Rut-roh https://t.co/bTXN8xFmm2
— Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@Noahpinion) November 13, 2026
Very bad. Transitory is what I heard.
Political Economy
Corpolated
Things I’ve learned after 30+ years in the corporate world:
1) Good work does not speak for itself. No one cares or will notice. You have to tell people about it, tell them again, and then remind them again later.
2) It is a cliché because it’s true: who you know matters more than what you know.
3) The person who tells the story first sets the narrative. Everything else is filtered through that. Related to point 1, be the person who tells the story.
4) Incredibly bad ideas can perpetuate themselves and sustain careers longer than you could ever imagine.
5) Who gets promoted is often more a matter of who complains less or does unpleasant things without flinching rather than who is competent or even remotely capable.
6) Do not get attached to any job or make it your identity. Trust me, your company does not care about you, your company does not love you — and it never ever will.
7) The people at work who you think are your friends will always choose their mortgage and career over you. Do not forget that.
8) Try to do good work regardless of the above. It is about self-integrity, not loyalty to any company.
9) Never treat executive assistants poorly or get on their bad side. Try to befriend them, in fact. They know everything and everyone and can make or break your career.
10) And, most importantly, keep receipts. Document everything. Make notes and send emails about anything substantive. A conversation with your manager that leads to a decision? Send a follow-up email later with the exact details of what was decided. Talk with HR? The same. And follow the same procedure with subordinates. It absolutely will save your ass.
Buildout
If I seized power as absolute ruler of the US, after throwing the worst people out of helicopters over Somalia of course, I’d have us go on a building spree so madly profligate we’d all be deaf from construction noises.
We’d have so many trains, transmission lines, nuclear reactors, solar power installations, airports, data centers, factories and research centers that China would look like absolute slackers.
Try me.
Bot Blut
Job seeking in the age of AI: The robots read my cover letter.
This job market does not have an answer for the fact that every year, more and more young people, eager to show the world what they can do, will be competing for a shrinking pool of AI-decimated jobs while being told, over and over, that they aren’t good enough.
Economists are mendaciously claiming what is obviously happening is not occurring, even though it very clearly is. This article has a better view. Just as with shipping all our core industrial jobs off to China for a few bucks, AI will eliminate tons of jobs and they will not come back. And this time, you won’t even be able to go part-time as a Walmart greeter.
It’s going to be a very different world soon. That article is a preview of what’s coming for a lot of people.
Urbs
I’ve had that debate with an urbanist friend before who doesn’t drive. We were talking about transit and I mentioned you could just do a lot more more quickly by car in the less dense suburbs and exurbs. That stumped her and it was clear the reason was because lack of driving experience.
I said something like, “That’s because in non-dense suburbs I can drive 15 miles in any direction in 15 minutes. I can get to many more places a lot more quickly than in a city even with the best transit and then have room to bring it back to my place. Try that on a bus or a train, especially if you’re older or not that strong.”
Also, commuting by car outside of dense urban areas is more pleasant. I used to work at a place in rural Washington state. I loved driving there every day and back (except when it was snowy). The route went through gorgeous mountains with a great view. I looked forward to my 15-20 minute drive each day.
And yes, I do have experience with mass transit. I’ve taken it extensively in NYC and London when I’ve been in those places. It takes me 30+ minutes to get somewhere in NYC by transit I could reach in five minutes in the suburbs. Non-driver transit-focused urbanists don’t want to believe it, but it is true.
HR Even Worse
That is all absolute evil. Who ever thought HR could get even worse than it already was.
H1Bye
I kind of suspected that was what was going on with that Microsoft buyout. Since it’s very difficult (especially in this market) for H1Bs to get sponsorship elsewhere, a lot of Americans will leave and the trapped H1Bs will remain, all of whom work for lower wages.
Next year I expect other tech companies to make the same sort of move.
Pure evil.
Crushed
Amy is correct. It’s partially why our politics are so toxic.
EV See
Gas cars fall below 50% of global new car sales for the first time.
No matter if you think batteries and electricity are gay climate crap or not, EVs and batteries are the future. Yes, in the US too. It’s just simple economics; nothing else is needed.
Ladder Pull
Amy is right. The numbers speak for themselves. No matter what Noah Smith and clowns like that claim, the essentials of life are vastly more expensive now than they were during the Boomer heyday. It is harder for younger millennials and Gen Z to build wealth, find jobs, live independently and have good lives than for prior generations.
Self Dest
A whole lot of Western Europe is in a now-irreversible self-destruct spiral due to inane and insane leftist policies, mostly related to immigration. It is not going to be pretty when the Islamists get hold of the UK and French nuclear weapons. That might occur sooner than I thought.
Tax Freaking
The Great American Property Tax Freak Out by David Schleicher.
I am not against property taxes, per se, but it does feel very odd that we have to “rent” our own house from the government for ~$800 per month.
There is no way in hell that we are getting $800 in services in return for that. The roads here are terrible. Homeless people wander all over. The government is generally atrocious. I don’t know about the school quality, and I don’t begrudge funding schools at all.
But we get maybe $100 worth of benefit each month and pay eight times that. Sure, we have money, we can pay it. Whatever.
And yes, I understand all the arguments for property taxes, Georgism, etc. The problem is not lack of understanding; it is realizing that you pay vast amounts to a government that seems to do very little. And that’s the same government that could and would kick you out of your home if you stopped forking over.
But in human society those with the most guns make the rules. We can pretty it up but that’s basically how it works.
Home Slice (of Pie)
Like I talked about below, a burger, fries and a slice of pie costing $30 is completely shocking. I remember when fast food used to be cheap.
I just ran some rough numbers and at home I could make four burgers (including all components, condiments, toppings, buns, etc), fries and an entire chocolate creme pie (again, including all ingredients) for about that same price. That is fucking insane.
Flated
It’s sad times when a burger, fries and a single slice of chocolate creme pie is more than $30 at a small chain fast food place.
And pundits wonder why people are upset. They’re pissed because 5 or 6 years ago that would’ve cost $10.
Simple.