Merry Christmas!

I picking up hundreds of new followers on this platform. I think all of them are bots. I am the robot king! Bow before me, my creepy fake minions!

I want to raise a few issues with this ... - The unemployment rate was 4.6% in Nov 2025. - There are 982,000 more unemployed people in Nov 2025 than in Jan 2025. - There are 271,000 fewer federal government employees. - 982,000 > 271,000. More than 3 times more unemployed.

👂🏼 SLIGHTLY HUNG-OVER POD TIME 👂🏼 me and @robarmstrong.bsky.social on whether the US economy really is as GREAT as DJT says it is. Plus: a totally unfair drive-by on Wham and awful corporate festive videos open.spotify.com/episode/7INA...

🥈 👂🏼 POD TIME 👂🏼 🥈 Because we love getting emails from wing nuts, @robarmstrong.bsky.social and I talked about the three horsemen of the loonpocalypse: gold, silver and crypto. Also about euphoria. open.spotify.com/episode/02mK...

It's time I told all of you: I have been leading a double life

👂🏼 POD TIME 👂🏼 me, @robarmstrong.bsky.social and @iankmsmith.ft.com on predictions for markets in 2026, featuring: -Rob telling everyone to chill out about the Fed 🤔 -AI 🫧🫧🫧🫧? -who let the bulls out? 🐂 open.spotify.com/episode/7HE4...

11 December 1904 | A German Jew, Felix Nussbaum, was born in Osnabrück. A painter. From 1933 in exile. During the war he was interned in Saint-Cyprien camp. He escaped & went into hiding in Belgium. Arrested in 1944 & deported with his wife to Auschwitz where they perished.

Is it just me or are there suddenly loads of bots on this platform?

POD TIME! An absolute banger on Warner-Paramount-Netflix with James Fontanella-Kahn and Oliver Barnes www.ft.com/content/d817...

comedy gold www.propublica.org/article/trum...

A little story about the Treasury secretary, Frankling the Turtle, and Treasury prices as.ft.com/r/6e764b13-d...

political science

👂🏼 🧠 BRAINIAC POD TIME 🧠 👂🏼 Me, @robarmstrong.bsky.social and also, big brain @adamposen.bsky.social on: -inflation? again? 📈 -accidents waiting to happen 😯 -financial stability risks 😬 -crypto: too big to fail? 😱 -Taco the Reindeer 🦌🎄 -American ball sports 🤷🏼‍♀️ open.spotify.com/episode/0O7M...

I didn’t know her, but I wish I had.

Ailanthus Leaves II (Vernis du Japon II) from Suite of Plant Lithographs http://www.moma.org/collection/works/77276

I named my fists the Two Cities, because they are about to have the best of times and you are about to have the worst of times

30 November 1936 | A Belgian Jewish girl, Anna van Kreveld, was born in Borgerhout. She emigrated to The Netherlands. In November 1942 she was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber after the selection. --- Ggas chambers & crematoria of Auschwitz: https://youtu.be/-A05i25j9Ck

Pauline Borsook in today's NYT:

I mean

@clarkelife.bsky.social bought this on the street near the FT's New York office. It's been a weird year.

Six Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Five Lines http://www.moma.org/collection/works/147072

Happy DB Cooper day to all who celebrate www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLJJ...

TRUMP AND MAMDANI SITTIN' IN A TREE K-I-S-S-I-N-G

🫧👂🏼 POD TIME 👂🏼 🫧 me and the very handsome @robarmstrong.bsky.social on: -constructive feedback on our personal appearance -bubble bubble pop? -Pissing areas in swimming pools -handbags as an asset class open.spotify.com/episode/5trY...

I'm not saying the @robarmstrong.bsky.social face reveal caused the market crash, but I'm also not not saying it.

"It can't be a gold rush -- look at all these picks and shovels I'm selling!"

Blue Green from Series of Ten Lithographs http://www.moma.org/collection/works/67222

The Internet is entirely down. Well, not entirely. One small village holds out.

Criminalise Christmans advertisements before Thanksgiving. We dont have to live like this.

From @robarmstrong.bsky.social 's Unhedged newsletter, there are places to go in collapsing bubble, history suggests

Yellow and Blue http://www.moma.org/collection/works/109755

on.ft.com/4nWiG1G A parent’s fear: the mother in hiding from her son He was golden-haired, a “really happy” baby. “He was gorgeous. I absolutely doted on him, I loved being a mum.”

Arsonist calls fire department.

👂🏼 POD TIME 👂🏼 me and @robarmstrong.bsky.social on -why is everyone banging on about K shapes? -does the K thing even make sense? -DIY dishwasher tablets, part 2 -Rob for president? open.spotify.com/episode/77fM...

Happy veteran's day. Too small to see in the picture below: my dad, who was aboard, and safe thanks to his follow sailors. Thanks vets!

I enjoy the @katie0martin.ft.com and @robarmstrong.bsky.social double act. But maybe Katie's husband could be a guest on the show so he can tell us all about cooking-up dish washer tablets

👂🏼 POD TIME 👂🏼 Me and @robarmstrong.bsky.social on: -DIY data -DIY dishwasher tablets? -being mean to Rob -flying taxis -people saying stupid stuff about the UK open.spotify.com/episode/1fR4...

Forty-year average cpi food inflation is 3%; the level in September was 3.1%. That's not the salient point, though: food inflation has been steadily accelerating since Trump took office. In September 2024, it was at 2.3%. Food inflation is lower than under Biden, but it trending the wrong way.

If the aministration's strategy on the econopmy is to lie about it, American's are going notice and get pissed off. People see food prices. Try something else.

I was worried the MY deal looked pretty onerous, but they seem confident they can..

This 30 min podcast on the economics of populism with Martin Wolf and @robarmstrong.bsky.social is seriously smart and worth a listen open.spotify.com/episode/679f...

Trump’s trade war has unfolded as a series of threats, announcements, pauses, starts and deals, and the coining by the FT’s own @robarmstrong.bsky.social of the term “Taco” — Trump always chickens out. Even with all the changes, the de facto tariff rate is at its highest level in nearly a century.

Great stuff from The City Explore How Different New Yorkers Voted for Mayor www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/04/e...

👂 💰 POD TIME 💰 👂 Me, @robarmstrong.bsky.social and Hull's finest, @johnsfoley.bsky.social on BIG TECH spending BIG MONEY, like really LOADSA MONEY, featuring - Meta shares no likey, does it give a Zuck? - BIG bonds - FREE buses - Cleanfluencers www.ft.com/content/82e3...

East River https://www.artic.edu/artworks/57211/

I guess what I’m most excited about is having my book illegally used to train a large language model so my work can appear in website slop and undergraduate essays. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634502...

REAGAN PROVED DEFICITS DONT MATTER

10/10

In these polarized times, this is a landslide: