The Glass Famine

> The picture above is a clue. In the 18th and then 19th century there was a sequence of taxes on glass. Most famous of all is the window tax of the 18th century which, in fairness, wasn’t primarily a tax on glass. It was mostly a tax on housing (the more windows, the more you paid - hence why people bricked in windows).

Eighteenth century Britain levied a great many consumption taxes on things that were disproportionately bought by the wealthy. These were the taxes that the Boston Tea Party rebelled against.

> Here’s a chart I dug out of the UK National Archives while researching Material World. It shows you optical glass supplies to the UK. And look: the standout thing is how quickly UK domestic production rose.

> The UK didn’t need German glass by the time that deal was done because it was producing plenty by then, and output was rising fast. UK factories had swung into action. They turned around the deficit so quickly that by the end of the war they were producing more than they needed - enough to supply their allies.

> The glass famine, in other words, was followed by the glass feast.

> (the other thing to note is what happened AFTER this chart: having rebuilt its glass industry, the UK allowed it to waste away again. By the post-WWII period it was back in the doldrums. Most of the optical producers shut down. It was a short-lived feast).

There's a strange pattern of Britain performing best when it's least prepared. I think this ties in well with the observation that the British establishment is unconcerned with 'theory' and wholly concerned with practical matters, which I first read in The Sloane Ranger's Handbook. Compare also the discourse surrounding the US Bill of Rights to that surrounding the English Bill of Rights, which includes pretty much the same rights (including the right to bear arms).

I find it interesting that the book is available about everywhere save for North America according to the author, but the first distances in the text are given in yards, mainly used only in North America. Ok, this is not the exact book text, but still, it looks as a misfit to the audience of the book.

Its interesting to read post WWII accounts of the early amateur telescope making hobby. There was a fear there would be a second glass famine in WWII so a somewhat massive cottage industry sprung up to make optics which indirectly led to easily available supplies and ability to make homemade amateur telescopes. Which led directly to "The Amateur Scientist" column in the old Scientific American Magazine. And that column led indirectly to magazine columns like "Computer Recreations".

I had only read the WWII and post WWII coverage so it was interesting to read the linked article about the original WWI glass famine.

In a strange way, overtaxing window glass in the UK in the 1800s indirectly resulted in me implementing a Mandelbrot calculator on an 80s home computer based upon some interesting columns.

A while ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36739279

This gives me sickening vibes of the "War is a racket" take.

Both side's agreeing to enable each other's massacre of their own country's downtrodden young masses, while all sorts of profiteering going on at the back no doubt.

> It's that it is possible to resuscitate dormant or shrinking sectors. It is possible to re-industrialise quickly.

China managed to go from peasantry in the grip of communism to arguably the biggest economy in history over a remarkably short period. And it is hard to get a read on exactly what is going on in that country but that seems to be despite heavy state intervention in the economy and without the benefits of political free speech. I'd also rate their rule of law as a bit rubbery. It is clear that industrialisation can happen like lightening if best-of-breed policies are adopted.

Which is to say, policies in the West since the end of the cold war have been an absolute disaster and we are well due some political remove-the-spec-from-your-own-eye reflection on our industrial strategy. And, frankly, the endless reign of military terror that the middle east is subjected to doesn't seem to help. Keeping the military at home has been a massive win for China, all of that money went into investments instead of pointless murder.

It is enough to make you wonder if it is the politicians or the voters who are more evil and incompetent.

It's annoying that Trump squandered a political opportunity to help America reindustrialize key areas. He had political support to use protectionism and general Trumpiness that could have enacted some useful onshoring reforms, and instead ended up setting illegal tariffs on the Heard Island and McDonald islands.