It's exactly because of Europe's vasted potential that we ask for more. Celebrating Europe as a supplier to the great American engines of commerce and wealth is only a step or two above Congo claiming credit for Tesla because of their cobalt.
Europe has the brains and the history for greatness, but squanders much of it at the moment in thrall to climate degrowth nonsense and suicidal empathy.
I'm all onboard with the idea that this should motivate a movement to invigorate Europe, though. Just as long as it's not through excuses or europoor justifications for not having the basic utilities of civilization, like AC or laundry machines that can complete four loads in a day without breaking a sweat.
Europe should take the best of American vigor and entrepreneurship without shame or excuse. The US has Europe beat on those points at the moment. Admit it, copy it, and catch up.
"God laughs at those who cherish the causes which effects they deplore."
I've loved @levelsio's voice on the insanity of the European Union, but it feels like even he still hasn't fully embraced the real conclusion, which is that it was a flawed project from the get go.
Like Vladimir Bukovsky said: "after burying the monster of the USSR, we gave birth to the new one of the EU."
Both systems run by unelected bureaucrats with no accountability, fostering centralization and emphasizing political correctness above everything else. https://t.co/S0DeBWhx3t
Every system is only as good as it needs to be, and this is a system that is simply under 0 competitive pressure, has 0 incentive to provide a better service or care more about its people.
Why would they? Why does it matter that you can't even _access_ the GPUs they made so much noise about? What repercussions does that even have on either them personally, or on the institutions they're a part of?
None. The lack of results of their program is as irrelevant to them as the opinion of someone who'll never be a customer is to a business. They simply don't even notice, and are rational in doing so.
Trying to "reform" this system would be like trying to reform a fish from swimming. You're seeing the fundamental nature of the system, working exactly as designed.
If you don't want the fish to swim, you don't want a fish — if you don't want inane bureaucracy wasting ridiculous amounts of taxpayer money to produce no results at all, you don't want the European Union.
The EU is about to die. The US-EU trade deal is just the latest proof of Europe’s decline.
Let’s be clear: this deal isn’t a scandal. It’s not even surprising. It’s just the brutal reality of where we stand in the world today.
No leverage. No unity. No relevance.
A mirror held to our face. And what we see is painful, especially for those of us who believe in the idea of Europe.
Because I do believe in Europe. In a strong, competitive and united Europe. It’s a plea to fix what’s broken before it’s too late.
But the current non-federal EU setup is neither fish nor fowl. It has become the problem.
Let’s look at the hard numbers:
- In 2008, the EU and the US had around 16 trillion USD in GDP.
- Today: the US is at approximately 28 trillion, the EU at 18 trillion.
- That’s plus 75 percent versus just 12 percent.
- Germany is stuck in recession
- In 2005, 4 of the world’s 10 largest companies were European.
- In 2024: zero.
Why? Because Europe is fundamentally broken.
27 members, zero alignment.
No capital union. No unified tech or energy strategy.
Regulatory arbitrage everywhere, even inside the system.
We’re weakening ourselves from within.
We don’t act like a union. We act like 27 separate middle powers stuck in endless negotiation. While we’re still debating whether we should act, others have already built and delivered.
The EU has become a bureaucratic tumor that keeps growing uncontrollably.
More layers, more delays, more vetoes.
Less output, less speed, less relevance.
So where do we go from here?
- We need urgent, bold reforms.
- A real capital markets union.
- Clear strategic priorities.
- Dramatic deregulation and debureaucratization
- And the political will to act as one.
Without that, I predict more Brexits in the next 10 years.
And with them, the collapse of the EU as we know it.
And it starts with the foundation for everything: capital.
We need one unified European capital market. One stock exchange with deep liquidity, not 20 fragmented ones with empty order books.
A true single market for investments, equity, IPOs and venture funding.
Without that, we won’t finance innovation.
And without funding and supporting innovation, Europe will remain irrelevant, and will have to accept whatever "deal" we’re given.
I've been building schools as a weekend hobby with entrepreneur friends for years at @ https://t.co/JCcq3epAT8.
Three things that work well:
1. Free meals to increase school attendance
2. The school should not be entirely for free (ppl don't value free stuff). Parents of the children should contribute with whatever they have: A pack of rice. One-day of labour at the school... Gives them a sense of ownership over the community school. They want it to succeed
3. Get the elders of the community on your side. That's the biggest attendance-lever for us
Btw: we build schools with 1.8% admin costs. Lean non-bureaucratic org. Entrepreneurs run the show. (Tiny shot at legacy NGOs out there)
“What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” - Peter Thiel
Fun inverted question: "What important truth does almost everyone agree upon -- but few do anything about it?"
The factory model of education from the industrial revolution still existing in 2025.
What was once niche is now mainstream in health discussions: clean eating, resistance training, sprints, avoiding blue light at night, sunrise viewing, phthalate avoidance, meditation, breathwork, cold, heat, creatine, microbiome, peptides, clean water etc. Health is a practice.