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US Intel

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Re: US Intel

#501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that regard, US is obviously Europe's enemy, isn't it ? ;-) :-D

Worth distinguishing between actively engaging in harmful behavior, and "failing to help". The Europeans have taken the US for granted for so long that when the US is only Ukraine's #1 donor country in absolute terms by far, their main response is to complain that even more help should be offered, and pretend the US is somehow hurting them. https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-s... Keep in mind…

I love "US so big arguments", no one else cares!!

And then looking at per capita the US sits at number 16.

Re: US Intel

#503
post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd reframe that slightly. There is a vast foundation of stable, optimized businesses that are in commoditized/low-growth ares. They function as the underpinnings of the American economy. When turning the spotlight to capital that is seeking returns, it is true that these areas may be mediocre places to deploy fresh capital, but it doesn't mean that these players aren't competing, and they will probably be cranking o…

Not only leverage, but also destabilizing those optimized businesses to harvest the capital assets from their balance sheets to pay for the leverage, while destroying the underlying business. PE is arguably much worse than VC. VC's business model is well understood and by taking VC funding, you are committing to their expected returns. PE is, usually , unsolicited and is designed to exploit what appears to be a "lazy…

PE played a part in manufacturing leaving the US. Often the buyouts were of sick companies, and it was just the optimum way to monetize their death. But without PE not all of them wouldnhave eventually died, and it would have given policy makers more time to react to what was happening.

Re: US Intel

#504

I’m not sure why what he's saying is so outlandish to many ( at least to some of the papers he’s quoting ): we’re in a world which looks increasingly like the cold war all over again, and my immediate reaction when I saw the headline was ‘ah yes China this makes sense’. We’re not talking private capital - it’s national interests being pushed, for long term reasons, and probably a bit late. Now I’m European so this se…

The underlying logic is flawed though, there is no deeper action plan since they will still have 0 control over the company and any of its bigger decisions. Also nobody buys from Intel foundries, and for good reasons, this won't change any of that.

We have already seen some pretty blatant insider trading moves from current government, so I wouldn't rule that one out. But its probably way more petty - chips and manufactured war with China is all the rage in media, we all still remember covid situation, so its an easy area to get some political points, while spending other's money.

Most European government interventions, like French literally taking ownership of their common car manufacturers aren't considered any sort of success story to emulate after.

Re: US Intel

#505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but how does one get a business loan, with real stuff at stake, when VCs are burning money like there’s no tomorrow? I especially dislike the way VC funded startups use VC dollars to effectively be a “loss leaders” for years to choke out the rest of the market. Who wants to risk their own capital or privately pooled funds against THAT?

>how does one get a business loan, with real stuff at stake Show them your finances and collateral to demonstrate that you'll be able to pay off the loan. >I especially dislike the way VC funded startups use VC dollars to effectively be a “loss leaders” for years to choke out the rest of the market. It's a fair point, but it's a point which does not apply to the industries we are discussing, which do not receive VC i…

Wouldn't being aggressive about antitrust chill auch investments in the first place? Uber wouldn't have been so eager to overcome lyft if it knew that it would mean getting broken up or fined into unprofitability.

Re: US Intel

#506
post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VC capital is like a detonator. It seeks explosives, and when it finds them, produces spectacular fireworks that illuminate the entire industry, or even the entire world. It also ends up with a lot of duds, but it's OK by them. What VC capital is not interested in is regular fuel, which can burn steadily and expand gradually, without a shock wave. Such companies can be quite important. Say, GitHub was such a company…

People in this thread act like VC is the only way to raise capital. Ever heard of getting a business loan? Even a lot of companies in the Valley could probably get one more easily than they might think, if they're profitable. You don't have to give up equity either.

Nobody will give you a regular business loan if you need the cash to R&D your (especially non-software) product in the first place. Even more so without personal liability or in the amounts to compete for engineers in VC-funded companies.

Re: US Intel

#507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth distinguishing between actively engaging in harmful behavior, and "failing to help". The Europeans have taken the US for granted for so long that when the US is only Ukraine's #1 donor country in absolute terms by far, their main response is to complain that even more help should be offered, and pretend the US is somehow hurting them. https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-s... Keep in mind…

I love "US so big arguments", no one else cares!! And then looking at per capita the US sits at number 16.

>I love "US so big arguments", no one else cares!!

The US is being targeted specifically because we've given so much. No one is bothering Japan, or Argentina, or Saudi Arabia. It's because the US has been generous (in absolute terms) that we get so much flak.

Imagine if we sent thoughts and prayers the way Kazakhstan does. That way we would get less hate. When's the last time you heard Kazakhstan criticized for lack of Ukraine support?

>And then looking at per capita the US sits at number 16.

I don't think that is accurate: https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1hd7aud/military_ai...

As I said... nothing we do for Europe will ever be enough. Better to cut them loose.

Re: US Intel

#508
post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's slightly weird to me how foreigners seem to look on the Trump era as personifying the US to a greater degree than e.g. the Biden or Obama eras. That's easy to explain. Trump is so much out there in being aggressively obnoxious, criminal, racist and senile. His platform was a list of nonsense combined blatant diminishing of rights and social progress. The fact that a majority of voting Americans chose him is ir…

You say you cannot understand anyone who voted for Trump. Can you understand anyone who plans to vote for RN, the most popular political party in France by far, lead by a woman who said she shares Putin's global vision? Do I get to blame you if RN wins the presidency? Same country, after all.

> Can you understand anyone who plans to vote for RN, the most popular political party in France by far, lead by a woman who said she shares Putin's global vision?

"by far" only if you get stuck on political party; considering there has been a united left coalition for multiple years and rounds of elections, that seems purposefully omissive. United left and RN are pretty close, polls and election results wise, with the centre-right and traditional right trailing closely behind. Neither of them have anything resembling a majority though, as is reflected in the current parliament, where each block has a bit less than 30% each.

And yes, I can understand them. RN's program contains points which cater to large amounts of French people, especially in rural disadvantaged areas. They're unrealistic or just fluff, mind you, but still sound good. RN is led by moderately charismatic people who have a good media presence - the party's head is Bardella, a young guy with a TikTok following who talks a decent talk. He's a nepo baby (son in law of Marine Le Pen), and mostly a grifter, but he can link a couple of phrases together and sound semi-convincing. Also, while Le Pen is a convicted criminal, it's "just" for stealing government and EU money, which a lot of people don't actually mind, and Bardella isn't.

Comparing to a delusional and senile old man who is literally convicted of rape, and there is plenty of credible evidence, out in the open, is also a pedophile. With a shit program with little concrete other than fucking up groups of people. After seeing his "work" his first term.

Yeah, I can understand, and probably have a discussion with an RN voter. (Those of the "black/brown people bad" variety mostly vote even further to the right, like Zemmour, those are the people I don't understand and wouldn't be able to talk with). A Trump voter? Something is seriously wrong with you to either like that, or pick your potential personal benefit over everything else.

Re: US Intel

#509

I am torn on this. On the one hand, I strongly agree with this article. This kind of state ownership never brings anyhing good. I don't see how this is different. On the other, it is hard to deny how impressive the new wave of Chinese manufacturing is. No longer are they just making knock offs of Western products with stolen IP. BYD for example seems genuinely innovative, a top product. There are many other examples.…

People who think that china makes crap products has probably never been in china in the last 5+ years and their knowledge about their products end up with Shein or Temu crap.

My perception changed when the iPhone came out. But even before tbat alot of stuff was made on China and it cant all be crap!

Re: US Intel

#510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget France. The far-right party is most popular by far: https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/france/ The majority of second-round polling has the far right winning the next presidency in France, potentially even by a landslide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2027_F... For that reason, it's rather ironic to me when I see Europeans rally around Macron. France is poised to rug-pul…

It is easy to be in opposition and complain about everything. The contrarian parties tend to get very popular in the years between election cycles as the governing party can't deliver on everything and has to compromise. Because you do know that Labour in the UK won a landslide victory a year ago and the last date for holding a new general election is in 2029 . The Scandinavian experience is that these parties crash…

>The contrarian parties tend to get very popular in the years between election cycles as the governing party can't deliver on everything and has to compromise.

So what happened in Hungary, or Italy, or other examples mentioned by troad?

Are you aware that RN, at this very moment, has by far the most seats of any party in the French parliament? Those far-right sentiments didn't magically disappear on election day.

>The Scandinavian experience is that these parties crash as soon as they get to real power and have to compromise. Suddenly they had to be responsible.

>If we do see these Trumpian parties win the majority in these elections in more rather than one-offs then we have a problem.

The "majority" comparison is meaningless in this context because the US only has support for two parties. (Imagine Germany had a contest between AfD and Die Linke only. That's akin to the situation in the US right now.) "Governing coalitions" aren't really formed here, so the notion of "they get to real power and have to compromise" doesn't exist in the same way.

So: Even assuming we grant your argument, Trump's power in the US has more to do with quirks of our political system than something fundamental about American culture.

>you can't accept how completely wacko Trump is

I never said he wasn't completely wacko. I simply said he doesn't personify the US any more than Biden does.

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