One of the key ideas in my early framework for 'metapolicy' is that bureaucracies tend to do the opposite of what you intended them to do. Rules to save money end up costing more money etc Great to see James W. Phillips talking about this in Statecraft with Santi Ruiz

Never heard this quote before today, but it's a cracker. (From James W. Phillips's excellent interview with Santi Ruiz.)

Astounding stat here form Brian Potter "In 1905 73% of the US’s ships engaged in foreign trade were sail-powered, compared to less than 20% of Britain’s." construction-physics.com/p/why-cant-the…

"Shipbuilding policies have long been much more focused on sheltering the industry from competition rather than driving to make it successful."

Aidan Mackenzie The Aidan Mackenzie mega-thread in question! Aligned on just about everything in here. I think he may be slightly underrating the grants / loans section, but it’s certainly still TBD.

Good thread! Completely agree that all the action is in remedies / incentives to litigate.

Seems bad that the US is utterly incapable of building large ships.

Aidan reviewed this bill so I didn't have to. Thanks, Aidan!

China’s shipbuilding dominance isn’t just an economic challenge — it’s also a national security issue. The same Chinese shipyards filling global merchant fleets are also behind China’s rapid naval buildup. features.csis.org/china-shadow-w…

It's always about the costs. The construction industry can get away with outrageously high costs because either it can not be moved abroad or is protected through all sorts of tariffs and regulatory barriers. Shipbuilding can't, so it has simply ceased to exist.

We’ve extended the deadline to this Sunday. Apply!

build, baby, build

What better place for solving bottlenecks to progress than in the “garden room”… congrats on a great unconference Abundance Institute Renaissance Philanthropy Institute for Progress Foundation for American Innovation 🇺🇸🚀 Federation of American Scientists🔬 brooke bowman Mark Lutter & co

Some on the left don’t *want* there to be a technological solution to climate change. They think people should live more simply + more equally and hope to use climate change to force people to do that. Some on the right dislike literally anything like solar that’s left-coded. 1/3

This is why high-skilled immigration matters so much: Immigrants bring talent and knowledge that complements American workers and helps us build more here in the US.

Reminder that tomorrow is the last day to apply for the Assistant Editor position at Institute for Progress! If you refer the person we ultimately hire, we'll pay you a $3,000 bounty. This is a great opportunity to work closely with Santi Ruiz on Statecraft & other IFP editorial projects.

Apply here: ifp.org/come-work-with…

Come work with Santi Ruiz He (and the rest of the IFP crew) is great!

I imagine you folks know, but if you care about business/industrial history or factors underlying progress, Works In Progress (worksinprogress.co) & Construction Physics (construction-physics.com) are must reads. Wish WiP had a print version I could put on my coffee table!