Posts in "links"

The Soil, Not Just the Harvest - The right’s long, systematic campaign to take over politics and get a strong hand in culture wars: “Blaming Trump alone offers psychological comfort, by localizing a systemic problem in a single figurehead. It legitimizes the false promise that removing one man solves the underlying condition. It absolves millions of their responsibility while leaving intact the machinery that produced Trump - and will create future authoritarian leaders."

Why Skyscrapers Became Glass Boxes - by Brian Potter - ”Ultimately, it was economics (or at least perceived economics) that drove developers to embrace this style. Glass curtain wall buildings were cheaper to erect than their masonry predecessors, and they allowed developers to squeeze more rentable space from the same building footprint. Ornate, detailed exteriors were increasingly seen as something tenants didn’t particularly care about, making it harder to justify spending money on them. And once this style had taken hold, rational risk aversion encouraged developers and builders to keep using it.”

America Voted For Chaos. The Markets Are Feeling the Punch. - Dumb disruption: “Disruption can be a positive force. But over the last decade, it has become a hand-wave that forgives and excuses irresponsible governance, poor decision-making, and financial incompetence. The reason you can’t run the government like a startup is simple: 90% or more of startups fail. That’s a risk threshold that should be unacceptable to anyone serious about the responsibility of America’s stewardship. Productive disruption in the context of an economy or a nation is possible. But there is no evidence of anything productive in Donald Trump’s current approach to economics. Just more deliberate and collateral damage, more flagrant disregard for common sense, and more policies designed to shake things up while shaking the monetary baby to death."