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William Blair Santos Allen

@willballen.bsky.social

370 followers 120 following 310 posts

Retired consultant in international macro finance and capital markets. Converted to MMT as truth. Now humble second career as lover of all things nautical and USCG licensed Master Mariner. Finally doing something socially productive? .. more

Videos

Economics 76%

Political science 18%

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 20h

“There is an obvious way out of this. Water, energy and transport should be brought back into public ownership and run for public benefit rather than private extraction.”

Common Wealth @cmmonwealth.bsky.social · 1d

“For right-wing populists, the cost of living crisis is the gift that keeps on giving, allowing them to blame the experience of declining living standards on migrants and perceived ‘outsiders’.”

Our Director @mathewlawrence.bsky.social in @theguardian.com 🔗👇

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Soaring bills are the gift that keeps on giving for Reform. Shame Labour doesn’t have the guts to do anything about them | Mathew Lawrence

A cost of living crisis is not inevitable if there is the will to stop companies extracting profits from Britain’s essential services, says Mathew Lawrence of the Common Wealth thinktank

www.theguardian.com

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 20h

Pretty much since Reagan.

Reposted by Benjamin Braun, Brett Christophers, William A. Allen

Common Wealth @cmmonwealth.bsky.social · 1d

Soaring bills are the gift that keeps on giving for Reform. Shame Labour doesn’t have the guts to do anything about them | Mathew Lawrence

A cost of living crisis is not inevitable if there is the will to stop companies extracting profits from Britain’s essential services, says Mathew Lawrence of the Common Wealth thinktank

www.theguardian.com

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 3d

Understand. Tough with two year old, I remember those days. Plan a drive for next time. Sempre vale a pena!

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 3d

Hope you have time for a drive up along Rio Douro and a meal in the countryside Always my favourite part of Portugal Boa viagem!

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 4d

Never will forget wunderkind Jeff Sachs and his “shock therapy”. The whole group helped create the Russian oligarcharcy that US’ Musk, Andreesen Thiel and others aspire to become.

Reposted by William A. Allen

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 5d

Cartoon by @billbramhall.bsky.social.

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Reposted by William A. Allen

Jacob Silverman @jacobsilverman.com · 5d

I really appreciate this review of Gilded Rage in The Bulwark. I hoped that some of the book's concerns -- corruption, authoritarianism, rule of law, inequality, our shared stake in society -- would have broad appeal.
www.thebulwark.com/p/why-our-te...

Why Our Tech Overlords Took a Hard Right Turn

A new book tells the story of how Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs became angry admirers of authoritarianism.

www.thebulwark.com

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 5d

USD is still 15% lower against Euro than a year ago. Cannot but believe that kick started a gold rally that has led to wild speculation.

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 5d

Agree on Congress. Disagree on effects of spending. I believe in Wynn Godley’s sectoral balance axiom that gov net spending must equal private sector net saving. Hard to prove definitively but I think gov reduced spending faster than private sector reduction in saving which led to slow down.

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 5d

I am old enough to remember when Clinton did that. Unfortunately less gov spending at that time lead to an economic downturn that probably cost Al Gore the 2000 election.

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 5d

I am a progressive but always welcome dialogue with thoughtful conservatives. I have found it impossible to have dialogue with my MAGA acquaintances. Sadly had to down grade some of these from friend category.

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 6d

Wonder how much switching from higher end like Whole Foods is headed to Costco? Don’t know how a family with 2-3 kids gets by these days.

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 6d

And by “meanest” I assume this was the old definition of less capable men. Today “meanest” politicians fits in a number of definitions.

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 7d

I filed a complaint with CFPB against Experian when it screwed up my credit history. CFPB helped get them to clean up the mess!

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 7d

Keynes: “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”. Or something like that.

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 8d

Someone who just talked with Trump. Insider grift?

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 8d

This is big news out of Lisbon today:

expresso.pt/boa-cama-boa...

O júri já decidiu: este é o melhor Pastel de Nata de Lisboa

E vão cinco: Pastelaria Aloma vence concurso do Melhor Pastel de Nata 2025 que elege o melhor da região de Lisboa. “Aspeto”, “Toque da massa”, “Sabor e consistência da massa”, “Recheio” e “Sabor globa...

expresso.pt

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 8d

Not sure this is only American? Traces of covered markets with food stalls in much of England. Anyway Time Out Market is a good place to sample wide variety of Português food and drinks.

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 8d

I think Portugal was put in a similar situation as Spain and Ireland. Country central banks are not sovereign in their currency. Puzzling to see more countries trying so hard to get into EU and Euro having seen what has happened.

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 8d

Wonder where they are going? UK?

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 10d

“The problem we have to deal with is that these [AI] companies are selling access to the freely shared products of human social activity, as the product of their own particular capitals”

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 11d

I turned my thread on Ai from earlier this eevning into a blogpost. jwmason.org/slackwire/ac...

Actual Intelligence – J. W. Mason

jwmason.org

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 10d

Portuguese have at least 4 high profile citizens citizens seized by Israelis off the flotilla. One is the head of a major left party: Mariana Montágua

Reposted by Michael Kevane, Silvia Secchi, William A. Allen

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 11d

I turned my thread on Ai from earlier this eevning into a blogpost. jwmason.org/slackwire/ac...

Actual Intelligence – J. W. Mason

jwmason.org

3 9 38

Reposted by William A. Allen

Vicente Ferreira @vicenteferreira.bsky.social · 12d

Também é preciso ter em conta que o surto inflacionista foi acompanhado por um aumento extraordinário dos lucros das empresas. A nível internacional, as principais empresas que transacionam produtos agrícolas viram os seus lucros triplicar. 5/

Hungry for profits - Monopoly power in global agriculture - SOMO

In the last three years, the profits of the five biggest traders in agricultural commodities tripled. Read more.

www.somo.nl

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Reposted by Maarten Vink, Sanford F. Schram, W. Andy Knight , and 4 more Maarten Vink, Sanford F. Schram, W. Andy Knight, E. Wayne Ross, Gerald Friedman, William A. Allen, Karen O’Leary

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 12d

If this country was truly “pro-life,” we would have Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, gun reform, universal child care, and a living wage.

The right-wing agenda isn’t about “life.”

It’s about control.

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Reposted by William A. Allen

Brian Romanchuk @brianromanchuk.bsky.social · 13d

Latest Post: I had to comment on the tariff revenue chart.

(Hat tip to @josephpolitano.bsky.social about the data update. He had monthly Treasury data, I just used the BEA quarterly series.)

open.substack.com/pub/bondecon...

Tariffs And Fiscal Policy

The customs duties data for the United States was recently updated, and we can assess the “success” of Trump 2.0’s tariff policies so far.

open.substack.com

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 13d

OPEC upping production to knee cap US producers. US gov should buy all US oil and gas producers to manage output through move to green energy. Cutting lobbying would reduce the cost of the buy out.

William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 14d

Cannot the Fed use QE to bid 105 or whatever premium required for bond price to force yield down to desired level? Is there any law or rule says they have to buy at dealers offer? They have not done that in past but they could, no?

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William Blair Santos Allen @willballen.bsky.social · 14d

Long past time for US to nationalise oil and gas. Better to manage transition to renewables and get rid of their toxic lobbying.