Raw LLM Responses

The ongoing collapse of confidence in the establishment has made Americans feel unusually adrift and dissatisfied with institutions outside of their control, while the chosen self-isolation of modern life has demolished communal trust, as we increasingly experience other people’s minds through the toxic surreality of our screens rather than through the embodied reality of strangers who are, for the most part, just as nice as we are. [If America's So Rich, How'd It Get So Sad?](https://www.derekthompson.org/p/if-americas-so-rich-howd-it-get-so) These notions—AI can replace workers, the government should function like a startup—are not meant to describe reality; they are meant to create a permission structure for those in power to obtain more of it. Here, AI will either allow Trump and Musk to install more loyalists, hollow out the administrative state, or degrade the quality of services once provided; all outcomes that favor Trumpism, and, I guess, Muskism. The startup mentality, meanwhile, seeks to give license to break laws, in the name of progress, of disruption, of building the future. [Government by Grok How and why Elon Musk is trying to automate the federal government](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/government-by-grok) This isn’t just about clever accounting —it’s about power and impunity. When millionaires and billionaires stash trillions of dollars in offshore tax havens, they place themselves above the obligations that bind the rest of society. The consequences are as predictable as they are devastating: we see our public hospitals and schools starved of funds, our social fabric shredded by rising inequality, and ordinary people forced to shoulder the costs of a system rigged to enrich a tiny few. [Untaxed wealth hidden offshore by richest 0.1% surpasses entire wealth of the poorest half of humanity](https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/untaxed-wealth-hidden-offshore-richest-01-surpasses-entire-wealth-poorest-half) As Adam Becker notes, tech b