No one ever said the fight for popular capitalism would be easy. New polling for The Free Press found that, in private, just a third of Americans have a positive opinion of capitalism. Kristian Niemietz’s piece below explores one of the reasons why: we take for granted all the astonishing things capitalism makes possible.
But it doesn’t help that so many young people are locked out of the world of work – the latest figures confirmed today that we have nearly a million NEETs under 25. And the Government keeps making it worse.
Below you’ll find all the latest pieces from CapX, plus what we’re reading from around the web.
Marc Sidwell
Editor, CapX
Today’s Takes
Fresh thinking from CapX
Why can’t we build data centres?
James Price
‘In Britain, we can force £100 million to be spent on a bat tunnel; imagine what our planning system will do with a gigawatt campus.’
Britain is the home of the first data centre, which helped us win the Second World War. Nowadays we can barely build them, thanks to Nimby complaints gumming up the planning system. The UAE is building data centres in the desert. Singapore is building them – despite real land and water constraints. We need to catch up. Read More
Britain can’t train its way out of the NEETs crisis
Anna Ridgway
‘Programmes that are aimed at young people who want to work fail to address the dwindling opportunities available in the job market.’
New ONS figures show the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) is approaching a million. Over the last few years, most of the increase in NEETs has come from those who aren’t looking for work at all. Training programmes won’t help them. Only a growing economy will. Read More
Banks shouldn’t gatekeep crypto
Katie Harries
‘If Britain wants the benefits of digital finance, it must permit people to access it.’
The Bank of England is getting a new duty: supporting innovation in payment systems and digital money. But if stablecoins and tokenised assets are to become part of the UK’s financial system, individuals need a way to engage with them. Right now, too many banks are acting as gatekeepers – blocking or capping transfers to crypto platforms. Read More
Stat of the Day
Best of the Web
Trump is destroying global conservatism
Daniel Hannan, The Telegraph 🔒
‘Trump has created a sense that it is better to be America’s enemy than its friend, for it buys its enemies and sells its friends.’
Why is Iceland flirting with joining the EU? Because it can’t rely on Donald Trump’s America. Across the globe, Trump is harming the prospects of the Right, with parties that have traditionally been pro-American becoming tainted by association. And as the midterms loom, now he is doing the same in the US as well. Read More
In defence of slop
Kristian Niemietz, The Critic
‘Whenever capitalism generates real improvements to our living standards, our expectations quickly adjust upwards, and the improved state becomes the new normal.’
Can capitalism survive? The Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter thought not: because we obsess over its downsides and quickly forget its astonishing achievements. Just look at today’s advances in technology, from Google Maps to AI. These are everyday miracles that enhance our lives, and all we do is moan about AI slop. Read More
Matt Ridley: Free trade is killing off famine
The Capitalist: Jonn Elledge on how to invent the city
And if you want more...
– Don’t mess with markets (Project Syndicate)
– What the Jurassic forest sounded like (Science)
– Are Americans losing faith in capitalism? (The Free Press)
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Of course we can build data centres. The problem here is that the Data Centres are required to be built on greanfield sites and use as much energy and water as 1 million homes. They’ll be given massive tax breaks, the damage to the environment and the cost to taxpayers is seen as a price worthpaying, while rich filth evade and avoid tax.