Five Things Substack #1

Let's try something new.

Heya and welcome to Five Things Substack!

Yes, I know, you never subscribed to this. But hear me out!

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years, you have probably heard about Substack. It’s not only the platform that I use to send out my Five Things newsletters, it is also the place where plenty of other folks have their newsletter (and increasingly podcasts and video content as well).

So while I read lots of interesting stuff all week long, which is the foundation of my newsletters Five Things, Five Things AI, Five Things Tech and Five Things Running, I have noticed in the last few months that more and more of the really cool stuff I’m reading is essentially a newsletter hosted on Substack.

And guess what? Now I have the brilliant idea to bringt the concept of Five Things to the world of Substack with Five Things Substack. There is so much great writing on Substack and I want to show you my weekly favorites.

Let’s see if it works. I’m looking forward to your feedback!

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I met

Steven Hill

a few years ago when he interviewed me for his book “Die Start-up-Illusion: Wie die Internet-Ökonomie unseren Sozialstaat ruiniert” (The Startup-Illusion: How the Internet Economy is ruining our Welfare State”) and I enjoy his critical way of thinking. In this article, he dissects the American political system and how the elections work (or don’t).

A strange way to pick a president

Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post leadership shot themselves in the foot when the decision was made not to publish any endorsement and then obviously everybody got to know and talk about that the Post wanted to endorse Kamala Harris.

Daniel W. Drezner

is unpacking this nicely.

The Cowardice of the Washington Post

Honestly,

Robert Reich

is such a wonderful voice of reason in crazy times, I could share every single article of his. Also, I went to UC Berkeley about 30 years ago and he always reminds me how wonderful it was on that campus back then. Oh, and I cannot stand Elon Musk anymore.

Why Elon Musk thinks he’ll be f*cked if Trump loses

Healthcare is messy, unless probably if you live in the Nordics. The German system is far from perfect, but in comparison with the US system, it seems like a wonderful compromise.

Rex Woodbury

discusses the state of the American healthcare system and guess what? He sees some room for improvement!

The "Why Now" for Healthcare

Today is Reformation Day, which is a bank holiday in the mostly (or rather: still) Protestant parts of Germany, which is really confusing, because on Friday there is All Saints' Day, which is a bank holiday in the predominantly Catholic parts of Germany. Anyhow, Halloween is now a thing here as well, not as big as in the USA, but my kids love it nonetheless.

The History of Trick-or-Treating.

So, how did I do?

Thanks!

— Nico