{"id":15963,"date":"2025-08-03T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T07:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=15963"},"modified":"2025-08-02T20:53:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T02:53:33","slug":"8-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=15963","title":{"rendered":"8.3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why does a fire truck <a href=\"https:\/\/thehustle.co\/originals\/why-does-a-fire-truck-cost-2-million\">cost<\/a> $2 million?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the fab is conveniently <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1949675406384366051?s=12\">located<\/a> not far from my house ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ban <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/2016\/07\/11\/hypocrisy-climate-change-emissions-consumption-gina-mccarthy-mccabe-dicaprio-lamar-smith-taxpayer-epa-column\/86940890\/\">AC<\/a> for DC<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the <a href=\"https:\/\/underpassapp.com\/news\/2025\/7\/5.html\">courts and antitrust regulators are reading<\/a>\u2014they probably won\u2019t read my blog, but one can dream\u2014this is yet another example of Google advantaging its own browser Chrome over other web browsers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>, Elias Law Group originally represented Media Matters against Musk\u2019s lawsuit, which accused the group of manipulating X posts to falsely link the social media platform to white nationalists and anti-Semites, part of what Musk alleged was &#8220;a ploy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.&#8221; The litigation and other legal fights with the attorneys general of several red states have <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/you-must-be-kidding-media-matters-fumed-at-massive-legal-bills-from-marc-elias-firm\/\">left Media Matters with $15 million in legal costs<\/a>, forcing the Democratic media juggernaut to consider laying off staff, filing bankruptcy, or shutting down altogether,&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Times<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/07\/25\/us\/politics\/media-matters-musk-crisis.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZE8.uS77.aCoRbTwphEFY&amp;smid=url-share\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/om.co\/2025\/07\/26\/the-satya-of-satyas-layoff-memo\/\">Microsoft memo<\/a> portends the new reality of the technology industry. For&nbsp;years, the sector&nbsp;has been generous to its employees,&nbsp;offering&nbsp;unheard-of&nbsp;perks and placing a&nbsp;premium on skills such as software development.&nbsp;AI, however, inverts&nbsp;that relationship. As a result,&nbsp;we now face a&nbsp;different&nbsp;set of&nbsp;parameters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Loyalty&nbsp;has become&nbsp;a one-way street:&nbsp;Employees&nbsp;must be committed, but technology companies owe only&nbsp;\u201copportunities,\u201d&nbsp;as and if they deem necessary.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Layoffs will be&nbsp;used&nbsp;for strategic&nbsp;positioning,&nbsp;regardless of&nbsp;a company\u2019s&nbsp;financial&nbsp;health.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Profit&nbsp;provides&nbsp;an opportunity&nbsp;to invest in&nbsp;transformation,&nbsp;which&nbsp;sometimes involves eliminating&nbsp;jobs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t&nbsp;be surprised if normalization of profitable layoffs&nbsp;becomes&nbsp;the next big Silicon Valley export to broader economy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Admiral Daryl Caudle, President Donald Trump\u2019s nominee as chief of navy operations, told his confirmation hearing it was not yet certain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/world\/north-america\/trends-are-worrying-incoming-us-naval-boss-sounds-aukus-warning-20250729-p5mii7.html\">the US defence industrial base was capable of producing enough Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines<\/a> to sell three to Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>FOIA: 600+ <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jamesctobias\/status\/1950242536586699059?s=12\">pages of communications between Dr. Francis Collins,<\/a> Science EIC Holden Thorp, etc:\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Small business owners play a central role in all advanced economies. Nonetheless, they are an understudied occupational group politically, particularly compared to groups that represent smaller portions of the population (e.g., union members, manufacturing workers). We conduct a detailed investigation of the politics of small business owners and offer new insight into the evolving role of education, class, and occupation in electoral politics. Leveraging diverse sources of data \u2013 representative surveys from around the world, campaign finance records, voter files, and a first-of-its-kind, bespoke survey of small business owners \u2013 we find consistent evidence that small business owners are more likely to identify with and vote for right-wing parties. We find that this tendency cannot be fully explained by factors that cause people to select into being small business owners. Rather, we identify a key operational channel: the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/british-journal-of-political-science\/article\/politics-of-small-business-owners\/492835B42B70C24F6613B352E4C3B83E\"> experience of being a small business owner leads people to adopt conservative views on government regulation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/stevesi\/status\/1950361172328452267?s=12\">Presumably<\/a> it is well-known what huge company founders did not complete college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shunsaku Tamiya was responsible for creating <a href=\"https:\/\/japanesenostalgiccar.com\/rip-shunsaku-tamiya-plastic-model-kits\/\">Tamiya\u2019s<\/a> signature branding and reputation for quality. He invited his brother Masao to create the \u201ctwin stars\u201d logo and hired illustrators to create the \u201cwhite box\u201d look that made Tamiya stand out in sharp contrast to the box art of other model makers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This paper provides the first systematic and comprehensive <a href=\"https:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2025\/07\/what-does-consulting-do.html\">empirical study of management and strategy consulting<\/a>. We unveil the workings of this opaque industry by drawing on universal administrative business-to-business transaction data based on value-added tax links from Belgium (2002-2023). These data permit us to document the nature of consulting engagements, take-up patterns, and the effects on client firms. We document that consulting take-up is concentrated among large, high-labor-productivity firms. For TFP and profitability, we find a U-shaped pattern: both high and low performers hire consultants. New clients spend on average 3% of payroll on consulting, typically in episodic engagements lasting less than one year. Using difference-in-differences designs exploiting these sharp consulting events, we find positive effects on labor productivity of 3.6% over five years, driven by modest employment reductions alongside stable or growing revenue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of <a href=\"https:\/\/althouse.blogspot.com\/2025\/07\/as-profound-as-abundance-produced-by-ai.html?m=1\">eyeglasses that understand<\/a> and facilitate your personal agenda&#8230; here&#8217;s the ad that was served up to me in the very next thing that I read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Holly Paz, the commissioner of Large Business and International Division, and Elizabeth Kastenberg, acting director of the Office of Professional Responsibility, <a href=\"https:\/\/taxprof.typepad.com\/taxprof_blog\/2025\/07\/irs-heads-of-large-business-and-professional-responsibility-units-placed-on-leave.html\">were put on leave while the IRS investigates their conduct against Republicans<\/a>, the source said, adding that the leave doesn\u2019t mean they are fired. It hasn\u2019t been decided who will replace them, the source said. (<em><a href=\"https:\/\/duckduckgo.com\/?q=%E2%80%9Clois+lerner%E2%80%9D+irs&amp;t=brave&amp;ia=web\">Lois Lerner<\/a> IRS scandal<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hansmahncke\/status\/1950925376626233533?s=46\">supply the media<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NEW: Emails obtained by @SecureUSA and shared with @FreeBeacon show that West Point officials CONFIRMED Hegseth&#8217;s acceptance on Dec. 10. But West Point <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/andrewkerrnc\/status\/1951018341897797659?s=12\">waited until AFTER<\/a> Hegseth posted his acceptance letter on Dec. 11 before correcting its false statement to ProPublica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. You are going into <a href=\"https:\/\/althouse.blogspot.com\/2025\/08\/and-um-recently-i-made-decision-that-i.html?m=1#more\">political oblivion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what we want to know is, who owns our orbit? The research team at Dewesoft analyzed data collected by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucsusa.org\/resources\/satellite-database\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UCS Satellite Database<\/a>, ESRI, and the Space Foundation to create a list of the 50 owners of the most satellites orbiting Earth. As of Sept. 1, 2021, SpaceX is leading the race, with their Starlink satellite program planning to send more than a thousand new satellites into orbit every year. SpaceX owns an incredible 36% of the satellites in orbit around Earth. Read on to see which governments, organizations, and companies own the most satellites in our orbit with this galactic graphic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/leehamnews.com\/2025\/08\/01\/bjorns-corner-faster-aircraft-development-part-1\/#more-47453\">Complete fuselage barrels<\/a> will consequently not be considered for future aircraft, not by Boeing or any other airframer. While they are not unsafe (rather the contrary, the principle has very few joins), it\u2019s a very challenging, and thus expensive, way to produce a composite aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Atlassian CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes sent the video titled \u201cRestructuring the CSS Team: A Difficult Decision for Our Future\u201d to staff on Wednesday morning (30 July), informing them that 150 staff had been made redundant. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyberdaily.au\/digital-transformation\/12441-atlassian-terminates-150-staff-with-pre-recorded-video-will-be-largely-replaced-by-ai\">video<\/a> reportedly did not make it seem that the decision was difficult, but rather said it would allow its staff \u201cto say goodbye\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Fed\u2019s giant asset purchases, most recently executed during the Covid-19 pandemic, have held down bond yields and enabled more government spending, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barrons.com\/articles\/trump-fed-chair-interest-rates-0650f8f6?st=8Jjdep\">while simultaneously lining Wall Street\u2019s pockets<\/a>. The central bank believes itself to be unaccountable to the president on monetary policy, even as it has made critical mistakes such as allowing Covid-era inflation to spike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Financial Lessons from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitecoatinvestor.com\/financial-lessons-father-long-term-care-insurance\/\">My Family\u2019s Experience<\/a> with Long-Term Care Insurance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why does a fire truck cost $2 million? And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house ? Ban AC for DC If the courts and antitrust regulators are reading\u2014they probably won\u2019t read my blog, but one can dream\u2014this is yet another example of Google advantaging its own browser Chrome over other web [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15963"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15986,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963\/revisions\/15986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}