(((Steve Chapman)))

Freelance journalist and contributing columnist for the Chicago Tribune. “History is what you can’t resign from.”

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

My latest for @chitribopinions

https://t.co/nLGKgl6xR6

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

My latest for @chitribopinions https://t.co/jcfVIHZ9Bc

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

My latest for @chitribopinions

https://t.co/aP9X0JL21W

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

@CathyReisenwitz I see what you did there, Cathy

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

@CathyReisenwitz Exactly why I never took up golf

[Jack Shafer @jackshafer]

"I'm pessimistic about a lot of things, but as Lawrence [Krauss] has quoted me as saying, there's no reason to be miserable about it." --Cormac McCarthy

[Jessica Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 @JessicaBRiedl]

MAGA may be surprised when all those immigrants are gone and:
- Social Security is still going insolvent,
- Welfare spending & home prices are still rising,
- Crime still exists, and
- Democratic vote totals don't crater,
Because none of those were actually driven by immigrants.

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

Still the Houston Assholes

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

I’m no fan of beaming players or head hunting but a nice rib shot is an appropriate response here to McCormick ,after being a douche to the first baseman

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

My latest for @chitribopinions https://t.co/11syHV5nAu

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

My latest: https://t.co/xB541tD74r

[Andrew Kaczynski @KFILE]

Mark Robinson, who sued us for defamation over this story now admits he lied.

[Shawn Reynolds @ShawnReynolds_]

NEW from @KFILE @emsteck

Former North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson admitted he lied about a bombshell CNN KFile investigation during the final months of his 2024 gubernatorial campaign

https://t.co/xnbBZjihQr

[WBBM Newsradio @WBBMNewsradio]

CBS News Radio service is shutting down, but WBBM Newsradio is here to stay – what you need to know
https://t.co/jXNayO0LWs

[Jack Shafer @jackshafer]

The title to Peter Matthiessen's 1969 book about Cesar Chavez, "Sal Si Puedes" (Escape If You Can), takes on a new meaning today.

[Jessica Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 @JessicaBRiedl]

Again, I came of age when top conservative influencers included Milton Friedman, George Will, William F. Buckley, Thomas Sowell, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Allan Bloom, and Antonin Scalia.

Now, look at the dumpster fire of conservative influencers. Just embarrassing childishness.

[College Sports on SiriusXM @SXMCollege]

"We were in the American Athletic Conference for seven years when we had Stewie and those guys and that conference was worse than this one... and we won four straight national championships."

Geno Auriemma isn't here for your doubts about the @UConnWBB strength of schedule.

[Diane Swonk @DianeSwonk]

I have been an economists for a very long time. I have always been a little surprised by how some people will talk about recession as a necessary reset or a “cleans.”

There is this “let them eat cake” kind of mentality that emerges that somehow a recession is like a fast for a day and healthy. Recessions are painful, especially when accompanied by inflation.

I became an economist as a fluke - it was the only class open when I registered & it sounded interesting. I loved the math and the intuitive study of collective human behavior. It gave me an understanding for the train wreck of an economy I experienced growing up in the modest suburbs of Detroit as a kid.

My best friend’s dad died of cancer when I we were in high school. She stopped bringing lunch to school - there was no money for food. Her family dug up their backyard to plant a garden & put food on the table. Her yard was bigger than the postage stamp of my own, but the ground was toxic. Many of her siblings died of cancer very young.

I still remember the smell of baked bread - it was the only bread they could afford. My mom, who was on her own tight budget, gave me money to buy her lunch each day.

Stagflation and recession were brutal. The scarring effects of all those years ago linger. Families broke down & vicious cycles of poverty emerged in towns that became known as the Rust Belt for their rusting factories.

Recessions are ugly, unpredictable and leave a scar. Those accompanied by inflation are worse.

The economy is not a single body that can be fit from a “cleans,” as I have so often heard in my career. It is a complex system that has increasingly seen inequality worsen in the wake of recessions.

Income inequality hit a low as measured by the Gini coefficient in 1979 in the US. We have been seeing a rise in inequality ever since, with more sidelined for long periods after recessions, with perhaps the brief surge in hiring we saw in the wake of the pandemic. That is over.

We are already flirting with a payroll recession, which is showing up as losses in payroll employment. I would like to believe that rate cuts could cure what ails us, but I fear what we are enduring is systemic. Lower interest rates cannot spur hiring with firms dealing with so much uncertainty.

That means the Fed should focus more on inflation. I hate to think of what a recession to derail the inflation we are enduring would look like, although I think about it a lot. It is not pretty.

The economy is about people’s lives and livelihoods. It is what you deal with when you walk in your front door if you have one to walk through. It is worrying about feeding and sheltering your kids. It is about all the choices we make every day.

It is a living organism that does not do better when pain is broader. I will never say a recession is good. Recessions are hard.

We may have to suffer one to derail inflation - I hope not but worry that may end up being the case. That is a horrible place to be.

Food for thought. I have seen talking heads talk about a recession with a cavalier attitude. I find that hard to witness.

The tails risks of recessions are large. They hurt people.

Break bread not ties. Empathy is a gift to few share. Time to fill our cups with it.

[E J 🏀 @EJayArrow]

Azzi Fudd has missed just TEN free throws in her college career 🤯

She’s 120 for 130 at the line dating back to her first free throws as a freshman on January 30th, 2022 against Providence.

[(((Steve Chapman))) @SteveChapman13]

The winningest coach in college basketball history, asks, "If you were building a player, how could you build something any different, any better?”https://t.co/NWV4gXD9OQ via @insider_ct

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

This is just absolute, unequivocal bullshit. The IAEA says this is a lie. The UN says its a lie. The US intelligence community can't back up this assertion, nor can the Israelis. This is as bad as claims that Iraq had WMDs if not worse.