The Network State as An Investment Product — Shanley

This line in particular caught my eye.

This is gonna make the Bahamas look like a hostile regulatory environment.

Been thinking about this a bit for a while. When you see these market fundamentalist types critique a given regulation, or a jurisdiction they feel is over-regulated, there's a temptation to read that critique in a generous way. Business talk about creating favourable conditions for entrepreneurs can be really compelling.

But then if you zoom out and look at the wider context, there's basically no jurisdiction deregulated enough to satisfy this worldview.

Elon Musk orders the Swedish Tesla subsidiary not to sign a union deal with its workforce under any circumstances, and you instinctively try to adopt a middle-ground perspective on his stance. "Well", you think, "I suppose Sweden is a bit of an outlier in terms of trade unionism and its impact on society. It's understandable for an American business to be hesitant".

Then you find out he's also a key player in a legal campaign to destroy the precious few labour rights American workers still enjoy, and you realise "Aha, so there's… no satisfactorily large amount of unilateral power for this person?"

If you're not convinced this is a serious problem, I'd suggest reading Marc Andreessen's Techno-Optimist Manifesto for yourself in full. My personal favourite aspect of it is how the section entitled "The Enemy" begins with a disclaimer that "Our enemies are not bad people – but rather bad ideas", and then with each passing sentence becomes more and more clear it's referring to some very specific people the author considers bad. Count how many times he refers to a movement you're a member of as his enemy, then think about how influential his VC firm is in the industry you depend on to make a living.

I think it might be a bit of a strategic booboo to let these wannabe Bond villains actually build their own volcano lairs.