Worldcom and Nortel were ground zero for the dotcom bubble burst Worldcom inflated revenues with bogus accounting entries from "corporate unallocated revenue accounts". Shades of Oracle's $300 billion OpenAI contract and "future contracted revenue" rising 359% 🤔

25 years ago: Nortel accounted for >30% of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Its market cap fell 98%, from C$398 billion in September 2000 to less than C$5 billion in August 2002, as Nortel's stock price plunged from C$124 to C$0.47. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nortel#....

Agree with Krugman; the tide may be turning paulkrugman.substack.com/p/is-the-jim...

even for an unhinged presidency this week has been pretty fuckin unhinged tbh

“The “refrigerator mother” myth was used as a justification for taking children away from their parents and subjecting the kids to ever-harsher treatments…now the Trump administration is poised to start a new cycle in which moms are once again blamed for their kids’ autism.” My latest.

Regime accountants are never wrong, just early

One big difference between the dotcom bubble and the crypto/AI frenzies is that today's major players deploy the capital they raise from the mania to propel the valuations (e.g., crypto "treasury" and LLMs-GPUs-hyperscaler incest) whereas internet boom just had cheerleaders like Blodget and Meeker.

ah shit, I had swapped lambda and coreweave around to make the diagram more sane and forgot to move the super micro funding arrow from coreweave to lambda. fixed

I've thought a lot about why Biden, despite beating Trump, delivering on the NRLB and ARB in Congress and the quickness that elite institutions now fold to Trump, and tragically the answer is that all of them thought electing Trump would make it 2019 again like children

The article echoes what I’ve seen and heard from peers: AI makes it easy to produce slick but shallow work that looks plausible on the surface, yet riddled with errors or bad assumptions underneath. Your coworkers end up having to fix or redo it. It’s workslop, and it’s spreading fast.

My Rapture Outfit

We have always been at war with Tylenol

Tired: Channel stuffing Wired: Investing in your biggest, unprofitable customer

OpenAI: oh shit, we're losing gobs of money. Nvidia, help us! Nvidia: why should we help you? OpenAI: if we go out of business, we won't be able to buy your products anymore! Nvidia: solid sustainable business plan for all involved. Here's a boatload of money.

Bear chatter around the NVIDIA/OpenAI deal: a dangerous trend toward “vendor financing”: (via Vital Knowledge) $NVDA

IT'S OFFICIALLY DIANE KEATON SEASON

So one of the biggest trends on evangelical TikTok right now is folks prepping their houses for "whoever might move in" after they ascend—you’ll get a free house, yes, & you’ll also be getting a house full of charts & pamphlets walking you through the end times—so that’s handy!

Anyone else noticing oddly early discounts on fall items? Ordered two hoodies from Patagonia yesterday and both were significantly discounted

“.. He thinks this is more like the early part of 1929 when stocks added significantly to their Roaring ’20s gains.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/finance/stoc...

Your periodic reminder: Bubbles continue right up until they can't 🌷🌷🌷💣

This week's predix joins a long, long list: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predict...

No one weeps the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save anymore and that's sad

🌷🌷🌷💣 "Remember: AI cannot fail. It can only be failed. By you. Also, buy more AI." Vibe coding is one. gigantic. grift. pivot-to-ai.com/2025/09/21/s...

Lead so big you send in your 3rd string QB like it's pre-season #Vikings #Skol

I-Rod makes his THIRD interception AND IT'S NOT EVEN HALFTIME YET #Vikings #Skol

SECOND interception TD of the day?? #Vikings #Skol

Friend in logistics: US <->China cargo has dropped 50% Volume has shifted to India, Greenland, other alt's New shipping prices are "insanely" low: A load that pre-tariffs cost $1,000 to ship LA to Shanghai now costs $50 Vessels are freq < 60% full and owners simply cancel sailings 1/2 #EconSky

Tonight

Trump criticizes Pam Bondi for not charging his adversaries quickly enough, in a Truth Social post that looks a lot like a DM. truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT...

Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion. Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.

During this most horrible year I stay within spitting distance of sane by: a) Doing everything I can to impact the macro while still b) Enjoying small, daily, micro joys Much depends upon tomorrow's Tuna Niçoise

political writing needs bold new thinking, and i applaud ezra klein for inventing the self-holding hostage

The ACIP vote was tied 6-6 for requiring everyone to get a prescription for the COVID19 vaccine. The chair broke the tie by voting NO. Prescriptions will NOT be required.

I mean, I’m a practicing economist, and at this point I’m telling people that we’ve never really had any economy anywhere subject to these current conditions. We genuinely have never seen this before and don’t know for sure what will happen. But I don’t think it’s gonna be good. Question is degree.

Today in stress baking: Savory muffins studded with fresh diced jalapenos

BREAKING: Federal judge TOSSES OUT Convicted Felon Trump’s BS $15 billion lawsuit against The NY Times, Susanne Craig, Peter Baker, and others. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

brb going to rip my econ degrees to shreds an walk into the ocean #EconSky 📉📈

The lesson from 2025 is that rate cuts don't actually translate into lower borrowing costs for governments. We've had lots central bank cuts all over the place (black line) in the past year, yet 30-year yields (red line) have continued to trend higher. Fed independence is more important than ever...

What could go wrong? Less transparency? Who would be in favor of that? #WakeUpAmerica #econsky SEC to propose rule change to end quarterly reporting, says Chair Atkins www.cnbc.com/2025/09/19/s...

The oppositional viewpoint is objectively the more popular one, nothing the regime does is remotely popular. There is still by and large a free press and citizens aren’t getting arrested for thought crime. We’re playing on easy mode, we just need to be bold enough to actually try to push back.

Excellent long-term debt explainer: Decades of declining interest rates are likely over US will no longer be able to roll old (higher interest rate) debt into new (lower rate) debt #EconSky

Want this Sunbeam Alpine so. bad.

The Third Reich didn't last 1,000 years. Pinochet was ousted with a referendum. And the US isn't exactly dealing with the smartest, most competent fascists. Those of you insisting that 2025 is forever need to read a book, touch grass, go to therapy, anything other than trying to make others quit.

Website for purchasing early 16th century plain-trick card games for two players Call it Piquetmaster

No doomerism Only tortellini soup

Why did Trump wait until *after* yesterday’s Fed meeting to ask the Supreme Court to let him fire Lisa Cook? WRONG ANSWERS ONLY.

When someone says one thing to gain power and then a contradictory thing when exercising that power, the most useful lens for understanding it is power, not hypocrisy.

Get yer shots! 🎁 wapo.st/46kfEyR

The outlook is shifting back, away from imminent recession to stagnation (and if prices stubbornly refuse to stop climbing, stagflation). #EconSky