A lot of progressive politics in America is shaped by the top 20 percent of earners. They vote for fairness. They fund campaigns about justice. And then they block the exact policies that would make things more equal. substack.com/@philbuildth...

#unicycle #skytok youtu.be/sV4DJdr5X7w

If NYC cut its income tax by 1%, the first-order effects are boring but powerful: higher after-tax wages, lower unemployment, more jobs, and more people choosing to work in the city rather than around it. Labor supply responds. Firms respond. The tax base broadens.

NYC rents feel brutal. Now run this thought experiment: If we hadn’t built a single new home since 2000, would millions of people have politely stayed away? Or would they have moved here anyway, fighting over the same pre-war apartments, bidding rents even higher than today?

Snowing once, snowing twice, GONE #skytok

NYC sanitation making quick work of the blizzard #skytok

Professors + textbooks + lectures = knowledge transmission. If AGI can explain anything, simulate anything, test you on anything, and adapt to your weaknesses in real time, then our college scarcity disappears. horses versus cars. OR horses versus teleportation. (JOhn Henry the steel driving man)

Take a walk in snowy Brooklyn #skytok #snow youtu.be/zaXM3u3eJIM

Issue politics #skytok youtu.be/qIJg5ut4Jls

#skytok #snow

This is exaggerated.“I ended eight wars.” This is exaggerated.“We are deporting illegal alien criminals from our country at record numbers and we’re getting them the hell out of here fast!” False.“We will always protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.” www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

Trump’s 2024 Campaign Promises vs. Reality: He pledged to: ✅ Cut energy bills in ½ ✅ End income tax and taxes on tips ✅ Make groceries cheaper Instead, the tariffs raised prices and mortgage rates, focused on tax cuts for rich/corporations, and costs remain high.

Instead of banning social media for minors, why not just flip the switch? Require all feeds to be crash course educational with time limits. Keeps billionaires happy, but every scroll teaches math, science, or history. Turn screen time into study time. Make the algorithm teach

In early 2026, New York City's rental vacancy rate is at a critically low level of about 1.4% to 1.9%, driven by acute housing shortages, limited inventory, and high demand. one of the lowest rates since 1968, fueling high rents. www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

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Do a faceplant in the snow with me. #skytok

Snow day

Take a walk in Washington street in Brooklyn today

If you’re in New York City, step outside today and notice how quiet the city is without car traffic. When folks complain about noise in the city, they are complaining about…

NYC is dead quiet outside without suburban car traffic

The subway makes blizzards a breeze ❄️ 🚇

A strong people protects its inheritance. Even from itself. Especially from itself.

#skytok #piano Ukrainian American Institute

This is heavy, wet snow, sticky… builds up and might take down branches… and power lines. I hope it doesn’t.

The NYc subway is the Godzilla of American transportation

A futon shop and tax office becomes 591 homes in Brooklyn. 52 stories to protect nature and open space. The market rate homes pay for the affordable homes.

Why didn’t the president do a Manhattan Project for AI instead of chaos? we’ve got electricity grids struggling, RAM and SSD prices through the roof, and everyone building duplicate infrastructure. A coordinated push handles energy first, smoothed supply chains…

Carnevali d'Italia

Scandal: More than 40% of New York City public elementary school students in grades 3-8 failed the state’s standardized math and reading tests in 2025📖 nypost.com/2025/08/11/u...

How much will Harry Styles’ residency at MSG boost New York City’s GDP and tax revenue? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

If Putin controlled the US president, he’d order a blueprint to dismantle the US-led world order: gut NATO, abandon Ukraine, lift sanctions, pull troops from Europe, kill the dollar’s reserve status, and veto every UN move against Moscow. The goal? A clear path for Russian dominance.

If Putin controlled the US president, he’d order a blueprint to dismantle the US-led world order: gut NATO, abandon Ukraine, lift sanctions, pull troops from Europe, kill the dollar’s reserve status, and veto every UN move against Moscow. The goal? A clear path for Russian dominance.

Cities aren’t “naturally expensive.” They’re artificially scarce. Cities get pricey when you wrap them in a moat of exclusionary zoning. If you outlaw market rate apartments on most of the land, cap height near jobs, and freeze walkable neighborhoods in amber, don’t act shocked when prices spike.

A 90% tax on all inheritances with no exemptions would save America www.economist.com/culture/2026...

It’s time for NY state to cut income taxes. And Upzone high cost suburbs for market rate multifamily homes www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

#skytok youtu.be/ntL7jFAzSZw?...

#skytok youtu.be/6eJFESLvmlI?...

Streets can’t serve two masters. Design for cars → low density, spread out, easy driving. Design for people → dense, walkable, chaotic for cars. There’s no stable middle. This is called “mode competition,” and it’s why Manhattan and suburbia are mutually exclusive.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

If you measure “progressive” by housing abundance, the whole map flips. The states building the most homes per capita? Idaho, Florida, Texas, Utah. The ones building the least? New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts. progressive values w/o new housing is just gatekeeping

It turns out Bloomberg was pretty progressive. If NYC had stayed on a Bloomberg-style path after 2013, we’d likely be $350–400B richer in cumulative output by now, with $4–6K higher income per resident, ~150K more private jobs, ~2 points lower poverty,

$14B in income vanishes from NYC as 125K residents flee for Florida nypost.com/2025/05/01/u...

Grand Central wasn’t just a train station, it was train advertising, something permanent, useful, and beautiful for millions of riders every day. Today, the same scale of spending buys 30 seconds during the Super Bowl. Jeep gets a spot. Toyota gets a spot. The money vanishes when the ad break ends.

“Just six years ago Democratic states looked like they were better at educating children than Republican ones. Their pupils scored higher on reading and maths tests. But since the pandemic students in places like Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have shot up the national rankings.”

$11 for a giant burger and chicken sandwich on sundays at shake shack is a frikkin incredible steal

Every week the church has been going harder and harder against deportations and ICE. Congregation praying for visas and for safety of our neighbors. If you haven’t been to service lately, stop by.

Saw Hate Radio at Saint Ann’s warehouse, eerily like Joe Rogan & Twitter today. Headphones off: crickets. On: misinformation. In 1994 Rwanda, RTLM radio spent months normalizing hate before machetes finished the job. Milo Rau’s Hate Radio lays bare how language turns first casual, then lethal

NYC snow:

Cut vaccinations, everyone gets sick, goes to doctor, doctor needs help to cover the extra workload, medical hiring increases, presto booming GDP?

NYC has a record 100,000+ people in shelters. But for homeowners, "neighborhood character" is more important than kids having a bed. NIMBYs aren't protecting charm; they're enforcing poverty

Five Guys grows into 185 homes in downtown Brooklyn. (2012-2025) which is better?