Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 5h

The US is unique by separating financing authority from spending authority. You can have spending authority without financing authority (debt ceiling crisis) & financing authority without spending authority. In parliamentary systems, this doesn't happen www.crisesnotes.com/what-the-hel...

What the Hell is a Government Shutdown Anyway? The Accounting Gimmicks at the Heart of the Federal Budget

Subscribe Today! So the federal government is shut down. I’ve been late to covering this story because of my focus on events at the Federal Reserve. Well, that was true when I first wrote tha...

www.crisesnotes.com

4 10

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 7h

In the early cold war, intelligence advantage came from cash, operatives and ideals. In 2030, it will come from control of AI companions that billions will trust with their secrets www.chinatalk.media/p/the-us-chi...

The US-China AI Companion Race

If you thought TikTok was bad...

www.chinatalk.media

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

Hamas is not going to be eliminated; nor is it about to change. It must be marginalized. This calls for a serious political process that creates a context in which an acceptable alternative Palestinian leadership emerges richardhaass.substack.com/p/special-ed...

Special Edition: Free at Last (October 14, 2025)

Welcome to a special edition of Home & Away. The good news is that the hostages are free and back home in Israel.

richardhaass.substack.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

Next president Mike Johnson? mattglassman.substack.com/p/procedural...

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

"when the House does come back for legislative business, I would be shocked if Grijalva wasn’t immediately sworn-in—but the entire charade of delaying her swearing-in is terrible practice for the House, and a terrible precedent going forward." mattglassman.substack.com/p/procedural...

Procedural Notes from a Shutdown

The AMA you mistakenly thought you wanted and will immediately regret reading

mattglassman.substack.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

The events of the past few days show that even when they talk, the world’s two superpowers remain prone to conflict and miscalculation. Even as they are locked together by mutual dependence, they are divided by mutual suspicion www.economist.com/finance-and-... #Geopolitics #ChinaUSTalks

America and China return to fierce trade conflict

Donald Trump threatens an extra 100% levy as rare-earth minerals prompt a fresh spat

www.economist.com

1

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

The Communist Party and MAGA agree on one point, at least. In a brutal world, dominance is a surer route to security than the admiration of friends. Other countries may hate where the America-China trade war goes next. Their views will not be sought www.economist.com/internationa...

China tries shock-and-awe on Donald Trump

Xi Jinping bets that dramatic escalation is the way to win a trade war

www.economist.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

Diplomats joke darkly that China’s latest trade rules copy existing American restrictions so precisely, down to their “long-arm” controls on supply chains anywhere on earth, that officials in Washington should sue for intellectual-property theft www.economist.com/internationa...

China tries shock-and-awe on Donald Trump

Xi Jinping bets that dramatic escalation is the way to win a trade war

www.economist.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

Throughout the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Chinese shipyards took in a staggering 64% of all new ship orders worldwide. For 2024 alone, some estimates put China’s global ship order grab at ~74%. Completions account for 52% of global output eyeonchina.substack.com/p/big-fish-e...

Big Fish Eat The Little Fish

Covering Chinese policy and rhetoric on external events and actors, military and security issues, economy and technology, and bilateral relations with India.

eyeonchina.substack.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

Given that national governments form the backbone of the EU, “blaming Brussels” is akin to a ventriloquist haranguing his own puppet for being foul-mouthed www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

“Brussels” is the phantom menace Europe loves to blame

Why bashing the EU is likely to become ever more popular

www.economist.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

Treating the EU as a ghoulish bogeyman has been somewhat in abeyance ever since Britain overdosed on the idea, much to its cost. But the old spirit is haunting Europe once again www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

“Brussels” is the phantom menace Europe loves to blame

Why bashing the EU is likely to become ever more popular

www.economist.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 1d

Corporate America is outperforming Sovereign America. Investors have favored private enterprise — whether in the form of stocks at record highs or corporate bonds pushing spreads toward zero — while showing far less zeal for US government assets www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Saying Bye to the US Treasury as a Bond Benchmark?

Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it's us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developme...

www.bloomberg.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 2d

Xi can promise what he likes at his meeting with Trump; unless the White House and its dwindling number of allies develop their own rare earth supply chains, the US will always be vulnerable www.ft.com/content/4699...

Donald Trump’s weekend retreat shows weakness of his position

Beijing’s rare earths announcement got a shortlived overreaction from the US president

www.ft.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 2d

The United States can cut China off from the chips of today, but China can make it vastly harder to build the chips and other advanced technologies of tomorrow www.cfr.org/article/chin...

China, the United States, and the AI Race

CFR President Michael Froman shares his take on artificial intelligence competition between the two countries.

www.cfr.org

1

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 2d

In the US, AI has probably taken the form of consumer apps & enterprise software b/c that’s where the incentives lie. China’s approach, by contrast, revolves around smaller-scale AI applications as an input to production rather than a product itself www.cfr.org/article/chin...

China, the United States, and the AI Race

CFR President Michael Froman shares his take on artificial intelligence competition between the two countries.

www.cfr.org

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 2d

Bessent isn’t pursuing an economically optimal policy. Tariffs are simply strong-arming and currency pressure. The UK deal, the China negotiations, the bucket framework – these follow Miran’s directions regardless of whether the underlying analysis holds 7thin.gs/p/trump-doll...

The Deliberate Dollar Collapse: How Trump’s Tariff Chaos Masks the Most Audacious Currency Play Since Nixon

Grüezi!7 Things is reader-supported.

7thin.gs

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 2d

Two things can be true simultaneously. Trump genuinely believes tariffs will restore manufacturing jobs. Bessent understands that they’re leverage for currency realignment. Different people can support the same policy for entirely incompatible reasons 7thin.gs/p/trump-doll...

The Deliberate Dollar Collapse: How Trump’s Tariff Chaos Masks the Most Audacious Currency Play Since Nixon

Grüezi!7 Things is reader-supported.

7thin.gs

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 2d

French Crisis, US Shutdown… What Comes Next? These political circuses are symptoms of 3 incompatible demands on politics. What are these demands, and what are the political and economic consequences of the tensions between the three conditions? ecrresearch.com/research/glo...

Global Political Analysis | ECR Research

Explore ECR Research's global political analysis. Discover how geopolitical events and political risks impact financial markets and investment strategies.

ecrresearch.com

1

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 5d

Paris & Brussels will pretend otherwise, but intertwined interests between make both rise & fall together. France has traditionally been the natural think tanker for the EU and it has the nuclear deterrence & permanent seat at the UN Security Council carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...

Taking the Pulse: Does France's Political Crisis Weaken Europe's Geopolitical Hand?

While the EU tries to navigate a myriad international challenges, France is experiencing historic political disarray. What impact will instability in Paris have on Europe's geostrategic capacity?

carnegieendowment.org

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 5d

Draghi’s “whatever it takes” has gotten conflated with the idea that debt crises cannot be allowed to happen substack.com/inbox/post/1...

The ECB is already helping France

French government bonds have stopped rolling off the ECB's balance sheet since June

substack.com

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 5d

Conservatives outnumber liberals in 38 US states, with the highest share of residents who identify as conservative in Wyoming, Alabama, the Dakotas and Idaho. In no state do the majority of voters identify as liberal www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Trump’s Drive to Broker a Gaza Ceasefire Pays Off

This is Washington Edition, the newsletter about money, power and politics in the nation’s capital. Today, senior editor Joe Sobczyk looks at Trump’s diplomatic victory in getting a ceasefire in Gaza....

www.bloomberg.com

1

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 7d

The no landing scenario is appealing precisely because it seems sustainable. Growth continues, employment holds, profits persist. But sustainability is an illusion when debt compounds faster than the economy grows & when politics prevents course correction marcusnunes.substack.com/p/with-fisca...

With Fiscal Dominance Lurking, a "No Landing" Scenario could quickly turn into a "Crash" Scenario

The Debt Dynamics has to be "repositioned"

marcusnunes.substack.com

2

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 7d

Both.

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 8d

@claireberlinski.bsky.social "Modern democracies are suffering both weakness, in their inability to respond to genuine threats..& overreaction, in the hysteria & panic that follows every social media outrage..." Aren't you falling prey to the latter? claireberlinski.substack.com/p/france-los...

France loses another prime minister. The Middle East waits for Hamas's next move.

Plus: Your new GLOBAL EYES blog

claireberlinski.substack.com

1 1

Andy Langenkamp @andylangenkamp.bsky.social · 8d

For years, LeCornu had perfected the art of being an agreeable cipher; journalists noted that he had the personality of a well-pressed napkin. Then came Bayrou’s implosion, and Macron, looking for ballast, mistook dead weight for stability claireberlinski.substack.com/p/france-los...

France loses another prime minister. The Middle East waits for Hamas's next move.

Plus: Your new GLOBAL EYES blog

claireberlinski.substack.com

1