So.. what's the best book you've read so far this year? For me:

History is funny. Children rebel against their parents, just as their parents once rebelled against theirs, only to grow up resembling their grandparents.

There’s something very bizarre about Indonesians’ fondness for labeling the present with whatever industry or bureaucratic jargon happens to be in vogue (i.e. "di Era..."). It is as if, unlike the Owl of Minerva, we believe we can grasp the zeitgeist of history in real time.

Some of Europe’s most notable companies are moving to the U.S., deepening Europe’s economic woes wsj.com/finance/invest… via The Wall Street Journal

Sounds eerily familiar. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

I have a feeling accidents like this will happen again. The government has just legalized small businesses to drill oil wells in pursuit of its lifting target, and unfortunately safety will be the first casualty news.detik.com/berita/d-80669…

A public official whose default solution to budget constraints is to use personal wealth will eventually realize that no fortune is large enough to bankroll the state.

What is this?

My latest in The Economist: on America's data-centre boom. Vast short-run impact on GDP growth: — Accounts for ~1/6th of growth over the past year — And ~1/2 of growth over the past six months But: so far still much smaller than the 1990s dotcom buildout. And...

Oil prices have plunged over 20% since June, signaling weaker global demand, while stock markets remain near record highs. msn.com/en-us/money/ma…

The Alaska confab is a sharp reminder to Europeans that they live in a world where others increasingly call the shots. The idea that the continent needs to recover some measure of “strategic autonomy” was once a French obsession. Now it is widely shared. shorturl.at/8a5Mn

Used to be against this, but now I think there should be a basic math and literacy test for anyone seeking public office. At the very least, prove that your mind can handle the complexity of public affairs before asking to run them

Anyone with even one or two degrees of separation from the power center knows how the system actually works. The fact that many of them, despite being outside it, can still talk about it as if it were some kind of textbook ideal tells you they’re part of the system too.

This really doesn't look good on Pandu. The CIO of a sovereign wealth fund issuing low-yield Patriot Bonds to fund projects overlapping with a company he still owns shares in = classic conflict of interest. bloombergtechnoz.com/detail-news/81…