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

This week, I wrote about the worrying rise in American credit card delinquences, now at a 13yr high. Delinquencies are high but extremely concentrated - among young people, in poor locations, and with bad credit ratings www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

This week, I wrote about the financial disclosures of the Trump II cabinet. Beyond enormous differences in wealth (Scott Bessent's art + antiques are worth at least 5x Marco Rubio's assets), the extent of crypto investment among the new MAGA crowd is eye-opening www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

This week, I wrote about the financial disclosures of the Trump II cabinet. Beyond enormous differences in wealth (Scott Bessent's art + antiques are worth at least 5x Marco Rubio's assets), the extent of crypto investment among the new MAGA crowd is eye-opening www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

We're nearly there guys, we are so so close

submitted 22 days ago • 5 comments

Pretty astounding to look at the German election forecasts from our polling gurus. In the central scenario (across 100 simulations), the AfD doubles its share of seats, Social Democrats slip into third place for the first time in postwar German electoral history. www.economist.com/interactive/...

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments

Probably the best chart for illustrating what's going on right now in markets. Nvidia down by ~18% over three days, dragging tech overall down by ~6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the People's Index, soldiers on, up ~1%.

submitted 26 days ago • 5 comments

A few weeks ago I wrote about the potential upsides of a financial bubble, which I've been thinking about a bunch today. Feels like the market today is actually not a bad example of the typology identified in it - there seems to be almost no spillover. www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 27 days ago • 3 comments

In total market cap, the Nvidia selloff today is a little bit bigger than if the entire listed market of Mexico went to zero.

submitted 27 days ago • 43 comments

If it seems like everyone is suddenly talking about a rapid catch-up by Chiness AI companies, and you're not sure how we got here, this week's brilliantly-timed briefing on the subject is a very good place to start. www.economist.com/briefing/202...

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

My latest: the new administration in Washington is often described as "pro-crypto," a massive understatement of the digital asset boosterism which is now beginning. The crypto takeover of American public life and high finance is underway. www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 28 days ago • 5 comments

My latest: the new administration in Washington is often described as "pro-crypto," a massive understatement of the digital asset boosterism which is now beginning. The crypto takeover of American public life and high finance is underway. www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 28 days ago • 5 comments

Leaving the Asia finance beat just in time for a BOJ rate hike

submitted 30 days ago • 2 comments

Too cold for this joke to make sense now

submitted 32 days ago • 2 comments

Think it's safe to say that my social media advertising has worked out that I'm not in Singapore any more

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

Yesterday, I experienced something surprising, perhaps even outrageously so. I opened an American bank account, deposited a cheque, and saw the money had entered the new account. It took forty minutes from scratch and was the easiest experience doing so I've had anywhere in the world.

submitted 36 days ago • 12 comments

As a recent arrival, this seems very interesting and hopeful. A lot of the broad "crime" conversation about New York and a handful of other cities is often really a conversation about the boom in untreated and often very disruptive mental illness in public spaces. www.politico.com/news/2025/01...

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

I am dining out on this joke in a frankly repulsive way

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

Me right now

submitted 37 days ago • 1 comment

I wrote this week's Buttonwood column, on why catastrophe bonds are having a rip-roaring time, with their best two years of returns on record, even as natural disasters have caused enormous insured losses around the world. www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

My first piece in the new gig. Will Trump unleash Wall Street? Banks and PE have good reason to be excited. But the sector that has by far the most to gain is crypto, which is about to be treated as part of mainstream finance for the first time. www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 38 days ago • 3 comments

JanGan at his best here on UK economic growth, which nobody with clout in Britain is actually willing to trade their pet project for. "There is always another consideration that takes precedence, whether geopolitical, ecological, cultural or egalitarian." www.ft.com/content/8178...

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

What's the historical event/debate which you know you would have ended up on the wrong side of in retrospect?

submitted 45 days ago • 16 comments

"Mitch McConnell: Nippon Steel Isn’t the Enemy: By blocking the merger with U.S. Steel, Biden sells out American industry, workers and national security to Big Labor." https://buff.ly/40af2Hr

submitted 45 days ago • 4 comments

Wow, I've finally made it!

submitted 45 days ago • 1 comment

Thinking you know what a global megacity rental market looks like because you've lived in London, Hong Kong and Singapore, then moving to New York

submitted 46 days ago • 2 comments

Not sure why I expected such a significant change from Singapore to New York. Both approximately 30 degrees right now.

submitted 48 days ago • 3 comments

I wrote our Free Exchange column this week, on the (rough) question posed by Byrne Hobart & Tobias Huber in their new book - are financial bubbles sometimes a good thing? www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

I wrote our Free Exchange column this week, on the (rough) question posed by Byrne Hobart & Tobias Huber in their new book - are financial bubbles sometimes a good thing? www.economist.com/finance-and-...

submitted 52 days ago • 1 comment

Absolutely horrifying to see that the coffee shop custom of swivelling round an iPad to prompt you to tip is beginning to pop up in London. The suggested percentages are low, but it's the thin end of the wedge. We need to cut the fibre-optic cables connecting the UK to America.

submitted 53 days ago • 6 comments

Ugh, I didn't get any blurry videos of the fireworks. Hope someone managed to capture it. The shakier the better.

submitted 53 days ago • 2 comments

China's economic growth potential in the aftermath of its debt boom We just got done with Year 3

submitted 53 days ago • 3 comments

It's long past time for Man U to admit their mistake and get rid of @weisenthal.bsky.social as manager. He's had his fun but he's just not cut out for it.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments