meanwhile, "alarm" is being raised about "lax lending standards" in corporate debt ... on.ft.com/3KjXwMY

I've shared news of the book before, but there are also interviews at Phenomenal World and the University of Chicago Press blog www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/d... pressblog.uchicago.edu/2025/09/18/5... (2/2)

Mike Glass and I argue for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social that we’ve tried the #abundance incentive-based approach to housing crises before. But lack of oversight + incentives produced fraud, profiteering, and inflated rents -- and the Trump family fortune. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...

Great piece from @brentcebul.bsky.social and Michael Glass on the limits of subsidy-driven housing development www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/add...

“We’re used to thinking of the fiscal crisis as the outcome of an over-generous welfare state or of larger economic forces. But the New York City’s flawed development strategies certainly played a role.” Kim Phillips-Fein and Daniel Wortel-London on NYC www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/d...

A wonderful interview of @dlondonwortel.bsky.social on his fantastic new book, "The Menace of Prosperity" (@uchicagopress.bsky.social, 2025), by Kim Phillips-Fein for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social; of interest to all #skystorians! www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/d...

Chelsea Kirk writing for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social . www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/loo...

Tenants rights advocate Chelsea Kirk brings our analysis of the failures of supply side housing incentives up to date: "Far from delivering affordability, efforts to accelerate private development...fuel speculation, inflate land values, and displace tenants" www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/loo...

At Boston South Station trying to use the Auntie Anne’s WiFi

It's hard to look at the boat attack in the Caribbean, and not see the Israeli rules of engagement getting generalized.

Eric Adams is about to ascend to become King of Abundance as was foretold by the Prophet Yglesias

if they rescue openai after values collapse it’s gonna be the stupidest shit

Only the U.S. government could turn competition within the labor movement into something akin to competition to certify a class in a class-action plaintiff’s suit. And yet it’s not clear to me that’s set back labor in the U.S. anymore than in any other advanced capitalist county.

“The problem is that they’re scared of public opinion, in particular the opinions of the swing voters who elected Trump.” newrepublic.com/article/1996...

This memo is being sent to Democratic leaders/elites, arguing that directly attacking Trump's deployment of the National Guard in DC is politically unwise. It encourages the use of terms like distraction and stunt. (I am not endorsing this kind of thinking at all. ) www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/bz9d8...

well gosh if there’s no nlra I guess there’s nothing stopping unions from secondary boycotts and pickets now is there

it's his turn

‪its so cool though that while the primary threat to billionaires these days is private helicopter crashes and botched transhumanist alchemy we must ask this as though they’re at lethal risk while meanwhile so many other classes of persons are given as disposable by genocide, replaceable by AI, etc‬

does the emperor have a right to exist? does the pharaoh? do the divine sons of Odin in the House of Knýtlinga, bane of Wessex, deserve to exist? perhaps the answer is “sure, human beings have rights and a right to exist, but hierarchies of power and dominance, not necessarily”

Great interview with my colleague,Ted!

Great coalition partners here!

Between the NYC mayor's race and the expanding, US-backed, potentially nuclear bombing of Iran, it can be hard to notice how the budget bill is shifting the politics inside the GOP—and, therefore, in America. Here Ted Fertik lays it out for the non-budget-junkies among us.

To understand where US fiscal policy is going and the politics driving it there, @phenomenalworld.bsky.social spoke with Ted Fertik, VP for Manufacturing @bluegreenalliance.bsky.social. The best, most comprehensive map of internal GOP politics I've yet seen. www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/t...

Change in Headline

Trump threatens to take away Elon’s government contracts

oh hell yeah this is getting real good

8. Un otoño braudeliano. Uno de los que teoriza sobre un futuro tecnofeudal, Cédric Durand, escribe con Benjamin Braun sobre las disputas entre las élites estadounidenses. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame... Traducción al español slopezarnal.com/miscelanea-3...

While finance split into two political factions, the Silicon Valley elite marched rightward in astonishing unity www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

Es interesante este ensayo para ver las fracturas reales y potenciales de la coalición trumpista (y en las fracturas se interviene, no se contemplan), para detectar qué ha acelerado la movilización de sus fracciones (esa misma intervención) y para señalar su objetivo prioritario: el Estado.

On the contradictions of Trump 2.0, “cryptomercantilism”, and Silicon Valley’s desire to destroy Wall Street as well as government. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

Lehrreicher Artikel, der die unterschiedlichen Kapitalfraktionen innerhalb der Trump-Admin & Umfeld auseinanderfriemelt. (Ich habe grundsätzliche Zweifel an den Rationalitätsannahmen, die das Konzept der „Kapitalfraktion“ deren Akteuren zulegt, trotzdem gut.) www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

Illuminating look at the factions of capital backing Trump - and the contradictions between them that may or may not be mediated by the Trumpist state. Always learn a lot reading @phenomenalworld.bsky.social www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

Thought this was an interesting comment on ‘techbros’, tariffs and crypto are shaping the fractions of capital behind Trump along with his popular base.

It's hard not to rub one's eyes in disbelief reading about Thiel/Yarvin (& by extension, Vance, Hawley, Jan. 6, etc.). But for someone in Thiel's position it may look like the previous power structure is collapsing anyway, so now's the time to make a move. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

Great piece from @benbraun.bsky.social and @cedricdurand.bsky.social on the inner tensions of Trump's coallition and the challenge to keep it together within the economic paradigms of American empire www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

Trump govt is giving private equity what they have been salivating for decades -- 401ks! @stomarova.bsky.social : "the single biggest prize for the private finance faction is access to the vast pool of individual retirement assets." phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

“Bringing in $1 trillion of “dumb” 401(k) money, industry thinking goes, will allow pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and large individual wealth owners to exit their holdings with a profit. Smaller savers would be left holding this bag of overvalued assets. In other words, a Ponzi scheme.”

This is terrific www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

“While finance split into two political factions, the Silicon Valley elite marched rightward in astonishing unity.” @cedricdurand.bsky.social and @benbraun.bsky.social start to map the fractions of the Trump II coalition www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

Capital's factions clashes in the Trump2 era. "The ambitions of the new Silicon Valley elite is not only to incapacitate the federal bureaucracy, but also to dethrone Wall Street." with @benbraun.bsky.social www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

We wrote about the US ruling class taking the reins to manage its own decline. What do the Trumpist factions of capital want? Can that be squared with the interests of the MAGA base? Capable state managers could potentially thread the needle, but that's all gone. With @cedricdurand.bsky.social.

Great piece on fractures in class interests of American capital and its ramifications

Our attempt to make sense of Trump II, sans sane-washing. Big thanks to @andrewelrod.bsky.social and Maya Adereth whose editing made the piece much, much better.

It’s all worth reading, but this stood out: “Today, just under $10 trillion are held in [IRAs and 401ks], all of which are managed by the stalwarts of Wall Street’s liberal faction: the likes of BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street.”

Future of the dollar this, future of the dollar that. How to disentangle the current account from global currency reserves? Simple: "dollar-backed stablecoins worldwide." www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

How to make sense of any "agenda" in the Trump years? Some important insights here: private markets want access to 401(k)s to sustain asset values, and align with Silicon Valley in seeing a return of M&As as another way to pull cash out of inflated securities. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...

This great piece from Benjamin Braun and Cedric Durand, on the factions competing over the White House through the mess of US decline, has given me some of the greatest clarity on what is going on right now. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/ame...