In the 19thC, great realist novelists--Balzac, Dostoevsky, Trollope--depicted the seamy and corrupted underside of "high society." In the 21stC, we have the Epstein files. My latest column: www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...

Another loss for Pirro, whose office has “struggled to secure indictments and convictions, including when a jury acquitted a man who chucked a Subway sandwich ..” @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.

Kudos to the Wall Street Journal headline writer here--and to columnist Greg Ip for a clear exposition. Looking forward to reading the rationalization from the Journal's opinion page... .

In the Epstein era "wealth and ostentation are all too often associated w/ social status, unchecked privilege, and unaccountability...money can seemingly buy—or buy off—virtually anything, and ethical qualms are for the weak-minded." by @johncassidysays.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...

Very interesting essay.

"Epstein wasn’t merely dishonest: he was, indeed, a monster. But he was also a creature of his age—one in which wealth and ostentation are all too often associated with social status, unchecked privilege, and unaccountability." www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...

Lindsay Vonn gives her first statement since her devastating crash in the Olympic downhill

So much for last week’s dollar bounce, as modest as it was. The DXY index has surrendered all its gains, weakening back below the 97 level. #economy #markets #dollar #fx

wow

"Epstein wasn’t merely dishonest: he was, indeed, a monster. But he was also a creature of his age—one in which wealth and ostentation are all too often associated with social status, unchecked privilege, and unaccountability." www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...

My colleague got into Trump's sprawling family detention camp, which is full of toddlers, kids, & teens. - Kids have cut themselves or talked about suicide -There's worms & mold in food -300 kids have been held for 30+ days, far longer court settlement allows www.propublica.org/article/life...

Our latest Past Imperfect podcast features @johncassidysays.bsky.social, author of "Capitalism and Its Critics," profiling over 30 thinkers, writers, and activists who have both critiqued capitalism and acknowledged its resilience: scroll.in/article/1090...

"NBC’s Softball Trump Interview Normalized an Abnormal President" I fact-checked Tom Llamas’s deferential interview with the president, in which the 'NBC Nightly News' anchor did not ask him even a single question about the Epstein files.

Disturbing chart. More than forty years ago, I completed an undergrad degree in modern history and economics. Still think that combination was the greatest education/preparation to understand (and in my case write about) the world.

One big change is Trump has won two elections and the salient threat to billionaire oligopolists like Bezos has gone from vigorous anti-trust enforcement to incurring the wrath of a vengeful president. This surely helps explain the Post's editorial shift, which cost it so many readers.

Regardless of what the Wapo is losing, it’s peanuts to Bezos. He promised to nurture and protect it. Instead he’s alienated many of its readers and gutted its staff.

Rereading coverage of the 2013 purchase. @johncassidysays.bsky.social was astute to recognize that it was politically motivated, but thought it was merely to protect Amazon's monopoly, not a broader ideological project. Of course, a lot has changed since then. www.newyorker.com/news/john-ca...

New column on the debasement of the $. In the past two days, it has rebounded on news of the Warsh nomination, but it's still down since Davos and Trump's threats to Greenland and Europe. And many big strategic questions remain, including over Fed independence. www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...

Predicting that this week we’ll hear more conciliatory words from the Administration regarding Minnesota (since they’re starting to realize that ICE has become politically toxic) but everyone outside of Minnesota needs to know that nothing on the ground has changed.

“Having neither and bringing the adage into the 21st century, she pounds X (f/k/a Twitter).”

New column on the debasement of the $. In the past two days, it has rebounded on news of the Warsh nomination, but it's still down since Davos and Trump's threats to Greenland and Europe. And many big strategic questions remain, including over Fed independence. www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...

ICYMI: Great scoop from @wsj.com As I’ve said before, the level of self-dealing by the Trump family—this example undisclosed—is off the charts. Where is Congress? (Obvious answer, I know.) www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Self-help for the Trump era.

Greatly enjoyed discussing the political economy of AI, the logic of the Luddites, and much else, with @gritlaura.bsky.social and @faiz.bsky.social

Can’t believe they released the Epstein files to cover up for the Melania movie.

Today on Laura Flanders & Friends: Debunking the AI hype. As energy-sucking data centers take root around the country, communities are pushing back. @johncassidysays.bsky.social (@newyorker.com) and Faiz Shakir (@moreperfectunion.bsky.social) tell us more: bit.ly/4k5S8uu

Whether Warsh turns out to be a Trump hack remains to be seen. But we can safely assume that Trump picked him in the hope and expectation he will.

Raphael Warnock: “I can’t think of something more un-American than a federal law enforcement agency that can: Enter homes without a judicial warrant. Patrol our streets in unmarked vehicles. Demand papers at random. ICE has become a threat to our American freedoms”

The people of Minnesota have executed one of the most impressive civil resistance campaigns I can remember: - Organized a city wide general strike - Maintained nonviolent discipline amidst violence - Mobilized 10,000s in subzero temps to protest and watch ICE - Flipped public opinion against ICE

We hear it all the time: Since the turn of the 2010s, thanks to the rise of tech, the US has pulled ahead economically. This idea is everywhere from Washington to Davos—and it's paralyzing Europe But it's simply not true! Let's look at what's really happening, with charts🧵

EVERCORE: “.. This is ‘sell America’ again within a much broader global risk off ..” @cnbc.com www.cnbc.com/2026/01/20/s...

Mamdani: "I am in support of abolishing ICE. What we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist. We're seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it's doing is terrorizing people."

Gabriel Zucman on the shocking concentration of extreme wealth in the United States…. gzucman.substack.com?r=nle0&utm_c...

Watching GB News or reading the Telegraph you realise there is a slice of right-wing opinion that would happily betray this country.

As of today, the DOJ has been breaking the law for a full month, stonewalling Congress and the public about Epstein @democracydefendersfund.org is pushing the administration to stop their corrupt cover-up, through public records demands and in court www.democracydefendersfund.org/prs/01.06.25... 👈

Trump's pardons could make the Teapot Dome scandal look like kids' play.

In using cost overruns as a pretext for going after Jay Powell criminally, “the Trump Administration demonstrated, yet again, its contempt for the institutions of governance and the legal system,” @johncassidysays.bsky.social writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/LFyOZH

Jesus. www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...

"Papers please"

"The seventy-two-year-old Fed chair put to shame the heads of law firms, universities, and public companies who have caved to the White House." www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

By standing up to Trump, Jay Powell demonstrated that, at least in the economic arena, there are still some institutional constraints that the President cannot sweep aside, or not easily, @johncassidysays.bsky.social writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/o1G8aK

Had fun researching this piece, which cites Keynes & Marx but also folks of much more recent vintage, including the economists Phillip Trammell, @briancalbrecht.bsky.social, @aleximas.bsky.social; plus @dwarkesh.bsky.social, @sebk.bsky.social, Boaz Barak, Geoffrey Hinton.

"Even in some places not associated with any radical agenda, questions of abundance and the distribution of income and wealth are steadily moving to the center of debates about the economic future"--my latest column. www.newyorker.com/news/the-fin...

Whatever you think of Powell’s interest rate policies, this is a highly commendable move. Standing up to a tinpot president. Putting some of the business community to shame.

This is the sort of statement that was expected from every university president and law firm partner over the last year. That those statements weren’t made played a huge part in where we are now and people will remember.

Great piece by my Cato colleague. “Since July, immigration agents have shot at least six people behind the wheel of a vehicle. The same playbook is used each time: the agent says they “feared for their life” as a vehicle was “weaponized” against them. Juries should decide, but we tie their hands.

🇺🇸 MINNEAPOLIS VETERAN: "They are terrorizing the population, in Afghanistan we never wore masks.” (From @statuscoupnews.bsky.social )

In Minneapolis this afternoon— Hundreds are streaming across the snow and ice into Powderhorn Park for a rally and march demanding ICE leave Minnesota. It is bitterly cold. There are hardcore Midwesterners out here making their way in with trekking poles.

LETTERMAN: “.. CBS News is a wreck. It’s just gone. .. The integrity of CBS News .. has been trampled on, pissed on and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over.” @letterman.bsky.social $PSKY youtu.be/CHYksa07oQA?...