Liberal leftwinger muttering grumpily into the void. Wrote about politics and economic policy in ages long past. Sometimes still do.
Washington, DC
Joined July 2010
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Jeff Spross retweeted
G.K. Chesterton’s old adage remains undefeated: “The poor sometimes object to being governed badly. The rich always object to being governed at all.”
I mean, I’ll believe it when I actually see it on election night.
But still. Holy shit.
NEWS: The last Senate polls of 2026 from NYT/Siena:
From me and @RuthIgielnik
nytimes.com/2026/11/01/us/po…
The deficit is only a problem if it’s contributing to inflation. Inflation is currently 3.7%. That could be lower. But it’s not unusually high, historically speaking. It’s also clearly the result of tariffs and energy supply/cost shocks, not fiscal stimulus. 1/
So much discourse spurred by @ZLiscow's piece in @TheArgumentMag that we decided to unpaywall it.
cc: @MarcGoldwein @jasonfurman @Brendan_Duke @JessicaBRiedl
theargumentmag.com/p/how-to-…
The idea that computing power should be a public commons isn’t insane. But of course the unspoken implication of Altman’s comment is that it shouldn’t be public, but a walled garden controlled by private companies like OpenAI.
Sam Altman says its bad that everyone's personal computers are using the world's limited supply of memory chips.
"It’s quite terrible to have everybody have a bunch of the world’s limited supply of DRAMs sitting in their own computer, and being used 5% of the time. Like, you want maximum utilization."
The perversity is this is interest rates operating as intended. The Fed hikes rates, that sucks money out of people’s pockets that they’d otherwise spend, and that lowers inflation. Even assuming it works, it’s just an insanely regressive way to try to stabilize prices.
Imagine getting a $1,000 raise, only to see $720 swallowed by debt.
That's what's happened to wage gains for the lowest-income workers, compared to just $320 for the wealthiest.
@AngelaHanks explains how debt is deepening the affordability crisis.
🎧 bit.ly/4BqgffT
Oh god, I’m old, Metallica edition: I still think of “Atlas, Rise!” as the new stuff.
Ten years ago #OnThisDay in 2016, our video for "Atlas, Rise!," directed by Clark Eddy, premiered...
Jeff Spross retweeted
Hope for my Love In The Time Of Cholera medical comedy.
Everyone’s freaking out about the dystopian experience of being interviewed by an AI bot. And that’s totally understandable. But I’m hung up on the “applied for 511 jobs” part.
This is such a bleak story about what it's like to try to land a job right now. nytimes.com/interactive/2026…
I’m curious: If the Fed had chosen to raise rates, would the headline have been “In Moving Aggressively, Fed Risks Undermining An Already-Struggling Economy?”
“Trump’s superpower was his intuitive understanding of what motivated his supporters. Many Republicans privately tell me that he’s lost that feel.” theatlantic.com/politics/202…
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
Jeff Spross retweeted
The reality of course is that in Canada, the US, France, India, Mexico, the UK and Swiss, suffrage extends to nearly 100% of people living in the territory controlled. The one exception is Israel. If you redo this chart with trying to be misleading, as the Israeli government does here, Israel would be at the bottom. Some 6 million Palestinians living under the Israeli governments rule, have no right to vote for that government.
Jeff Spross retweeted
Flat out ethno-racist hysteria and demagoguery.
Sit this one out and this is whose side you’re on.
Sen. @tedcruz (R-TX) says that if U.S. Sen. candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI) is elected into the Senate and is placed in the Senate Intelligence Committee, "there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result."
“Difficult”
UPDATE: 5 Scenarios in Israel after election
1- Unity gov: Netanyahu+Eisenkot, backed by Trump
2- Eisenkot bloc +Arab parties: Difficult
3- Netanyahu+ Eisenkot bloc defectors: Unlikely
4- Eisenkot minority gov, Arabs out but support: Maybe
5- Another vote al-monitor.com/originals/202…
Jeff Spross retweeted
A lot of pundits are going to write a bunch of convoluted things about the election results in Israel, but the situation is simple: the opposition could IMMEDIATELY form a non-Netanyahu government with a clear majority, if - and only if - they invite the Arab-led parties to join.
Jeff Spross retweeted
What a line:
"Most Israeli Jews now see the world the way Netanyahu has long seen it. That is Netanyahu’s great victory. But it is matched by his great loss: Much of the world now sees Israel the way Gazans see it." nytimes.com/2026/10/25/opini…
