“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.”
Reposted by William A. Allen, Benjamin Braun, Brett Christophers
“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...
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
Understand. Tough with two year old, I remember those days. Plan a drive for next time. Sempre vale a pena!
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!
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
Reposted by William A. Allen
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...
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And by “meanest” I assume this was the old definition of less capable men. Today “meanest” politicians fits in a number of definitions.
I filed a complaint with CFPB against Experian when it screwed up my credit history. CFPB helped get them to clean up the mess!
Keynes: “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent”. Or something like that.
Someone who just talked with Trump. Insider grift?
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.
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.
“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”
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 William A. Allen, Michael Kevane, Silvia Secchi
I turned my thread on Ai from earlier this eevning into a blogpost. jwmason.org/slackwire/ac...
Actual Intelligence – J. W. Mason
jwmason.org
Reposted by William A. Allen
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
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.
The right-wing agenda isn’t about “life.”
It’s about control.
Reposted by William A. Allen
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...
(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
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.
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?
Long past time for US to nationalise oil and gas. Better to manage transition to renewables and get rid of their toxic lobbying.