imagine running food stamps like rent control. whoever got in line in 1994 eats free forever, the discount follows the seat not the person, and newcomers get nothing. we’d call that insane. for housing we call it a historic victory.
The Great American Math Collapse is happening right before our eyes.
@KelseyTuoc reports on this trend -- tons of similarities to the literacy crisis but also something very different:
In reading, top students have mostly held their ground, losing only a little, while scores have collapsed for weaker students.
In math, while the 90th-percentile scores have dropped, the absolute top students aren’t just holding steady: They’ve actually substantially improved.
Read more at @TheArgumentMag: https://t.co/H9Wdojz6al
To spell this thought experiment out — if housing in a supply-constrained city like NYC were allocated purely by lottery, then you could make everyone better off by allowing lottery winners to sell their tickets to willing buyers for a mutually agreeable price.
The average life expectancy of a new Russian recruit—from arrival at a training ground to death in a combat zone—lies somewhere between 10 days and three weeks. Once sent onto the battlefield, they survive an average of 20 to 35 minutes. @peterfrankopan https://t.co/W3UhBerdH0
Arpit is correct. The rent freeze is a bad idea. It raises rents in the long run because it discourages construction, and in the short run all it does is shift rent increases from stabilized to market rate units. Many people's rents will *increase* because of this move.
The cost of the Iran War has been massive. Direct military costs will likely approach $100 billion.
But the total could be closer to $1 trillion when long-term costs from inflation impacts, debt interest payments, and veterans’ benefits are included.
My @Morning_Joe Chart
The Rent Guidelines Board recently voted for a two year rent freeze on NYC rent stabilized housing
I was the lone dissenting vote
I've written two pieces here; which highlight the challenges of a rent freeze and where to go next
https://t.co/IEtCz4dXZ6
https://t.co/P6tNyZ5YgS
A Nordic-style tax structure would tax the rich much more heavily than the United States but also define “the rich” much more broadly.
https://t.co/dM0JXGhoYH
Incredible.
A liberal coalition is finally forming to push back against both the far right and the far left.
This week, they launched @thepromise2026, a public pledge with 13 sitting Congressmembers and candidates signing on, openly breaking with the DSA wing while refusing to be lumped in with MAGA.
Their commitments:
"We are capitalist, not socialist."
"We want safety, not lawlessness."
"We are responsible, not reckless."
"Government should solve problems, not create them."
"We are mainstream, not extreme."
"We are proud, not ashamed of America."
This is the kind of pro-America, anti-authoritarian coalition American politics desperately needs.
More of this, please.
“Four Haitian women who were deported from the United States in February were found beheaded and dumped in a river several months later, lawyers said in court documents.”
Alaska’s salmon populations are declining and out-of-state trawlers are destroying our fisheries.
I’m running for Senate to save our fish. My plan: https://t.co/Eb7gOfGjx6
Even if there were no difference at all between Ds and Rs on climate, I would vote for Democrats to protect Democracy from the corrupt and authoritarian MAGA movement, to secure health care for the poor and reproductive rights for women, and to prevent insane new wars.
Land in NYC and San Francisco is so valuable now that reclaiming land from the sea today, as happened until the 1970s across America's greatest cities, would be like printing money. There is no engineering reason they can't – only a regulatory one.