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Reposted by Sam Thorpe

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 10h

Sunday reading:

I wrote about the aggrieved extremist who is currently firing thousands of federal workers and ravaging state capacity based on conspiratorial nonsense - and about mainstream media’s infuriating tendency to sanitize Russell Vought and the regime he serves.

This week’s piece:

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly

Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy

steady.page

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 2d

From the piece: "Labour market entrants without a degree have seen a 2.4 point rise [in unemployment]. This is very different to the much more modest 0.7 point rise among... non-grads in their mid-twenties who are sheltered from today’s harsh hiring conditions." (For degreed workers, it's 1.3%).

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 2d

It turns out that once you correct for this error, unemployment is actually rising faster for NON-degree workers - meaning that explanations in terms of AI replacing the college-educated workforce don't make much sense, and this looks a lot more like an across-the-board labor market slowdown.

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 2d

Incredibly useful new story by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on the 'crisis' for young college grads. Most analyses compare mid-20s workers with/without a degree. But as John points out, the relevant comparison group is actually *new entrants* with/without a degree - most non-degree workers enter at 18-19.

What the graduate unemployment story gets wrong

People with a degree are faring better, not worse than their non-graduate counterparts

www.ft.com

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 4d

Do you have a link to the report? Can't find it online yet.

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Reposted by Sam Thorpe

Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 5d

This piece by @beaubaumann.bsky.social is really good and focusing on all the right questions. lpeproject.org/blog/rebuild...

Rebuilding State Authority In A Post-Trump America

In the ruins of the administrative state after Trump, many on the left see an opportunity to design a New Deal-type reconstruction agenda. But building state capacity requires a government that is…

lpeproject.org

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 6d

Have you written (or are you working on) anything on these questions? Or is there anyone you've been reading, contemporary or historical, that you think gets close to identifying some of the experiments we need to foster in our attempts to move forward?

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 6d

But I haven't seen nearly enough emphasis elsewhere on the idea that our "language of... fire-alarm emergencies looks at our increasingly brittle existing modes of political organization and cannot see beyond them", that we need to rethink our law and politics rather than merely preserving them.

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 6d

Really appreciated this article. Obviously '20s don't map onto the present perfectly, particularly r:e shape of authoritarian violence (state-perpetrated versus tacitly state-condoned), how media and opinion formation operates, and the targets of the state (primarily racial vs. primarily political).

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Reposted by Sam Thorpe

Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 14d

The IMF too long assumed imbalances would recede.

The Fund is now - thankfully - marching back into the global imbalance part of its mandate.

IMF staff just released an interesting new paper.

“Do trade imbalances boost incomes in surplus economies at the expense of deficit economies?

1/

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 19d

This is a really gorgeous collage. Loved reading it - thank you for sharing.

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Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 19d

Alright here we go: You Love America.

I started writing this last year; it had this same title last year; depressingly little had to be changed for it to fit in to this moment.

open.substack.com/pub/rottenan...

You Love America

A covenant with death, and an agreement with hell; Yale, Du Bois, Bagehot, Pynchon, Fitzgerald

open.substack.com

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 20d

Sorry for the long chain of comments - this article really hit a fun sweet spot for me of music + Frankfurt School + empirical research. Enjoyed reading it a lot, and I'm really curious to hear your thoughts.

Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 20d

If you listen to some of the weirder corners of rap on the internet (think stuff that gets highlighted in places like my college radio friend's blog No Bells, linked here), you're getting an incredibly bizarre panorama of sounds, deliveries, lyrics, etc. that didn't exist in the aughts.

No Bells

Independent music journalism.

nobells.blog

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 20d

Also, any thoughts on the flip side of homogenization - the sheer variety of weird stuff that pops up with the ease of releasing music on streaming? I suspect if you look at the top thousand songs in 2022 vs. 2002, there would be MUCH more diversity in 2022 once you get outside of the top hundred.

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 20d

I think in particular, the drum sample heterogeneity in the 2002 top hits vs. Rap Caviar might be because the latter is designed *explicitly* to "create a seamless listening experience", as you note, in a way that top charts can't be. (That said, totally with you on the dominance of the 808.)

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 20d

I guess my concern here is that Rap Caviar is platforming a particular subgenre of pop-rap, since if you want to get more left-field recommendations, you'd just listen to an alternative rap playlist. (I.e. I assume lots of the weirder Kendrick stuff is not on Rap Caviar despite being popular.)

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 20d

Really fun article! Two quick Qs: do you think Rap Caviar is really a fair analogue to the top charts? You say "both playlists represent the most-played and revenue-generating hip-hop music in a given year" - but would your findings still hold when using the 2024 top 50 instead?

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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 24d

Oh wow anti-trust, wealth taxation...you are telling me these can be tools to promote democratic stability and there were a whole boatload of centrist economists who couldn't think beyond deadweight loss and consumer welfare?

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Reposted by Sam Thorpe

Alex Hertel-Fernandez @awhf.bsky.social · 24d

So many immediate horrors right now, but I appreciated the invitation from @donmoyn.bsky.social to reflect on the future and how social scientists could help with the eventual federal government rebuilding.

As @sbagen.bsky.social has argued persuasively, we need to start now with that effort! 1/

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 24d

State capacity that is being gutted now will need to be rebuilt in the future. Alex Hertel-Fernandez looks back at his time in the Biden administration to identify ways that governments could better use social scientists to improve public services.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-social...

How social scientists could help to rebuild the federal government

Lessons from my time in the Biden administration

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Reposted by Sam Thorpe

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 26d

this from my piece on charlie kirk is probably the most important takeaway if you want to know why bad faith, right-wing voices in media are treated as just another set of peers

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 27d

Seriously, the last paragraph here sounds like something straight out of the Roosevelt Institute! Possible that this is something the economic populist side of the admin is winning on, but would love thoughts on the (more likely) ulterior motives at play.

rooseveltinstitute.org

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 27d

This is fascinating. Who in the admin is pushing to end corporate short-termism? Is this just intended to hide reporting on the current economic slowdown, or will it mark a genuine shift in policy?

www.ft.com/content/d5d4...

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 27d

I highlighted this issue back in August, and it's fantastic to see it getting more mainstream media coverage; previously it was mostly living in the financial press.

Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · Aug 26

Lots of reporting on Cook's firing at the Fed overlooks probably the most important part: the presidents of all 12 regional Feds are up for renewal in February 2026!! If Trump replaces Cook by then, he will have appointed a majority on the Board of Governors, who approve regional Fed appointments. 🧵

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Sam Thorpe @samthorpe.bsky.social · 27d

Aaron Klein with a really clear summary of why the Lisa Cook firing is so important: in Februrary, the regional Fed presidents are up for reapproval. If Cook is successfully fired before then, Trump appointees would have the majority necessary to reject them and completely take control of the FOMC.

Opinion | Here’s How Trump Takes Over the Fed

www.nytimes.com

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