Tech Billionaires Threaten To Flee California Over Proposed Vest Tax https://theonion.com/tech-billionaires-threaten-to-flee-california-over-proposed-vest-tax/

I have a better idea…

Worst USPS scandal since this guy

New in @bjpols.bsky.social! Dave Hope, @lhaffert.bsky.social and I show that low taxes on the rich have a hidden cost: They undermine public support for broad-based taxation. 🖋️ cup.org/45lgPwN

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The FT takes the measure of our times today, in which we count everything and understand nothing.

Our first lamé duck president

On the 12th day of Christmas, 2900 billionaires gave to me: 12 markets cornered, 11 rivals buried, 10 laws rewritten, 9 judges purchased, 8 unions busted, 7 watchdogs sleeping, 6 patents hoarded, 5 regulators captured, 4 offshore trusts, 3 branches of govt, 2 corrupted parties, And a democracy, LLC

Well said @ec.europa.eu “The EU is an open, rules-based single market, with the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with our democratic values and international commitments” www.ft.com/content/c4e7...

Just in time for Christmas: a great interview with an absolute legend. Theda Skocpol and Edwin Amenta on her career, US politics, the erosion of democracy, and most of all, what to do about it. sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...

EVENT: Blavatnik Book Launch: Billionaire Backlash Join Vice Dean Prof Pepper Culpepper for a conversation on the surprising story of how corporate scandals can change the way the world works for the better. 📆 29 Jan, 5:30pm Register ⬇️ https://ow.ly/XPfm50XN2Uc

It used to be that the United States would use Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to transmit truth across the borders of repressive regimes. Now the work of American reporters, having been censored, is being smuggled across the border to reach Americans.

Political scientists should pay attention to concentration of media ownership as a key challenge for democracy.

People will shrug their shoulders so long as nothing goes wrong with a big crypto firm. But if there is a crypto crash or a crypto scandal, this will help the public establish clear accountability. As Harry Truman said, “The bitcoin stops here.” Kudos to @seamushughes.bsky.social and colleagues.

This is the bee’s knees.

Insightful post by @adambonica.bsky.social on money in politics. We disagree on the details — example of Dodd Frank as a lobbying win is a weird read, and corporations vs individuals underplayed (how well did the crypto industry do on its investment in Trump? Very). But great summary of what we know

Excellent and important piece on the Supreme Court and public opinion by @peterenns.bsky.social and Patrick Wohlfarth.

What an unusual route to becoming a savvy stock picker.

Crypto Leaders Call For Infusion Of 20 Million Dopes To Stabilize Market

Ask yourself how bad it’s got to be for conflict of interest in the current administration to be a page one story. Answer below.

Worth reading for its bons mots alone: ‘Oxbridge levels of fake self-deprecation’ and ‘an American tourist rummaging through a European intellectual antiquities store’ 🤣

‘Posner and Vermeule argued that “public opinion” would act as the ultimate constraint on a wayward president. That seemed a tad naïve.’ @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on post-liberal political theory. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

When big banks worry that something will look like a bribe, you have to ask, why don’t Amazon and the others think about this?

If you're lucky enough to be able to read the @financialtimes.com these evidence-based conversations between @jburnmurdoch.ft.com and @sarahoconnorft.ft.com are particularly fascinating. Here's the latest.

I'm sorry but first Nuzzi and Lizza and now Izzy? Too many Z's man. Too many Z's.

@chrismurphyct.bsky.social a one-man band right now trying to drag the quiet politics of the AI industry out into the light. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Fun fact: November 28, 2001: "ENRON, which had been a component of the S&P; 500, was removed at the end of trading Thursday and replaced by NVIDIA Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of computer-graphics chips."

Absolutely gross. @anandwrites.bsky.social nails the semiotics of intra-elite back scratching from the Epstein emails. “This is what these powerful people…were thinking and doing —taking care of one another instead of the general welfare — before it got really bad.”

Priorities

A few vertically integrated giants controlling the AI stack. Think about all the circular AI deals in this context. What could possibly go wrong?

Looks like we’ve reached AGI.

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My antitrust attitudes paper with Nick Short and Jacob Brown is out now @poppublicsphere.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S153... We find: - voters are skeptical about M&A - current law marginalizes important public concerns (layoffs, bailout risk, lobbying) - expert/public cleavage > partisan diffs

new paper by Sean Westwood: With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research

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There really is no word that says "strategic clarity" more than "smorgasbord".

@alphaville.ft.com for the win on memes of the AI bubble.

I feel seen.

Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments: One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

New role playing game by Microsoft — Microsoft! — warns that ‘any similarities to real-world dystopian corporate branded hellscapes are purely coincidental.’

Profound political economy insight from the Daily Show: observe behavior rather than cheap talk.

The Nuffield PPRF is an amazing postdoc - a brilliant community, lovely college, and yes, great food. And, usually, also with a family of ducks.

The Onion has trouble staying ahead of reality these days.

Should local officials in a democracy be allowed to sign NDAs?

"Sovereignty entails the ability to set one’s own rules in one’s own jurisdiction, and that is not something US cloud providers can offer Europe"

You laugh, but this is how the exododus went extinct

Excellent piece by @martinsandbu.ft.com today. Democracy and markets depend on regulation. The indiscriminate bonfire of ‘red tape’ is not the answer. Some of that tape may be holding functioning democracies together.

Is it possible that President Trump is testing, purely for political science reasons, how much brazen corruption is required to render the issue electorally salient?

"Parking is such sweet sorrow"