Praktical Economics

  The First Flower This morning, I noticed the first yellow blooms on my cucumber vine. And boy, it got me pumped. For over a month now, I’ve been experimenting with an aeroponic tower at home. Lettuce, coriander, spinach .. and now cucumbers curling their way up. It’s not easy when everything grows in the same space. The cucumber kept tangling with other pods, so I had to rearrange the tower and guide it toward a metal railing — its own little trellis of support. The harvests so far have been modest - a few leaves here, a handful of herbs there - but somehow that’s part of the charm. You realize you’re not growing food as much as you’re growing patience. What began as curiosity about hydroponics and water efficiency has quietly become something deeper - a ritual that resets the mind before the daily storm of cashflows and meetings. Gardening, whether in soil or mist, teaches you one thing: you can’t rush growth. You can only care for it, consistently.

  The G2 Moment. President Trump called his meeting with President Xi Jinping a “12/10.” And in his Truth Social post, he didn’t hide it: “My G2 meeting with President Xi was a great one for both of our countries.” That’s it. The world’s first open acknowledgment of a U.S.-China duopoly. A few weeks back, I’d written: "The world is moving towards a G-2. A U.S.–China duopoly. Both would rather face one big rival than balance many small ones." Looks like that aged well. Now what happened at the meeting? China rolled back its October rare-earth export ban (for a year). And China even agreed to resume buying U.S. soybeans. Trump offered just a 10% tariff cut, from 57% to 47%. A small concession for a big retreat. Even U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent summed it up bluntly: “China has alerted everyone to the danger. They’ve made a real mistake. It’s one thing to put the gun on the table. It’s another thing to fire shots in the air.” Seemingly, Beijing folded for very little. B...