as occurred with Russia, some US citizens are also beginning to feel that way.

did he? i mean, he had a run, but when was it fine? i fully support being generous just to talk him down, though.

(maybe you need to question that last parenthetical. politicians and civil servants are not in fact universally the ghouls “public choice” theory makes them out to be.)

i don’t think so. we are living in the slipstream, the predictable developed-world reaction to neoliberal globalism, and it is pretty catastrophic.

engendered a global plutocracy now destroying liberal democracy. hollowed out developed-world middle class rendering that politically possible, even to some degree popular. we are living the catastrophe.

most of the time i like to think that i’m hysterical. then i read the news.

was it Patrick Henry who wrote “give me liberty or pay me off”?

the way you reduce Federal interest outlays is you retire debt with wealth taxes.

i really hate the conflation of globalism and neoliberalism. neoliberal globalism was a catastrophe. but other globalisms are possible, globalism per se is a mark of freedom and taking pleasure in the variety that springs from the humanity and dignity we share.

when you strip away the everything bagel, you may find you are left with white bread.

sure. not everybody is the same, the ones who become Bloomberg are less likely to burn down the world. (although even the Bloombergs tend to elevate systems that elevate them that those of us otherwise situated can see need reform. Bloomberg is good on the environment, not so good on wealth taxes.)

one thing i’d not have guessed is it’s the rich who’ve decided to burn it all down. recruiting the discontent and fanning the cynicism of the not so rich, sure. but the rich are in drivers’ seat of uprooting the foundations of their own extraordinary lives. great wealth turns people stupid.

this by @jamellebouie.net on the not merely unconstitutional but anti-constitutional nature of the Trump administration is excellent. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/o...

NOAA and FEMA “are being unlawfully defunded in a bid to justify privatization. Before Musk and other rentiers seize public assets, they’re deliberately breaking them to ‘prove’ the right-wing myth of public-sector ineptitude.” @kennystancil.bsky.social prospect.org/environment/...

do most American workers live “paycheck to paycheck”? maybe. it depends what that means. see @mattbruenig.bsky.social www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2025/03/19/h...

i’d be glad to sell you 10% if you want to get in at the current valuation.

my cat has obtained $44B valuation in sharp turnaround. (i don’t have a cat.)

cc @akhilrao.bsky.social

“The reason you should care about this is not that it could happen to you but that it is already happening to others. It is happening to people who, we claim, have rights just because we are human. It is happening to me, personally.” @mashagessen.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...