Tim Wu
@superwuster.bsky.social
6.4K followers 30 following 150 posts
Professor Columbia University & contributing opinion writer for the NY Times. Author of "The Curse of Bigness," "The Attention Merchants" Forthcoming book: THE AGE OF EXTRACTION (the rise of the platforms) (Nov 2025)
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superwuster.bsky.social
Las Vegas is a microcosm of the broader US economy. Mergers have led to duopoly/oligopoly. A corporate extraction imperative leads to price hikes where hotels / casinos to target big spenders. Short-term profit but longterm cost to the broader ecosystem
nytimes.com/2025/10/01/t...
What’s Wrong With Las Vegas?
nytimes.com
superwuster.bsky.social
Business has long depended on emotional attachment as strategy to create switching costs. (E.g., Cadillac). Seems utterly obvious that despite their ethical commitments, the intentional engineering of AIs to generate human emotional attachment will soon be mainstream.
superwuster.bsky.social
If the shutdown yields nothing, when health insurance premiums soar as projected, who do Republicans think Americans will blame? Obama?
superwuster.bsky.social
Finalized my 2025 book tour!

Coming through New York, DC, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Oxford and Cambridge. Click here for details:
timwu.net#booktour
superwuster.bsky.social
For my new book, THE AGE OF EXTRACTION, here is the UK cover and the USA cover. Curious which people prefer.
superwuster.bsky.social
From last week's meeting of winning progressive campaigns in UK/Canada/Australia

- Left-leaning parties need tap into national pride, specifically concerning healthcare or threats to economic wellbeing;

- Focus on affordability and economics essential; must resist distractions.
superwuster.bsky.social
It is weird and not healthy to begin every day wondering:

"What outrageous thing will the U.S. government do today? Will it be unethical, unconstitutional, or all of the above?"
superwuster.bsky.social
The lack of any real Republican objection to the open and explicit abuse of the DoJ to target a political enemy is terrifying
superwuster.bsky.social
Here in London listening to the PMs of England, Canada, Iceland and Australia gives a real sense of hope
superwuster.bsky.social
The Extraction Imperative: that the highest purpose of business lies not in creating value but finding novel ways to take more money and intangible assets from everyone else; i.e., achieving full use of every iota of market power.
superwuster.bsky.social
Google remedy order is a paradox. Says "Google cannot use the same anticompetitive playbook for its GenAI products that it used for Search." But it then says payments for default placement are fine? The government should appeal the remedy order.
superwuster.bsky.social
The most important question about the Google remedy just released is whether it will effectively prevent Google from pushing Gemini on distributors / everyone www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...
Opinion | Google Could Get Broken Up This Week. Here’s What It Would Mean.
www.nytimes.com
superwuster.bsky.social
This Supreme Court is a weird mix of activist and cowardly: they know that the President is violating the Constitution and precedent, but don’t want to get on his bad side, so they signal party loyalty by beating up on district court judges. www.stevevladeck.com/p/174-justic...
174. Justice Gorsuch's Attack on Lower Courts
Just like the earlier rulings that Justice Gorsuch claims lower courts are defying, his concurrence in the NIH grant cutoffs case would be a lot more convincing if it showed more of its work.
www.stevevladeck.com
superwuster.bsky.social
A common error in the analysis of antitrust remedies is to see them in isolation from market forces. The best remedies use the market to accomplish its goals.
superwuster.bsky.social
Announcing my new book THE AGE OF EXTRACTION - presenting a vision of how to retake broad prosperity in the platform age. Coming Nov. 4.

"Startling .. An urgent wake-up call" - Publishers Weekly

Preorder your copy today: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691177...
superwuster.bsky.social
August is when Presidential honeymoons end -- looks like Trump is down to 38% in Pew's latest and he lacks the ability to fire this statistician
pewresearch.org/wp-content/u...
pewresearch.org
superwuster.bsky.social
Charles I 1630s is the best historic precedent for our moment. That King relied on tariffs, fees & selling monopoly to avoid Parliament & its taxation power. Parliament, angry, eventually declared war on the King; he was put on trial and convicted.
www.parliament.uk/about/living...
The Civil War
Over the space of 20 years England experienced civil war, regicide, a republic and military rule
www.parliament.uk
superwuster.bsky.social
The United States is undergoing a major ideological shift in economic terms: from a modified free-market approach to command capitalism
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/o...
Opinion | Trump’s Economy Looks Like Command Capitalism
www.nytimes.com
superwuster.bsky.social
The problem with housing affordability is no joke; but assuming there's one cause or one solution is laughable
superwuster.bsky.social
Mussolini (purportedly) made the trains run on time. If Trump wants a project he should force the freight train industry to provide good & reliable service to American shippers instead of trying to pump their stock prices