Michel Rauchs

Curious observer of the funny business of Life (and the many ways humans are trying to cope with it).

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

@ToBo_CH Exactly this 👍

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

The clever marketing of the Nazi party still seems to work like a charm some 90 years later.

The name "National Socialist German Workers' Party" was deliberately chosen to simultaneously appeal to two very different constituencies (remember that the Nazis legally accessed power through winning the 1933 elections):

– "National German Party"
– "Socialist Workers' Party"

People simply dropped/ignored the words they didn't identify with and voted for them. The rest is history.

Oh, and unlike Elon insinuates, one of the very first acts upon getting into power was to imprison, torture, and kill actual socialists.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

@paulg Hitler was also left, just a different type of left. Hardcore socialist.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

I'll be sharing more about @CommonsLabUK in the coming weeks, but in the meantime have a look at the new website we just launched. 🙂

It's still early but the site now brings together a clearer picture of our mission, programme areas, and overall approach, including some initial material introducing the Commons for people less familiar with it – covering, among other things, its history, manifestations, and common myths.

I'm genuinely excited about this project and look forward to diving into the actual work now!

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

One of the projects I've been working on for a while now – go check it out and let us know what you think!

[Commons Lab @CommonsLabUK]

Our website is now live!

https://t.co/LlXIoHd4Y0

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

“When we want to learn a body of academic knowledge, we go to college professors. When we want to learn about living, we need to go to those who have done it the longest and learned the most about it.

In a culture that worships high technology, the teachers become younger and younger because we place the greatest value on the latest technological advances. As a result, we are looking more and more to those who have less and less wisdom and are instead relying on "information" to guide our lives.

All Native people value their Elders as the repositories of wisdom, not only about a way of life but also about living our lives.“

— Anne Wilson Schaef (1995) Native Wisdom for White Minds

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

@PeterMcCormack This was a great episode, thank you. Hope you bring Tim back on again.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

Then again, the headline *is* factually correct; the FT is merely reporting the ongoing circus.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

What a strange headline from the FT. You don‘t need to be an MMTer to notice the absurdity.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

Though, as MMTers would say, it‘s precisely the theatre around public finance — duly performed by central banks and finance ministries to obscure the fact that taxes don‘t fund governments of countries with monetary sovereignty — that leads to such headlines.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

Or, they should be completely ring-fenced from the real economy and essential financial services.

If I may suggest, gambling seems to be the right sector.

[Dirk Ehnts @DEhnts]

If financial "products" have no public purpose (they redistribute income instead of adding value), they should not exist. https://t.co/LDJzXdALsW

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

@buchmanster @informalinc Congrats! Right decision – and glad to see you focusing on @cyclesmoney 🙂

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

Quirky detail about the Luxembourgish school system, for those interested.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

Also, we start learning French in third grade. While all other non-language subjects continue to be taught in German during primary school, this changes to French in high school – so for anything from history to mathematics, you basically have to re-learn all the vocabulary from scratch.

A nightmare for pupils, but it pays dividends!

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

@alextapscott @buchmanster @defidecodedpod @informalinc @cyclesmoney @buchmanster When‘s that paper coming out?

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

I've seen children in Luxembourg that routinely speak 7 languages in primary school already. Generally they have parents from two different countries (say Italy and Poland), go through the national school system (based on the three official languages, Luxembourgish, French, and German), and casually pick up English (thanks to Youtube) and Portuguese (the unofficial fourth language of Luxembourg) on the side.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

Also, we start learning French in third grade. While all other non-language subjects continue to be taught in German during primary school, this changes to French in high school – so for anything from history to mathematics, you basically have to re-learn all the vocabulary from scratch.

A nightmare for pupils, but it pays dividends!

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

Rarely. Luxembourgish is generally spoken among friends and family; at work mostly French (and increasingly English).

We grow up with German TV and movies, though: German is the first language we learn at school (in first grade), and by second grade all other subjects are already taught in German – though in practice it's often a mix between Luxembourgish and German.

[Michel Rauchs @mrauchs]

@Kloktklo @TheStalwart Not surprising considering that there's less than half a million speakers. 🙂