Favorites March 14th 2022

Scott Gottlieb, MD @ScottGottliebMD

The widening epidemic in China, encompassing at least two major geographic areas, may be at a troubling tipping point; where Chinese authorities could lose control, even as they reach for broad and severe measures to try and contain the spread.

nytimes.comShenzhen imposes a lockdown and Shanghai restricts nonessential travel as China’s new cases jump.

Shanghai is the second city now, not accepting western mRNA vaccines is looking worse and worse. Could end up being the biggest policy mistake of the whole pandemic Nationalism is a hell of a drug

David Dayen @ddayen

Just sitting here all damn day waiting for my battery to come out of the battery machine

Catherine Rampell @crampell

Manchin says he’s reluctant to support the proliferation of electric vehicles https://t.co/PLEsWzSzuN https://t.co/hDOg1o1dzD

This logic applies more to normal gas engines anyway!!

Nick Gillespie @nickgillespie

Hey North America, this isn't the way to win the war for hearts & minds. Stop acting like this is WW2 and instead embrace Russians who are critical of a govt that represses them.

dailymail.co.ukMontreal Symphony Orchestra drop Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev,20Montreal’s symphony orchestra cancelled the appearances of a classical pianist from Russia this week saying it would be ‘inappropriate’ to receive him on stage.

Just absolutely stupid. Don’t do this stuff, this isn’t World War 2, we should be capable of understanding nuance.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I of course understand why gas taxes are unpopular, but virtually every state also raises tons of revenue from retail sales taxes that have all the demerits of gas tax and few of the virtues.

General sales taxes are clearly stupid, but unfortunately, it's become very clear that real carbon taxes aren't going to work politically.

Jennifer Pan @jenjpan

For the past few weeks, @YingdanL_kk @AnfanChen & I have systematically collected half a million Weibo posts about Ukraine. It’s true that a large portion of Weibo posts attribute cause of war to US/NATO/“Western” aggression or blame Ukrainian government for conflict.

Another thread on Chinese sentiment about the war, only about half of posts are clearly pro Russia, not that it's very predictive of anything.

Demetri・FT @Dimi

#ChinaRussiaSCOOP US has told allies that China has responded positively to Russia’s request for military equipment. Cables to allies in Europe & Asia do not say if China has provided help or just told Moscow that it would provide support. (@FT)

on.ft.comSubscribe to read | Financial TimesNews, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Not sure bailing out Putin is worth the effort.

wohnBAUMoffensive @holz_bau

really stunning 52-unit point access block in bremen by hild und k check out that stair. the daylight. the open communication. there is no jurisdiction in the US where you could build something like this. 47 of the homes are affordable, rent: ~$0.75/sf

baunetz.deMieten im Sechseck - Hild und K in BremenBauNetz-Architektur-Meldung vom 14.03.2022 : Mieten im Sechseck / Hild und K in Bremen - Aktuelle Architekturmeldungen aus dem In- und Ausland, t�glich recherchiert von der BauNetz-Redaktion

This building is absolutely amazing. After reading the Slate article about the dual staircase mandate resulting in upwards of 15% percent of each floor being wasted on long ugly hallways, I immediately calculated the floor plate wasted to staircases and corridors in this building, 9.5%.

Nat Bullard @NatBullard

Compared to 1975, today's U.S. cars are: 94% more fuel efficient 83% more powerful 6% heavier 48% lower emissions

Not only are per-car emissions down, total transportation emissions are falling, although they're not falling as fast as power.

• A long thread explaining how hyperinflation is equivalent to a debt jubilee, and making recommendations for how to act on that.

• Short thread on the huge downswing in the Chinese markets today. (Both on Ukraine news and covid news)

• Thread explaining what's up with the Ukrainian 'biolabs' conspiracy theory.

• Thread from Brad DeLong explaining the risk of 'stagflation' in the next two years, which he puts at more than 50%.

• Thread comparing Russia's request for aid to Britain in WWI.

Toronto, 2019