dolanecon.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

@gabemenchaca.bsky.social of @niskanencenter.bsky.social argues that the admin's attempts to improve performance and accountability in the civil service are simply "cloaking partisan control over the civil service in the language of “efficiency,” and “fitness." www.niskanencenter.org/you-cant-fir...

submitted 3 hours ago • 0 comments

Do work requirements for Medicaid work? No, says Robert Gordon, who has hands-on experience running such a program. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-medica...

submitted 3 hours ago • 0 comments

1/3 Should we fight population decline with immigration and other tools? wapo.st/44dEoGA

submitted 4 hours ago • 1 comment

Who is going to bring in the harvest? And MAGA's effects on rural America don't stop there. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/maga-will-...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

1/2 The Jones Act, the original legislation that gave preference to American Ships, was bad. The new one is worse. This is the new one ... www.freightwaves.com/news/lawmake...

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Russia's economy in serious trouble, officials say meduza.io/en/feature/2...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

@paulkrugman discusses the bad job market for recent college grads open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

1/2 What is the key value of libertarianism? Destruction of the state, or enhancement of liberty itself? @mattzwolinski.bsky.social does a good job of parsing this issue, which is newly important as MAGA captures the remnants of libertarianism. . . . www.theunpopulist.net/p/to-fight-a...

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Just the facts, ma'am: New CBO estimates show that Trump's tax bill would take $1,559 from the average family in the lowest income decile and give $12,044 to the average family in the top income decile. www.cbo.gov/system/files...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

In this piece for @niskanencenter.bsky.social, Gabe Menchaca criticizes the Trump administration's proposals for civil service reforms and offers some suggestions of his own that would more reliably improve state capacity. www.niskanencenter.org/you-cant-fir...

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

1/2 Everyone who studies social policy knows about "benefit cliffs" that penalize certain people for earning more. But In the UK, apparently, they have cliffs that dwarf ours. on.ft.com/4kPLGaN

submitted 18 days ago • 1 comment

Want to read a story that is even scarier than American politics? on.ft.com/3ZjL3gT

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

I probably should do more to let people here know about free posts on Substack. So here's today's: paulkrugman.substack.com/p/attack-of-...

submitted 37 days ago • 29 comments

1/2 NYT's @bcappelbaum.bsky.social is critical of the charitable deduction. He wants it replaced with a system that incentivizes less wealthy donors, too. ... www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/o...

submitted 47 days ago • 1 comment

According to @dsquareddigest.bsky.social , infrastructure projects are hard not because of NIMBYs, but more because of the structure of the system we have for making sure NIMBYs can't stop those projects. A paradox, no? hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/the-nimbys...

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

@mcmegan.bsky.social says "When the AI disruption comes, you should have a fully stocked go bag that you can pick up and move to some safer spot." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

Trump's rule-breaking is going far beyond what even the most pessimistic imagined. These data shows that rule-breaking populist rulers do not make their countries great -- far from it! tiny.cc/pya7001

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

Is falling fertility a "bigger threat to humanity than climate change", as Elon Musk thinks, or "an achievement misdescribed as a problem." as others think? In this essay, I come down closer to the latter than the former. www.milkenreview.org/articles/the...

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

Reported US GDP fell by -0.3 percent in Q1, setting off recession fears, but some pointed to healthy 3% growth of "core GDP" as a sign that all is well. This post explains why I am not fully reassured by the growth of "core GDP." talkmarkets.com/content/how-...

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

From the "That's reassuring" dept: The Trump administration has removed a memorial honoring victims of gun violence from the main atrium of the BAFTE. ... spokesman Chad Gilmartin said that the decision to remove the portraits was not political. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

1/4 @jasonfurman.bsky.social Hi Jason -- some Q's about your FT piece yesterday and analysis of GDP data today. You like final sales to private domestic purchasers, which you call "core GDP," and say it avoids the distortions caused by uptick in Q1 imports. But ...

submitted 57 days ago • 1 comment

Worried about empty shelves at Walmart? You should be. Empty harbors = empty shelves.

submitted 63 days ago • 0 comments

1/2 Just 19 US households own 1.8% of the nation's wealth. Top 0.1% owns 13.1% of the wealth. Top 1% owns 31%. Bottom 50 % owns 3%. All of these are records -- inequality is increasing more rapidly than ever before. www.wsj.com/economy/1-tr...

submitted 64 days ago • 2 comments

"The story of [the demise of] Direct File is a demonstration of both the best of what is possible in government, as well as the the impulses toward mindless administrative vandalism that has defined the Trump regime," says @donmoyn.bsky.social Sad. open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

The Trump administration is often said to be following the roadmap of Heritage's "Project 2025." But that roadmap clearly calls for the Fed to single-mindedly pursue price stability and ignore unemployment. That would suggest keeping interest rates high. www.wsj.com/economy/cent...

submitted 70 days ago • 0 comments

@edwardluce.bsky.social : "The official position of the world’s oldest constitutional republic is that the courts should have no say in who its executive deports and on what grounds. Foreign travellers to the US should beware." on.ft.com/4cygfhv

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

If "making stuff" is what we want, what is wrong with mining, construction, and farming? Total "making stuff" employment in US is stable, not falling! www.wsj.com/economy/us-m...

submitted 73 days ago • 0 comments

Paul Krugman makes 3 good points 1. Trump’s tariffs will hurt, not help, manufacturing 2. If you want to promote mfg, you should use industrial policy, not tariffs 3. Good jobs don’t have to be in manufacturing & manufacturing jobs aren’t necessarily good paulkrugman.substack.com/p/democrats-...

submitted 73 days ago • 2 comments

In most years the US barely saves enough to cover investment needs, let alone gov budget deficits. We need the financial inflows that are the mirror image of trade deficits to fill the gap, and would need them even more for successful reindustrialization www.niskanencenter.org/why-a-war-on...

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

Smoking gun for insider trading? Or coincidence? www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

Russia is not a target of US tariffs, but its economy could be indirectly harmed by Trump's trade war meduza.io/en/feature/2...

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

Reindustrializing America (if that is what we really want) will need a lot of investment, which low US saving can't supply. We need trade deficits to earn the needed inflows of foreign capital. A war on trade deficits will hurt the project, not help it. www.niskanencenter.org/why-a-war-on...

submitted 77 days ago • 0 comments

Econ wonks only. Please help me understand the recent paper on Reciprocal Trade Calculations from the US trade rep: ustr.gov/issue-areas/... Is reciprocal tariff formula correct? Are the parameters used supported by the references? Is anyone publishing an analysis?

submitted 84 days ago • 2 comments

Trump wants an investment boom in the US, but: "Economists warn the world could face a growth-sapping investment crunch as companies sit on the sidelines until the trade-war fog clears." www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments