I expected this to be a relatively harmless and lighthearted laugh-at-the-euros post, but the idea that I would have to go before some governmental busybody to justify the purchase of my own f**king air conditioner for my own f**king home--it's legitimately shocking.
Is this North Korea? Do I have enough Chairman Xi Social Credit Buxx to get party-level access to the strategic heat pump stockpile in the back room?
Another thing is that much of Europe is a lot more pleasant to travel around than much of the US because they don't have endless, ugly urban sprawl everywhere. I know this is to some degree the flip side of housing shortages (in some countries anyway). But everything is a tradeoff, and this is the positive side of the ledger, and one can acknowledge it for what it is.
I love air conditioning, too, but I'm a little more skeptical of American norms on some of the other stuff.
* Fahrenheit vs. Celsius: Pretty neutral on this one; I think it's mostly just what people are used to. I could make a similar convenience argument for Celsius where it's easy to remember that 0 is freezing and comfortable temperature range for humans is roughly 20 to 30 (humidity concerns aside).
* Automatic transmissions: I hate them! I don't want my car shifting when I didn't tell it to, the way they creep forward in Drive without you putting your foot on the gas is weird, and to the extent that I have to drive a car, I at least want to have some fun while I'm at it. It's nice that automatics are available for people who have different priorities, but it's annoying how hard it is to find a car with a manual transmission in the United States.
* Clothes dryers: American clothes dryers DO destroy clothes! It's not a myth. Americans I talk to, especially men, generally acknowledge this and accept that they'll either need to replace clothing more often, or deal with it being faded and fuzzy. I don't consider the typical item in my closet to be fungible, so I prefer to make them last as long as possible and that's why I hang dry everything except for sheets and towels.
* Ice: Ice is good, but the common American convention of filling a beverage cup completely full of ice before adding the drink, so that the drink just fills the spaces between the ice cubes and it becomes watery and disgusting if you don't drink it all right away, is mystifying to me. Some of my more cynical friends have told me that restaurants to this to get away with giving people less actual beverage product. I'm not sure of that, but I find it very strange and over the top.
* Text messages: SMS is an outdated technology, tied to whichever mobile device is active on your cellular carrier, and I find it very annoying that it's still the de facto standard for written interpersonal communication in the US. I don't care if you use LINE, WhatsApp, Telegram, AOL Instant Messenger risen from the dead, or what have you, but give me something that supports account profiles, that I can use on a computer (or multiple devices in general) without platform-specific workarounds like iMessage.
"This is a reason I’m proud to be American: the American right loves to complain about the American left promising “free stuff,” but at least our right and our left are both in favor of stuff."
Think it's worth noting that "degrowth" as a concept apparently unites right and left in Europe. You had Andrew Sullivan on Central air last week. Caveat that Sullivan himself would call himself "idiosyncratic" so I don't want to make the mistake of thinking his views are perfectly aligned with now dominant conservative party in the UK. But while he hasn't come out and said it, listening to him on the podcast and reading his substack recently, seems pretty clear he's in favor of the Reform party gaining enough votes to occupy Number 10. So it was so so enlightening hear to that Sully is basically a "degrowth" NIMBY. The most exercised (and hostile) he got in your conversation is when you suggested a) UK should consider building more housing near train stations b) relaxing "greenbelt" rules c) anemic economic growth is contributing factor to the rise of the Reform party itself*. It was just really amazing to hear that he basically was saying that sacrificing any economic growth at all is "worth it" to preserve some rose tinted version of UK that existed in the past*.
This is all related in that the anti-air conditioning stance and the current power of Reform party (and similar populist right wing parties like AFD) have something that ties it together; that it's somehow necessary to sacrifice economic growth if you want to have the country address non-economic concerns. You can both become more green and address climate change AND embrace technological change and economic growth. You can do a better job of keeping immigration under control AND take steps to improve economic performance so large swaths of the public aren't so anti-immigrant. I actually think it's a reasonable point that Boris Johnson campaigning on getting "Brexit done" (which came about in part due to fears of immigrants from Eastern Europe) and then enacting policies that means immigration from Africa, India and other parts of the world explodes means the Tory party kind of reaps what they sow**. But boy oh boy, would doing anything at all to help fix the UK housing crises have helped a ton to stem the backlash that occurred. But more important, poor economic performance creates the conditions for these bigoted populist movements to take root.
* You and I both know that inflation was a) about supply chain snarls post COVID b) the 2021 stimulus being one stimulus too much (in that order of importance). But I really don't think I'm going out on a limb much to suggest that not only was 2024 the "it's the inflation stupid" result, but that inflation meant that the surge in asylum seekers created a toxic stew for the asylum issue to create a much bigger immigration backlash then might have happened if inflation had remained at or near 2%
** Think the closest equivalent in America to Boris doing what he did is GHWB saying "read my lips, no new taxes" and then...raising taxes. The thing is both policy turns are absolutely defensible. Raising taxes in 1991 was key to helping get the deficit under control. And in UK, I don't know how they deal with their pension issues with out more immigration. At least US still has solid GDP growth to help deal with the social security issue looming. I truly don't know how UK keeps "triple lock" without a) more immigration b) much more economic growth (the two are tied obviously).
The American left's "AC is a human right" juxtaposed with the French left's insistence on killing their most vulnerable citizens in the name of marginally improved C02 emissions is so darkly hilarious. Marine Le Pen is now poised to become France's next progressive hero when she implements her Air Conditioning New Deal plan.
I have traveled to Europe many times. The first time was in 1976. Then again in 1983, 2007, and almost every year since 2017. I'm heading to Switzerland for two weeks in late July. I loved this piece because it's so spot on! The comment about ice especially - although it's much easier to get ice now than in the 70s and 80s. Like you, I am hoping this heat wave has passed before I get there. Of course, the hotels are airconditioned, as are most of the places tourists go, like museums. Anyway, thanks for the laugh!
Automatic transmissions are steadily gaining ground in the last couple of decades, because those are both convenient and fuel-efficient. That said, I like driving stick, it allows me a level of control over dynamics and performance I wouldn't otherwise have.
I expected this to be a relatively harmless and lighthearted laugh-at-the-euros post, but the idea that I would have to go before some governmental busybody to justify the purchase of my own f**king air conditioner for my own f**king home--it's legitimately shocking.
Is this North Korea? Do I have enough Chairman Xi Social Credit Buxx to get party-level access to the strategic heat pump stockpile in the back room?
Another thing is that much of Europe is a lot more pleasant to travel around than much of the US because they don't have endless, ugly urban sprawl everywhere. I know this is to some degree the flip side of housing shortages (in some countries anyway). But everything is a tradeoff, and this is the positive side of the ledger, and one can acknowledge it for what it is.
Sprawl is good, actually. I love having my own house with my own four walls and a garden and yard that are my private space.
One man’s ugly urban sprawl is another man’s dream six bedroom, 5,000 sq ft house on a 2 acre plot
Nah. One man's urban sprawl is another man's Wal Mart/ strip mall/ convenience store complex surrounded by 20 acres of asphalt.
And that’s bad?
Yes
Freedom is good and sprawl is Communism.
America does need more roundabouts! Please bring one back with you!
I love air conditioning, too, but I'm a little more skeptical of American norms on some of the other stuff.
* Fahrenheit vs. Celsius: Pretty neutral on this one; I think it's mostly just what people are used to. I could make a similar convenience argument for Celsius where it's easy to remember that 0 is freezing and comfortable temperature range for humans is roughly 20 to 30 (humidity concerns aside).
* Automatic transmissions: I hate them! I don't want my car shifting when I didn't tell it to, the way they creep forward in Drive without you putting your foot on the gas is weird, and to the extent that I have to drive a car, I at least want to have some fun while I'm at it. It's nice that automatics are available for people who have different priorities, but it's annoying how hard it is to find a car with a manual transmission in the United States.
* Clothes dryers: American clothes dryers DO destroy clothes! It's not a myth. Americans I talk to, especially men, generally acknowledge this and accept that they'll either need to replace clothing more often, or deal with it being faded and fuzzy. I don't consider the typical item in my closet to be fungible, so I prefer to make them last as long as possible and that's why I hang dry everything except for sheets and towels.
* Ice: Ice is good, but the common American convention of filling a beverage cup completely full of ice before adding the drink, so that the drink just fills the spaces between the ice cubes and it becomes watery and disgusting if you don't drink it all right away, is mystifying to me. Some of my more cynical friends have told me that restaurants to this to get away with giving people less actual beverage product. I'm not sure of that, but I find it very strange and over the top.
* Text messages: SMS is an outdated technology, tied to whichever mobile device is active on your cellular carrier, and I find it very annoying that it's still the de facto standard for written interpersonal communication in the US. I don't care if you use LINE, WhatsApp, Telegram, AOL Instant Messenger risen from the dead, or what have you, but give me something that supports account profiles, that I can use on a computer (or multiple devices in general) without platform-specific workarounds like iMessage.
I’m an American reading this post from Paris, because my long planned summer vacation happened to coincide with the heat wave.
Needless to say I could not agree more
"This is a reason I’m proud to be American: the American right loves to complain about the American left promising “free stuff,” but at least our right and our left are both in favor of stuff."
Think it's worth noting that "degrowth" as a concept apparently unites right and left in Europe. You had Andrew Sullivan on Central air last week. Caveat that Sullivan himself would call himself "idiosyncratic" so I don't want to make the mistake of thinking his views are perfectly aligned with now dominant conservative party in the UK. But while he hasn't come out and said it, listening to him on the podcast and reading his substack recently, seems pretty clear he's in favor of the Reform party gaining enough votes to occupy Number 10. So it was so so enlightening hear to that Sully is basically a "degrowth" NIMBY. The most exercised (and hostile) he got in your conversation is when you suggested a) UK should consider building more housing near train stations b) relaxing "greenbelt" rules c) anemic economic growth is contributing factor to the rise of the Reform party itself*. It was just really amazing to hear that he basically was saying that sacrificing any economic growth at all is "worth it" to preserve some rose tinted version of UK that existed in the past*.
This is all related in that the anti-air conditioning stance and the current power of Reform party (and similar populist right wing parties like AFD) have something that ties it together; that it's somehow necessary to sacrifice economic growth if you want to have the country address non-economic concerns. You can both become more green and address climate change AND embrace technological change and economic growth. You can do a better job of keeping immigration under control AND take steps to improve economic performance so large swaths of the public aren't so anti-immigrant. I actually think it's a reasonable point that Boris Johnson campaigning on getting "Brexit done" (which came about in part due to fears of immigrants from Eastern Europe) and then enacting policies that means immigration from Africa, India and other parts of the world explodes means the Tory party kind of reaps what they sow**. But boy oh boy, would doing anything at all to help fix the UK housing crises have helped a ton to stem the backlash that occurred. But more important, poor economic performance creates the conditions for these bigoted populist movements to take root.
* You and I both know that inflation was a) about supply chain snarls post COVID b) the 2021 stimulus being one stimulus too much (in that order of importance). But I really don't think I'm going out on a limb much to suggest that not only was 2024 the "it's the inflation stupid" result, but that inflation meant that the surge in asylum seekers created a toxic stew for the asylum issue to create a much bigger immigration backlash then might have happened if inflation had remained at or near 2%
** Think the closest equivalent in America to Boris doing what he did is GHWB saying "read my lips, no new taxes" and then...raising taxes. The thing is both policy turns are absolutely defensible. Raising taxes in 1991 was key to helping get the deficit under control. And in UK, I don't know how they deal with their pension issues with out more immigration. At least US still has solid GDP growth to help deal with the social security issue looming. I truly don't know how UK keeps "triple lock" without a) more immigration b) much more economic growth (the two are tied obviously).
The American left's "AC is a human right" juxtaposed with the French left's insistence on killing their most vulnerable citizens in the name of marginally improved C02 emissions is so darkly hilarious. Marine Le Pen is now poised to become France's next progressive hero when she implements her Air Conditioning New Deal plan.
I have traveled to Europe many times. The first time was in 1976. Then again in 1983, 2007, and almost every year since 2017. I'm heading to Switzerland for two weeks in late July. I loved this piece because it's so spot on! The comment about ice especially - although it's much easier to get ice now than in the 70s and 80s. Like you, I am hoping this heat wave has passed before I get there. Of course, the hotels are airconditioned, as are most of the places tourists go, like museums. Anyway, thanks for the laugh!
Automatic transmissions are steadily gaining ground in the last couple of decades, because those are both convenient and fuel-efficient. That said, I like driving stick, it allows me a level of control over dynamics and performance I wouldn't otherwise have.