government
What states are for and what they are worse at than markets and networks: legitimacy, moral hazard, and who may be entrusted with power.
FilterEveryone, all time
- PL
Pieter Levels quoted
Their wordsIn most of the world there is: no real willingness to solve problems nor an acceptance of people offering to solve their problems (out of pride) simply too much regulation so the problem cannot be solved without a license or long approval time very low standards of what is deemed acceptable so the problem isn't seen as a problem in the first place
↗You stop wondering why the US is so insanely rich when you travel the rest of the worldlevels.io
- 9 days earlier
- PL
Pieter Levels quoted
Their wordsEuropean governments and thus the EU too is losing lots of tax income from Europeans fleeing Next on the agenda is the European Exit Tax and after that I think they will try to add Worldwide Income Tax (like the US already has) meaning it doesn't matter where you live in the world as a European citizen, the EU will tax you for your entire income!
↗I think the EU will try to add Worldwide Income Tax after the European Exit Taxlevels.io
- PL
Pieter Levels quoted
Their wordsI think most high skilled Europeans are happy to pay (even high) taxes That is, if the government does a great job like Singapore or Dubai or Korea or Japan and most things work well You pay the government for a service and you get safe cities, great public services and great healthcare back
- 2 days earlier
- RD
Ray Dalio quoted
Their wordsThe debt dynamics work the same for a central government as they do for a person or a company, except that a central government has a central bank that can print money (which devalues it) and it can take money away from people via taxes.
↗How Countries Go Broke: The Dynamic Behind What is Happening Nowraydalio.substack.com
- RD
Ray Dalio quoted
Their wordsBecause one can measure these things, one can monitor this debt dynamic happening, so it’s easy to see problems approaching. I’ve used this diagnostic process in my investing and I’ve kept it to myself, but I’m now explaining it in detail in How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle because it is too important to keep to myself.
↗How Countries Go Broke: The Dynamic Behind What is Happening Nowraydalio.substack.com
- RD
Ray Dalio quoted
Their wordsEarly in the final stage of the Big Debt Cycle, the market action reflects this dynamic via interest rates rising led by long-term rates, the currency declining especially relative to gold, and the central government’s treasury department shortening the maturities of its debt offerings because of a shortage of the demand for long-term debt.
↗How Countries Go Broke: The Dynamic Behind What is Happening Nowraydalio.substack.com
- 3 days earlier
- HR
Hannah Ritchie quoted
Our readingPrivatisation of the water industry created a disincentive for building new reservoirs
Their wordsThere is also a clear rationale for why privatisation would lead to a drought in reservoir-building.
↗The UK needs to build more reservoirshannahritchie.substack.com
- 5 weeks earlier
- BS
Balaji Srinivasan quoted
Their wordsnew laws are like code that is pushed live to production without even being read (let alone tested), often in the face of tremendous opposition, affecting millions of citizens, with minimal monitoring to ensure they’re producing the desired results, an extremely slow customer feedback cycle, and few ways to truly opt out.
↗The Network Statethenetworkstate.com 1st of 25 in this piece
- BS
Balaji Srinivasan quoted
Our readingStrong encryption limits what governments can do in ways that legislation cannot.
Their wordsEncryption thus limits governments in a way no legislation can.
↗The Network Statethenetworkstate.com 2nd of 25 in this piece
- BS
Balaji Srinivasan quoted
Their wordsIn this sense, the Network is the next Leviathan, because on key dimensions it is becoming more powerful and more just than the State.
↗The Network Statethenetworkstate.com 3rd of 25 in this piece
- BS
Balaji Srinivasan quoted
Their wordsAs mentioned before, Uber and Lyft are better regulators than the State’s paper-based taxi medallions, email is superior to the USPS, and SpaceX is out-executing NASA.
↗The Network Statethenetworkstate.com 5th of 25 in this piece
- BS
Balaji Srinivasan quoted
Their wordsThis US government can’t build a bathroom in San Francisco, let alone a costeffective fighter jet, destroyer, combat ship, or aircraft carrier.
↗The Network Statethenetworkstate.com 17th of 25 in this piece
- BS
Balaji Srinivasan quoted
Their wordsThis gives us a new perspective on why micronations like Sealand don’t work: they start backwards, from the territory and the government, rather than working forwards from a people and their culture.
↗The Network Statethenetworkstate.com 20th of 25 in this piece
- BS
Balaji Srinivasan quoted
Our readingA government is legitimate internally if the governed have consented to it, whatever form it takes.
Their wordsGiven the consent of the governed, any form of government is internally legitimate.
↗The Network Statethenetworkstate.com 22nd of 25 in this piece
- 3 months earlier
- AK
Andrej Karpathy quoted
Their wordsSomething I've been thinking about - I am bullish on people (empowered by AI) increasing the visibility, legibility and accountability of their governments.
- 5 months earlier
- PL
Pieter Levels quoted
Their wordsI just realized the only 2 countries left with actual substantial startup activity now are literally only the US and China The rest of the world can't really do startups, doesn't have the funding, can't grow them and it's more like performative hobby projects for their governments Which might tell us where the future wealth will be concentrated in the world
↗Only the US and China have actual substantial startup activity nowlevels.io
- 7 months earlier
- AK
Andrej Karpathy quoted
Their wordsSo it strikes me as quite unique and remarkable that LLMs display a dramatic reversal of this pattern - they generate disproportionate benefit for regular people, while their impact is a lot more muted and lagging in corporations and governments.
↗Power to the people: How LLMs flip the script on technology diffusionkarpathy.bearblog.dev
- 3 months earlier
- KS
Keir Starmer quoted
Their wordsThis is the global race of our lives. Now, some countries are going to make AI breakthroughs and export them… Others will end up buying those breakthroughs and importing them. The question is – which of those will Britain be? AI maker or AI taker?
↗PM speech on AI Opportunities Action Plan, 13 January 2025gov.uk
- KS
Keir Starmer quoted
Our readingOn AI the state's job does not stop at safety; leaving everything else to the market is a mistake.
Their wordsWe shouldn’t just focus on safety and leave the rest to the market… Government has a responsibility to make it work for working people…
↗PM speech on AI Opportunities Action Plan, 13 January 2025gov.uk
- KS
Keir Starmer quoted
Their wordsAnd in a way that’s the irony of AI… It will make public services more human… Reconnect staff with the reasons they came to public service in the first place…
↗PM speech on AI Opportunities Action Plan, 13 January 2025gov.uk
- 12 months earlier
- JM
Javier Milei quoted
Their wordsEl problema es que la justicia social no es justa, sino que tampoco aporta al bienestar general; muy por el contrario, es una idea intrínsecamente injusta porque es violenta; es injusta porque el Estado se financia, a través de impuestos y los impuestos se cobran de manera coactiva.
- 4 months earlier
- TC
Tyler Cowen quoted
Their wordsI am myself skeptical that there is a clearly defined notion of who “the right people” might be, and thus I am on public choice grounds far more skeptical of government than Keynes was.
↗GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?tylercowen.com 5th of 25 in this piece
- TC
Tyler Cowen quoted
Their wordsIn my own view, both markets and states are spontaneous orders, and government is not uniquely the product of “taxis” or “rationalist constructivism.”
↗GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?tylercowen.com 9th of 25 in this piece
- TC
Tyler Cowen quoted
Our readingMoral hazard problems are often worse in government programs than in private markets.
Their wordsThe truth is that moral hazard concerns very often are worse with government programs than with markets.
↗GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?tylercowen.com 13th of 25 in this piece
- TC
Tyler Cowen quoted
Their wordsA simple understanding of coalitions, political competition, and limited resources will bring you rather quickly to the conclusion that intelligent liberal elites can screw up their colonies pretty badly and in ways that can persist for decades or centuries.
↗GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?tylercowen.com 18th of 25 in this piece
- 16 months earlier
- OB
Olivier Blanchard quoted
Their wordsA longer maturity of debt protects the government from a temporary increase in the short run interest rate, and it gives it more time to adjust to a permanent increase.
↗Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Ratesdirect.mit.edu 7th of 22 in this piece
- OB
Olivier Blanchard quoted
Our readingAssessing whether government debt is sustainable is as much an art as a science.
Their wordsassessing debt sustainability is as much art as it is science.
↗Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Ratesdirect.mit.edu 8th of 22 in this piece
- OB
Olivier Blanchard quoted
Our readingQuantitative rules are not a reliable tool for ensuring government debt sustainability.
Their wordsI am skeptical of the use of quantitative rules to ensure debt sustainability.
↗Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Ratesdirect.mit.edu 9th of 22 in this piece
- OB
Olivier Blanchard quoted
Their wordsThe analysis in this chapter has shown that there is no such thing as a universal threshold over which debt becomes unsustainable, and that the relevant debt level depends on many factors, in particular the real interest rate on debt.
↗Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Ratesdirect.mit.edu 11th of 22 in this piece
- OB
Olivier Blanchard quoted
Their wordsGovernments have not been bailed out by their central banks. As I discussed earlier, central bank intervention does not reduce the overall liabilities of the consolidated government, just their composition. And it does not automatically lead to more inflation: It increases the size of the balance sheet of the central bank, but it does not increase the size of the non-interest-paying money stock.
↗Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Ratesdirect.mit.edu 13th of 22 in this piece
- OB
Olivier Blanchard quoted
Their wordsThe proposition is that the cancellation of the bonds held by the central bank would decrease the amount of interest payments and thus the debt service of governments. And indeed, it would. But it would have another effect—namely, to decrease the revenues of the central bank and thus the profits that the central bank turns in to the government. This second effect would be exactly of the same size as the first, and the net effect on the government budget constraint would be equal to zero.
↗Fiscal Policy under Low Interest Ratesdirect.mit.edu 14th of 22 in this piece
- 13 years earlier
- PT
Peter Thiel quoted
Our reading · no longer heldFreedom and democracy are not compatible -- a conclusion reached after two decades of changing his mind about how freedom is achieved.
Recalls holdingBut I must confess that over the last two decades, I have changed radically on the question of how to achieve these goals. Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.
SaidBut I must confess that over the last two decades, I have changed radically on the question of how to achieve these goals. Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.
- PT
Peter Thiel quoted
Their wordsIn our time, the great task for libertarians is to find an escape from politics in all its forms — from the totalitarian and fundamentalist catastrophes to the unthinking demos that guides so-called “social democracy.”