On the latest edition of TAP’s Weekly Roundup @ddayen.bsky.social talks with @dylangyauchl.bsky.social and Bryan McMahon about the enormous environmental and economic costs of AI, and what could happen if the AI bubble bursts. trib.al/ZtLdTx1

Recent polling found that only 17% of Americans believe that AI will help the country in the next 20 years. Democrats should align themselves with this popular view. From @dylangyauchl.bsky.social‬ and @maxmoranhi.bsky.social with @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social‬:

My latest w/ @maxmoranhi.bsky.social is out in @prospect.org today! It's about why Democrats need to vigorously oppose the AI industry. Hope folks find it interesting! prospect.org/power/2025-0...

Democrats must oppose the AI industry. Our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social and @maxmoranhi.bsky.social lay out the case this morning in a piece for @prospect.org 1/4 prospect.org/power/2025-0...

You're hearing it more and more! there's a reason this was in my piece from this morning open.substack.com/pub/revolvin...

In our coverage of this week's abundapalooza, I got the fun job in writing this Hackwatch newsletter! I talk about the good, the bad, and the weird bedfellows, drawing on recent reports from my wonderful colleagues. Hope folks enjoy!

NEW from our @maxmoranhi.bsky.social, @jeffhauser.bsky.social, @dylangyauchl.bsky.social: The tech wonder boys have always been terrible. Democrats shouldn't try to bring them back into the fold revolvingdoorproject.substack.com/p/this-is-wh...

Interestingly, this was a problem Ezra Klein paid lip service to the next day but didn't really tackle. That column basically sums it up as AI technically doesn't have to be an environmental disaster, making the subtext that the issue isn't AI per se 1/🧵

ICYMI- my latest was out in @commondreams.org on Saturday! There's no path to sustainable AI now. We're "at a fork in the road with two very different options: a political reckoning with Silicon Valley or a rapprochement paid for with environmental havoc." www.commondreams.org/opinion/ai-v...

Before DOGE, there was “blitzscaling:” Silicon Valley’s practice of rapidly growing a business to skirt existing regulations by moving too fast for the law to respond. From @henryburke.bsky.social‬ and @dylangyauchl.bsky.social‬ with @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social‬:

With my colleague @henryburke.bsky.social , I wrote for @prospect.org about how Silicon Valley used "blitzscaling" as a blueprint to get away with breaking the law-and what the Trump admin has copied from that approach. 1/2 prospect.org/power/2025-0...

If Democrats are serious about fighting Trump and reversing his war on governance, democracy and history, they need to adapt. The political structures of the past are destined to fail in this moment, they need to create new ones, writes our @maxmoranhi.bsky.social

Student loans are pricier but at least we have higher ed grants. Wait, except the office that gives them out has lost hundreds of employees. Our friends at @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social on the crisis at the Office of Federal Student Aid: prospect.org/education/20...

NEW: Our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social has a book review for Dan Wang's Breakneck out in @theslingutah.bsky.social. Give it a read! www.thesling.org/on-the-optim...

My latest is out in @theslingutah.bsky.social ! It's a book review of Dan Wang's Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future. First: It's a fantastic book! I often disagree with Tyler Cowen, but I can absolutely get behind his blurb for Wang's book. 1/🧵 www.thesling.org/on-the-optim...

Both DOGE and Abundance fall into the same trap: ignoring externalities in the name of "government efficiency" writes our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social in @promarket.bsky.social. Sometimes "everything bagel liberalism" isn't inefficient, it's just accounting for the real cost of government policy.

90 years ago, there was another abundance agenda, envisioned by socialists as a path toward building political power to the left of FDR's "middle road" My latest in @newrepublic.com on the cast of collectivists agitating for a planned economy to ensure abundance newrepublic.com/article/1979...

In case Musk's AI going all "MechaHitler" isn't horrifying enough, xAI is poisoning people in Memphis. We're giving people cancer and in exchange we get fascist robots. Bad trade. prospect.org/environment/...

NEW: We need to talk about the Americans who will pay for AI expansion with their health. Our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social writes for @prospect.org about how AI energy demand and cancer and the human cost we'll pay for data center buildout prospect.org/environment/...

I have a piece in @prospect.org this morning! It’s about the AI industry and the cancer it’s likely to cause. This one is both deeply personal and (imo) really important, so I hope folks read, share, reflect, etc! Some highlights 1/🧵 prospect.org/environment/...

For more, read the whole piece! 4/end www.commondreams.org/opinion/abun...

And while some in the abundance movement have spoken positively or agnostically about organized labor (including Rep. @ritchietorres.bsky.social distancing himself from Barro's remarks), there's a sizable element of the coalition with long histories of fighting labor. Some notables below 3/

Last month, Josh Barro caused a stir at WelcomeFest (organized by @welcomepac.bsky.social) by saying that an abundance agenda requires picking fights with unions. Barro then followed that up with an article on substack further fleshing out the argument. 2/ www.joshbarro.com/p/in-blue-ci...

NEW: Our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social talks about the anti-labor undercurrent of the abundance movement for @commondreams.org 1/🧵 www.commondreams.org/opinion/abun...

What is the "Abundance Agenda?" Fast tracked AI data centers subsidized by the public whose jobs AI will displace (assuming these facilities make economic sense), including some likely to be built on wetlands. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/t...

Hadn't realized how bad wallpaper prices were getting

Twitter is down, Tesla stock is crashing and SpaceX rockets are exploding. Musk may have built a career on his image of a highly-capable visionary leader but the facade is coming down. The reality is, he has built his career by flouting the law wherever possible. Read our full report here:

Our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social is in The Sling today asking a question many policymakers failed to: Is subsidizing AI firms really helping spur innovation? Or is it just a massive corporate giveaway under the guise of national security?

President Trump's assault on FEMA has begun, abetted by the agency's lack of standing. The director usually reports to the president via the DHS Secretary, in an awkward marriage of weather and law enforcement. That makes it vulnerable to conspiratorial attacks. 1/

Explore this gift article from The New York Times... even if it should make you vomit in your mouth. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/u...

There's this argument going around about how progressive politics pressure leaders to champion liberal priorities over winning power. But isn't there a corollary that centrism can be so obsessed with winning power it forgets to do anything with it? Biden accomplished more...

My latest is out in @theprospect.bsky.social this morning, about the threat to IRS funding. Hope folks give it a read! Yesterday evening, Democrats and Republicans agreed to a CR that keeps $20 billion frozen in a prelude to a showdown in February or March. 1/🧵 prospect.org/politics/202...

Last night Democrats agreed to a continuing resolution that leaves $20 billion in IRS enforcement funding frozen, foreshadowing a fight in the spring over the tax agency's future. From our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social in @theprospect.bsky.social prospect.org/politics/202...

The bigger question is will he try to ignore the law and constitution and, if so, will anyone stop him? SCOTUS already basically enshrined "it's legal when the president does it"

All right, a quick 🧵. (Deluding myself into thinking they're going to be quick is part of the process.) So, what is a good & complete federal climate policy? IMO, it's a stool with three legs: 1. Massive investments. 2. Regulatory reform. (Big bucket.) 3. A backstop price on carbon.

Schumer is leaving open key slots at independent agencies—underappreciating the risk of handing the reins to GOP during Trump 2.0 NLRB chair Lauren McFerran is awaiting reconfirmation w/ 10 days left in her term, as we discussed this week in our newsletter. She's not alone! 🧵

WATCH: ACLU’s @chasestrangio.bsky.social tells @jaketapper.bsky.social the Tennessee trans health care ban he’ll argue against before SCOTUS tomorrow only bans the meds for trans people, so is unconstitutional. It’s parents/docs vs @agtennessee & — but “small government” “parents rights”?🤷🏻

Government of the bankers, by the bankers, and for the bankers

Our friends at @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social go under the hood into the groups (yes centrists have groups too) pushing the "abundance" agenda, finding tons of big money-ties to oil and Big Tech. prospect.org/economy/2024...

My latest out in @theprospect.bsky.social this morning, about the groups pushing for abundance as a new rallying point within the Democratic Party. In short, abundance has broadly good goals, but also deep ties to oil, crypto, and Big Tech money, which invites some skepticism. 1/short 🧵

"Building a bigger coalition that can reliably defeat the reactionary right can’t mean playing dumb about who’s most at risk." @brianbeutler.bsky.social on why calling for a purge "identity politics" from the Dem coalition is just more evasion: www.offmessage.net/p/the-end-of...

NEW: In today's Hackwatch @dylangyauchl.bsky.social talks about the Biden administration, its economic achievements, its messaging shortcoming, and its place in a long tradition of Democratic fecklessness. The path forward is simple, but not easy. Fight. therevolvingdoorproject.org/picket-lines...

Wow. If only Dems had a chance to do this at a national level www.dallasnews.com/news/educati...

Good thing the Fed is apolitical or this might look bad!

Tuesday showed running a campaign based on challenging entrenched corporate power works. This was shown in Senate and House races and at the presidential level, where the Harris campaign’s focus on economic populism in swing state ads to paid dividends.1/ therevolvingdoorproject.org/hot-takes-to...

I've got a new piece out in @TheSlingUtah this morning! It's about the Fed's 2% target inflation rate and why clinging to it is bad policy. Hope folks will give it a read! www.thesling.org/fixating-on-...