Deal or no deal?
Well, that depends if the deal involves the US government.
Anthropic was forced by the US government to remove access to certain platforms and capabilities, citing national security. What this means is that deplatforming is now a US government activity at mass, making the use of any platform within US control, an enormous risk factor.
Not your keys, not your crypto.
If you don't own it, it isn't yours.
As I have been saying for several years, if not more, it is critical that the EU makes a few fundamental changes to the way it operates with the US. Now that they are an increasingly unreliable as a trade partner, it is vital the shift happens, and happens soon.
Time to break glass.
Ensure US service companies pay their full tax obligation in the European country they earned it.
Rapidly shift sourcing of software, military and doughnuts to local producers.
It will be more expensive in the short-term and will likely suffer some quality reduction in some cases, but the cost will be offset by the tax shift, and quality will increase as demand for local goods and services increase. It is better to have functional capabilities available, than a host of capabilities that have a kill switch in the hands of profiteers and the power hungry.
The response from the US could be trade sanctions and tariffs, reduction in US military support, or a closing of the US market to Europe - but those things are happening already and it is time to have some self-respect and ween off an abusive partner. Removing the pressures of competing in the US, gives the space to compete with the US.
Replace it all with alternatives, whether it be consumer or government needs, use local, use European, create stronger trade ties with everyone else. Because while the US can benefit from economies of scale and force discounted prices as the largest single market, the reason they can do this is because they are able to funnel a huge amount of money flow from the rest of the world into their own pockets to discount their consumption. Stop the flow through appropriate corporate taxing and the ability to maintain consumption drops drastically. And then, as European and RoW consumption increases to replace the US market using locally sourced products, the collapse is imminent.
Should it come to this?
Because while I understand it would suck for people in the US, it is already sucking for the other 95% of the global population who have to live under the constant threat of US activity, both militarily and economically. The entire economy as it stands is an absolute oppressive system anyway, so it has to change if the average person anywhere in the world is going to have a better life. The system is broken for the majority, and it is crumbling at an ever-increasing rate. Action has to be taken.
A lot of Americans protect the economic system they have, as if it is the best model of a functioning marketplace. However, it is the best example of why it is broken, with perhaps Russia being another one. Because the wealthiest three people have as much as the poorest half of the population.
3∶150,000,000
And the "poorest" are in the bottom 20%, so this includes half of the "not so poor" middle class as well. And it is only getting worse. The concentration is incredible, and those at the top have convinced those at the bottom that this is great, that this is the American dream, and their suffering is irrelevant. I don't know what all the criteria is, but in the US today, almost 10% of the population has a substance abuse disorder and if including alcohol, that jumps up to about 16%.
1 in 6
Pretty fucking tragic.
But it has been allowed to happen and even encouraged in order to generate increasing wealth disparity, profits, control, and dependency. The system is broken and it isn't only in America, it is just that they are ahead of the curve in many ways. The rest of the world is following close on their heels, because they keep on chasing scraps of profit from the largest market, instead of charting their own course and building an economic model that not only distributes wealth more widely, but can do so through healthier practices.
In Emergency, Break Glass
We need to get off the bus.
Taraz
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