on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU   bbc.com/news/live/c1dr7vy... · Posted by u/belter
rayiner · 5 months ago
Why is “global reserve status” more important than building stuff?
wesapien · 5 months ago
It's only one of the key levers of power of the USA. No biggie. You give people money represented by paper but mostly bits/bytes in exchange for other peoples materials and labor. Can you unpack what kind of stuff you're talking about? Are we talking about nascent industries? This stuff, who are you going to sell it to ?
wesapien commented on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU   bbc.com/news/live/c1dr7vy... · Posted by u/belter
mistrial9 · 5 months ago
this glib analysis neglects the part where decades of plans and budgets have been addressing " build out social systems" while simultaneously building crony networks of political appointees, guarding the hen house. Short term pain is loudly announced for the purpose of defeating the political opponent, not addressing the long standing inefficiencies in a swollen and obese wealth exchange centered in the USA.

tons of cynical one-liners from partisans drown out efforts to really examine the impacts over medium and long term. A horrible problem with this move is that it is not entirely wrong from a fundamentals point of view? It certainly creates winners and losers, no question about it.

wesapien · 5 months ago
The political class and plutocrats always wins regardless of the election outcome. The two party system guarantees they come out unscathed regardless of their jousting.
wesapien commented on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU   bbc.com/news/live/c1dr7vy... · Posted by u/belter
jerkstate · 5 months ago
Leaders from both parties in US government agree that global trade needs to be rebalanced behind closed doors; I have videos of Pelosi and Schumer supporting tariffs to balance trade deficits with China specifically. For all of the talk about “reserve currency” it doesn’t really seem like sitting back and doing nothing will prevent global trade in RMB, euro, or some BRICS currency, which is increasing every year. So if we’re going to get to that state eventually anyways, might as well start preparing for it now.

For all of the whining about the previous tariffs from the first Trump term, or the TCJA, neither were repealed when democrats had the opportunity, although there were small adjustments. That should really tell you all that you need to know.

It turns out that manufacturing jobs are better for supporting a family than service jobs, hollowing out our economy so there are far less good paying manufacturing jobs turned out to be a huge mistake, originally pushed by CFR, Cato, Brookings, etc. so the only people who are doing well are the rich, because the benefits of global trade accrue almost exclusively to them (although many CPI advocates will make the argument that you’re better off now because you can own a nice cell phone even though you can’t own a house)

The public BSing goes the other way too of course. Imagine getting worked up over classified stuff on a private email server and then letting your cabinet use signal and Gmail.

wesapien · 5 months ago
https://x.com/_PeterRyan/status/1907879785151475801 Protectionism is like child rearing. You're trying to protect the young (industry) so they survive to adulthood. The tarrifs are too broad. How the hell are you going to sell goods from HCOL area to the rest of the less affluent world? Even if some countries could afford it, how are you going to get goods across burned bridges?

u/wesapien

KarmaCake day287May 3, 2020View Original