Labor market and inflation data have taken a turn for the worse over the past few weeks. But this economy has taken a bunch of hits in recent years and kept on ticking, so economists aren't doomcasting yet. Here's my effort to put it all together: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/b...

New: my take on what’s happening in LA open.substack.com/pub/jeffgies...

Muh techno-optimism

New: I wrote about finding a good live in hyperreality and moving beyond the emptiness of postmodernism. My answer to Jean Baudrillard. jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/thrive-in-...

Last August, I overcame my internal cringe and my past and endorsed Harris. I'd like been have been proven wrong, but Trump's first 100 days have vindicated this calculus. jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/kamala-har...

I wrote about a new American archetype: Headphone Americans open.substack.com/pub/jeffgies...

This is the core paradox of Trumpism: in attempting to forestall decline, they're accelerating it. The tariff regime is a perfect illustration of this. From my latest essay: "This is what late-stage empire feels like" jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...

The most craven and psychopathic cohort in American politics are those who were NeverTrumpers in 2016 and Trump die-hards in 2024. This group includes the VP and Musk.

Guys like Senator Mike Lee and VP JD Vance bash the UK as a dystopia while backing policies like disappearing people into Salvadoran prisons without due process (over an autism tattoo?) and deploying ICE against student visa holders for writing op-eds. The hypocrisy is staggering.

New: I wrote about a pressing dilemma for the arts and humanities: AI content that simulates human expression. And why authorship matters. jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/quality-ai...

New: Agency is the new superpower open.substack.com/pub/jeffgies...

New essay jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/trump-anti...

Remember Trump's Warsaw speech in 2017, standing in front of the Uprising Monument? He should eat his fucking words.

Musk's recent behavior is convincing me of an uncomfortable truth — that he's functionally acting as a Russian mouthpiece, whether he realizes it or not.

The Thielist question not enough of us are asking is: What if Trump is the Antichrist — or an agent of Armageddon? Our deepest challenge is discerning when the medicine is worse than the disease. Boldness is good, but discernment and humility are even more critical.

Video: JD Vance and Trump’s foreign policy train wreck open.substack.com/pub/jeffgies...

Funny how a movement that prides itself on restoring masculine energy is upset that Zelensky didn't dress appropriately or say thanks enough.

The liberal progressive bubble is annoying (hello Bluesky! lol), but the MAGA one is worse because it combines bad sensemaking with moral failure.

A friend gave me the prompt: What does it feel like to live in the current political moment? This essay is my response — it feels like a rocket that could explode at any minute. jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/this-polit...

Today's a weird day for me. I like the "vibe shift" but do not like Trump. I am still center-right but also recognize the issues.

There's never been a better time for a bipartisan discussion about oligarch power. Although it's a left-coded issue, many people on the right are ready to have this conversation. Might surprise you. Personally, I think we should roll back Citizens United.

Musk is our first memetic president. Yes, I do believe he has too much power.

We wanted flying cars but still have 14 million American children living with hunger.

Bezos is a broligarch www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...

Elon Musk spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Donald Trump win the presidency, federal filings revealed.

Refreshing dose of sanity: Gen-Xer, entrepreneur, and friend of Peter Thiel warns his generation of "broligarchs" that their good intentions can be undone by immaturity and narcissism. jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/will-gen-x...

Insurance is the canary in the coal mine for the climate crisis. No insurance -> no mortgages -> no housing market. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Yesterday, while in a meeting, I looked around at the others there and thought for half a second, what if they are all AI avatars? It was this weird, fleeting sensation of living in a post-Turing Test world where we have to discern if others are actually human.

I realized two things about the cultural programming of the broader Gen X broligarchy while writing this article: our unique relationship with existential risk and our grandiosity. I had to confront this question: Are we any less narcissistic than boomers?? 🤔🫠

My latest essay focuses on Gen X eschatology in today's political moment — "Will the broligarchy save the world or destroy it?" jeffgiesea.substack.com/p/will-gen-x...

One thing to note about Gen X "broligarch" figures like Elon Musk is the relationship with existential risk. Everything is done at the scale of "saving the world." The intersection of cultural programming, Silicon Valley ideology, & powerful tech creates an eschatological frame. Grandiosity.

AP's article on tips for Bluesky newbies is really good! A nice, clear, straightforward description of how Bluesky works and gives you some pointers on how it's different than the old place in useful ways.

Today in @thenation.com: the icon @kathkrueger.bsky.social with the definitive read on why the #Resistance style of politics needs to be buried forever www.thenation.com/article/poli...

With the sabotage of undersea cables, now would be a good time to fork Space X's governance structure so Musk no longer has majority voting rights or ownership. Space X owns Starlink.

Hello, Bluesky world! **pulls up a chair at the other end of the cafeteria**