Deborah Remington (American, 1930-2010). “Davos” (1975). Source: Tamarind Institute
Defense spending: Doing PPP all around
PPP adjusted defense spending figures from ISS cause an occasional kerfluffle online. It is hard to know why. Sure Russian spending in PPP terms is far larger. But, as the World Bank tells us, Russia GDP in PPP terms is also far larger, in excess of $6.5 trillion. So the PPP-adjusted spending figures in relation to PPP-adjusted GDP are c. 7 percent, which is close to the ratio you arrive at using nominal numbers. Furthermore, what is generally not noted, is that EU GDP in PPP terms is also far larger. According to the World Bank, the figure is 26.4 trillion dollars. So, matching PPP-adjusted Russian military spending in PPP terms out of the EU’s PPP-GDP would require an EU defense effort of 1.74 percent of PPP-GDP. The conclusion remains, as far as defense is concerned the EU is a highly inefficient sleeping giant. A modicum of extra effort, say 2.5 % of GDP, and reorganization, the merger of the fighting components of the largest armies under joint command, sustained over a decade or so, to enable development of key weapons systems, would make it into a military superpower fully capable of deterring Russia.
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How US federal government employees at risk of the DOGE axe are distributed across the country
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Tesla’s brand is being destroyed in mainstream America
Americans’ opinions of Tesla started falling precipitously in the spring of 2022, around the time CEO Elon Musk initiated his purchase of Twitter. It hit negative territory — meaning more Americans had a negative impression of the company than a positive one — in the summer of that year, right before the acquisition went through and as his politics moved more vocally to the right.
Since then, Musk has aligned himself firmly with now President Donald Trump and has begun slashing federal budgets and head counts as the leader of an extragovernmental organization he named the Department of Government Efficiency. If the general public’s perception of Tesla is any indication, they don’t like what he’s been up to.
Of course, Americans’ opinions vary by political affiliation. Only among conservatives does Tesla have a positive net impression score, at about 7. For comparison, Americans’ average net impression of all carmakers is quite a bit higher, at 17.
