Five Things: Fascism, Government, Ultrarich, Business, Life
It's Sunday, again.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things!
In Germany we’ve seen many hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in the last week to protest against the far right political party and also to loudly voice discontent with the Conservatives to invite the far right to vote with them. Yet, two weeks before the federal elections, the polls are not showing any real movement among the attitudes of the public. The far right is polling at 20%, the Conservatives at 30%, while the Social Democrats seem stuck at 15% and the Greens as well. The Liberals, who left the government a few months ago, are stuck in no-man’s land below 5% and won’t make it back into parliament. Nevertheless, it is not looking good for the chancellor right now and this really annoys me. I’ve known him for more than 30 years and I know that he is an earnest guy who wants to govern right, who wants to learn all the facts and all the angles first, so that he can make an educated decision. He’s not impulsive and he doesn’t own any stock. He just wants to give all he has to run the country as smoothly as possible. Granted, this was not always the case during his coalition among three parties, but he did get plenty of things done that I believe are for the better of the German people. Yet, instead of talking about his achievements and what should be done in the future, we have an insane discussion about immigration that is only achieving one thing: to push the politcal discourse further to the right. Germany needs 400,000 people to migrate to Germany every year to fulfill the demand we have in our workforce and to make sure that our society gets a steady influx of young people. Unfortunately, too many people don’t understand that when a store or restaurant closes because they couldn’t find enough staff, we don’t solve the problem by making people feel not welcome here. For too many people right now, a fascist leader like Trump who wants to dismantle democratic institutions, seems like a good idea to “get things done”, which usually means getting out of wind and solar, getting rid of minority rights, pushing back people at the borders while feeling like a victim all at the same time. This is so annoying right now and I hope the pendelum swings back before it is too late.
Oh yes, I picked some tough articles for you to read. Enjoy.
You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism
“It’s no surprise that tech billionaires like Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg have rushed to kiss the ring of the twice-ascendent Trump. The marriage of big tech and Trumpworld should make clear that Silicon Valley and authoritarians share the same goal: to crush dissent by keeping their would-be opponents spinning on an endless hamster wheel of reactive anger. And just like in the classic 1983 thriller WarGames, the only winning move is not to play.” - not to talk about everything Trump does really is hard.
The plot to asset-strip American government
“The Trump administration’s strategy has been to “flood the zone” with so many actions that it’s hard to keep up, let alone respond. But what Americans are seeing now is unprecedented: the systematic dismembering of its government. And it’s coming at the hands of a man who cannot legally run for president, and who is acting as if he’s drunk on his own grandiosity.” - it really is insane that the richest man in the world is making life harder for poor people in the world, and that is just what happened in the last few weeks.
The Ultrarich Weren’t Always This Selfish
“The journey of one painting charts a profound shift in modern societies. The role of the ultra-wealthy has morphed from one of shared social responsibility and patronage to the freewheeling celebration of selfish opulence. Rather than investing in their society—say, by giving alms to the poor, or funding Caravaggios and cathedrals—many of today’s plutocrats use their wealth to escape to private islands, private Beyoncé concerts, and, above all, extremely private superyachts.” - one of the richest Germans, who lives in Switzerland to avoid paying taxes in Germany, just gifted my hometown a new opera house for 300 mio € or so. Nevermind that we already have an opera house, but he doesn’t like it and thinks we should have a new one. I’d rather have the elected representatives decide what we spend money on instead of some billionaire chosing what gets built.
The Business Community Is Extraordinarily Stupid
“Here are some of the basic ingredients of a truly pro-business atmosphere: The rule of law; a functional and predictable court system; enforceable contracts; intelligible regulations; trustworthy and accurate government data; widely available well educated and healthy workers; and strong public services that create a customer base that is, itself, healthy and wealthy and flourishing enough to spend money freely. These are the things from which strong companies and economies grow. Encouraging and protecting these things is therefore in the interest of the business community writ large. If these things fall apart, you can be sure that business will, in aggregate, suffer.” - I really don’t get it why so many managers and entrepreneurs don’t understand the benefits of a free society.
How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light?
“The findings paint a new picture of life in the Arctic’s polar night and possibly beyond. Life may not be packed entirely into a few short months of summer; rather, the waters may be productive — or, at the very least, still living — throughout the year. This, Hoppe said, could rewrite our understanding of Arctic organisms’ life cycles, interactions and energy reserves.” - I find this fascinating. Having spent just a few days in January up in Tromsø a few years ago, it’s really interesting to learn how life happens below the ice in complete darkness in the winter.
That’s it. Have a great Sunday! If you missed last Sunday’s edition of Five Things, have a look here:
— Nico