The US has outsourced its industry over decades. Now, suddenly, this is the fault of its trading partners?

Interesting times. The US may still have enough power to pull this kind of blackmail off. Or, perhaps, not... Time will tell.

And I already noticed trumptards modding me down for saying what they can't accept.

...until the world realizes that it is better to simply stop doing business with the US until the orange monkey is put down hard?

It's not just the "SpaceX cult." What's disturbing about the story is that Blue Origin is selling as "space travel" something that can barely be called a suborbital flight (the capsule doesn't even need a heat shield) so in other words, a scam. And a really expensive scam.

And okay, they're still learning how to make something that might translate into actual spaceflight... But they shouldn't be selling it to tourists when they don't have the capability to deliver it yet.

Did McKinsey ever have an edge?

Ok, that's mean. But the two aspects I have seen are (1) expensive reports full of platitudes and questionable advice, and (2) consultants hired by managers so that the managers have someone else to blame for bad news.

Both functions can eadily be replaced by AI.

You just need to pay attention to the end of my previous comment. The important detail is that the big local sellers do not pay import taxes anywhere near what individual consumers are forced to pay. While Brazilians in general are required to pay a 92% import tax to buy something on Aliexpress for example, the big local sellers can buy the same thing with 30% import tax or even less.

Welcome to the Brazilian way of buying abroad. The goal is to force you to buy locally to supposedly "favor the domestic market," even though what you're trying to buy doesn't exist in your country and probably never will.

At the same time, some big local retailer in your country will buy really cheap stuff in China and resell it within your country for at least double the price, where you will be practically prevented from buying the same product yourself from China because of exorbitant import tariffs (which obviously do not apply to the big local retailer).

Well, no. The AI data centers have to buy their electricity just like anyone else. Maybe they get a better price per kwh, because they buy so much.

However, increasing electricity costs will encourage the power companies to build more power plants. The biggest problem here is government intervention and over-regulation: for the kind of power these data centers need, you really want modular nuclear reactors. Dozens or hundreds of reactors of the same design, because that's what would make them economical. Sadly, that's just not possible in the current regulatory environment.

To be clear: I have nothing against the data centers, or the energy requirements. Energy is civilization, and every major civilizational step has been enabled by a step-increase in available power: muscle power, horses and oxen, water wheels, steam, oil, and most recently nuclear. Renewables are not even relevant: they may replace fossil fuels, but come nowhere near the power density of nuclear.

This. Why is it ok to have video games that let you pretend to commit one crime, but not another. Hey, what about books - man, do you know what you can read? This is just really weird Puritanism, even more so when it comes to anime, which is obviously fantasy.

The MasterCard/Visa cartel power is sufficient that they could refuse to play censor. And you can't tell me that they have actual ethics, not given the usurious games they play. So...why?

Local effects, great. But doing this on a large scale? H2O is a much stronger global warming gas than CO2. You do *not* want to muck around with this on a global scale.

Like the carter who stuck to horses in the face of automobiles? Or people who refused to use those newfangled computers?

You do you.

I don't mind the idea of 24/7. I object yo the speed of trading and the short-term thinking it encourages. The big traders aren't "investing", instead they are playing some sort fcweird casino-like game. Only, they made the game, so the odds actually are in their favor.

How about a tax on transactions: any stock held long-term (say, over a year) is tax free. Graduate down to transactions where the stock is held less than - say - one hour are taxed at 100% of their value.

...the UN has.

Most of Tuvalu's islands are increasing in size. As are most such islands.

Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Warsaw, Prague, Minsk, Zurich - all cool. You're the exception.