Links to Consider, 11/3
Michael Lind says we're screwed; Noah on China; Ben Thompson on China; Hanania on China
In other eras, and in other countries, public tyranny has indeed been a major threat to individual freedoms. In the United States, in the third decade of the 21st century, the private tyranny of universities, professional associations, and tech platforms is a greater threat than the tyranny of an oppressive state. When it comes to reducing the power of the new entryists in the private sector, the restoration of our liberties requires an expansion of democratically accountable government.
His thinking is that the Wokesters have become entrenched in universities, professional associations, and tech platform companies. Those three institutions are entrenched in our society, in that they control our access to good jobs and other resources. There is no way to evade or compete with them. So our best hope is government intervention.
In other words, we’re totally screwed.
I am somewhere between Lind’s ultra-pessimism and Tyler Cowen’s sunny optimism. I still think that evade/compete is the best option.
In other words, whereas during the Chimerica era both countries prioritized the mutual economic benefits they could get from a symbiotic relationship, they now prioritize the zero-sum military and geopolitical competition to which economics are a key input.
Markets, for their part, seem to realize that this time is different. China’s stocks cratered after the party congress — so much so that they’re now trading below the value of their assets on paper.
…the economic relationship between China and developed democracies will stop being a symbiotic one and start to be a competitive one.
Ben Thompson writes about chips and China.
the more that China builds up its chip capabilities — even if that is only at trailing nodes — the more motivation there is to make TSMC a target, not only to deny the U.S. its advanced capabilities, but also the basic chips that are more integral to everyday life than we ever realized.
TSMC is a leading chip fab, based in Taiwan.
Richard Hanania interviews Chris Nicholson, who says,
China is the world’s leader in shipbuilding, civilian and military, and they’re integrated. We just cannot catch up in that battle. And so what I think we’ve decided to do is slow China down. And we’re slowing them down by starving them of the advanced chips that they need to create the most advanced ships and planes and rockets and missiles. That’s how I see the move. It’s a move of desperation. We cannot catch up, and so we are slowing them down.
…the main reason that we are even willing to contemplate a war with China is because the majority of the world’s most advanced semiconductors are built in Taiwan by TSMC, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. That’s where they all come from. We are [5] years behind. Intel is probably at least [5] years behind TSMC
Have a nice day.
Lind I think is only partly right. The reason that universities, professional associations and big corporations have so much power is that they are backed by the state. If you didn't need a license from a prof. org. to practice your profession no one would pay attention to them, but you need a license because the state says you do. If universities didn't receive huge amounts of subsidies, have highly controlled supply, and provide legal protection from litigation via "hiring certified experts" they would have much less clout (and ability to focus on this nonsense.) If the state didn't punish those without sufficient DIE architecture and huge HR departments most businesses would drop them like a hot potato, instead of using them as competitive hurdles to block entry.
The crazies have always been there, just that now there are so many gates to pass through to live your life that those in control have immense power. And if there is one thing the crazy leftists want is power; normal people can't compete.
Sorry, Arnold. Tyler Coward's dark optimism is based on his loyalty to universities, professional associations, and tech platform companies. Just like Emily Oster's.