Is Meta short for metastasis?

Exciting new book by @gabrielzucman.bsky.social ! May I recommend a great political science complement to it and a cracking good read.

The splits in the coalition multiply…

There was a cleavage at the heart of the admin between MAGA, which is fundamentally anti-big tech, and the billionaires. The billionaires have now triumphed with the departure of Gail Slater, even as the Epstein files confirm MAGA’s suspicions. So what’s the Republican base for the midterms?

Feisty exchange with Andrew Keen about the Epstein files and Billionaire Backlash, in which I defend academics and our students for doing the right thing.

Houston, we have a problem…with out of control capex of highly uncertain value.

I’m teaching a class on lobbying for future policymakers on Monday. Hard to do better than this sensational oped from @nickmacpherson.bsky.social about money in UK politics and the transition from big banks to big tech—but the song remains the same. And the loser is public trust in government.

🤣🤣🤣. I generally favor protests of all sorts as a sign of vibrant democracies. But I urge this guy instead to find a quiet place at Bohemian Grove to curl up and read Billionaire Backlash.

FT to the business elite: snap out of it before it’s too late.

This is one of the most elegantly written "academic" trade books that I've read in a long time and it puts forward an intriguing argument. The implicit baseline, as I understand it, ​is ``quiet politics'', with business prevailing most of the time, save www.bloomsbury.com/uk/billionai...

That‘s the spirit.

This part of our response essay is where I'm at. Boiling down all of politics to electoralism has been absolutely terrible for resisting rising authoritarianism. www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-no...

Have FOMO from missing the launch event of Billionaire Backlash last week? Here's the event online, with Will Hutton and Ngaire Woods. Thanks to both of them and a fantastic audience for the questions and conversation.

Great to chat with Tim Coulson and Syma Khalid on The Science of the Times podcast about Billionaire Backlash and the commonalities between social and natural science.

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Rentiers vs. cowboys as big vs banks and crypto lobbyists wage a titanic battle to determine who has the right to extract rents from US consumers. “There’s something uniquely American about stablecoins.” @nikasgari.bsky.social in today’s FT.

New from @pculpepper.bsky.social, just arrived in time for book/class/grant application. So many uses.

Billionaire Backlash is published today! (If you are in the US, this is a teaser -- out March 17 there). I had a fantastic conversation about the book with @hugorifkind.bsky.social from Times Radio yesterday. Link below (interview starts at about 50:30). Or join us for the launch in Oxford tonight.

Minneapolis is a place that means a lot to me, so I wrote a short Substack about the city, its people, and what we all owe them. benansell.substack.com/p/my-minneap...

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Generous review of Billionaire Backlash in today’s FT. 🙏 Book is in stores this week!

Free to read for a limited period from @pspolisci.bsky.social - From Bookworm to Browser: The Decline of Books in Political Science Scholarship - cup.org/3WfnBiX - Alixandra B. Yanus & Phillip J. Ardoin #FirstView

OpenAI exec James Dyett calling out the cowardice

Many people think crypto is a scam. Why is it not more heavily regulated? We look at attitudes after the FTX scandal, showing that scandal coverage differed between left and right media. Conservatives who got their news from the left (eg NYT), and vice versa, wound up more moderate. Media matters. 👇

💡 Research from Vice Dean @pculpepper.bsky.social features in the @economist.com latest article suggesting that persistent pessimism has become one of the global economy’s biggest constraints. 👇 www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Brilliant article by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social on how Grok’s undressing of minors might be the Waterloo for the assault of Big Tech on democracy. The full analysis of what this looks like is coming out 29 January in our book #billionairebacklash

“The American people deserve to know that the central bank is led by a total slut,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said of the photo, promising that more sexually explicit images of Powell were on the way.

Today’s page 1 story is rightly about the US administration’s attempt to bully the Fed. But it’s not just the US government that is trying to intimidate notionally independent agencies to prevent them from doing their job. Giant firms love it when governments stop enforcing competition rules.

Congratulations @adambonica.bsky.social on a brilliant, moving and optimistic temporary valediction as he prepares to celebrate one of life’s great wonders. Read this, it’s right, and it will make you feel hope in these grim times.

The systemic subterfuges were simpler in communism, where it was just they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work. If socialism died because of too many meetings, AI overlordism may die because there is no there there.

💯 www.theverge.com/policy/85990...

The FT has listed Prof Pepper Culpepper's upcoming book 'Billionaire Backlash: The Age of Corporate Scandal and How It Could Save Democracy' on their 2026 reading list. 📚 https://ow.ly/4czw50XSrsX 👉 Why not join us for the launch? Register below https://ow.ly/uaja50XSrsQ

If you want to know how our forthcoming book Billionaire Backlash intersects with Kim Kardashian, check out this video my daughter made me to speak the 'young people'.

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/jaQo50XRQzv

It’s important to keep calling out conflict of interest issues around the current administration’s crypto regime. When things go wrong, the record of rottenness will be clear. Good for @talkingpointsmemo.com and @propublica.org for doing their job.

We have now entered the alternative universe where big oil companies are the adults in the room 🤔

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“A recurring feature of bubbles is how often they find new ways of democratising gambling.” Hard to time, but not hard to spot. Incisive from @financialtimes.com’s John Plender.

Speak truth to power or pretend “Grok” is the accountable actor here. That is the choice facing journalists, regulators, and even politicians. Do your damn job.

“I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration,” the North Carolina Republican Party's communications director wrote in an email response to us. “I would strongly suggest dropping this story.” We didn't. #ICYMI, read the story that he wanted dropped:

Delighted that the FT included Billionaire Backlash in its 'What to Read in 2026' article. Only four weeks until the book is out (in the UK; mid-March in the US). Pre-order now from your favorite bookstore to see what prudent hope looks like in 2026. Happy new year!

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...