11 Comments
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ban nock's avatar

Great Links for plenty to read on a quiet post labor day weekend. Lind's piece on how we fund retirement offered lots to think about.

Kurt's avatar

This really was a ktchen sink post. Ideas and links all over the place. You could have put out 3 more focused, but still well sourced posts. Think about it. Too much for one post.

Greg Costigan's avatar

Oren - love your stuff. But we need much better policies if we’re going to win the 21st century.

1. STEM education

2. Much more skilled immigration

3. Much more deregulation

You have a prominent voice. Can you please help?

Greg

Karl's avatar

Good to have confirmation that AC supports deployment of the US military on American streets. History must not have been their strong suit in school...

For supposed data geeks, I'm left wondering how they rationalize the "emergency" Don has declared in blue, but not red jurisdictions, to justify the deployment. Maybe math wasn't their strong suit either? Then again, RFK Jr is actually the nations chief health officer, and the feds are charging (unsuccessfully) the subway sandwich man with a felony while the convicted felon in the White House pardons the criminals convicted of seditious conspiracy:) Whatever is necessary to support the dear leader I guess. Will their zeal for the militarization of our streets remain when the next D prez reigns?

Welcome to the world of Don's "new" right. Good luck America.

User's avatar
Comment deleted
Sep 6, 2025
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Karl's avatar

Agree. It's hard to find an example in history where a national army performing police functions has ended well. Read Don's bleat yesterday on Chicago, it's lunacy, and terrifying.

They're begging to have an altercation. They're only going into blue cities in blue states, not red states, not where the data says crime is the highest (although it's a terrible idea in every circumstance). Remember his first term when he was ready to open fire on protesters, on fellow Americans, but the military refused. In response he's appointed a loyalist as SecDef. A drunkard, serial sexual harassing weekend talk show host whose only qualification is his willingness to follow orders.

I just can't process that the "conservative" party now supports armed federal troops taking over cities run by their political opponents. On blatantly false pretenses.

What rational human thinks this is about crime, which takes targeted, long term strategies to impact. And who doesn't think these are trial runs leading up to future elections, where "emergencies" will be declared and troops deployed to depress turnout in select areas, aka areas with lots of the brown people Don regularly dehumanizes.

Meanwhile, the Senate, the House, the right wing think tanks like AC, the biz community, all stay silent. Historically, the enablers of authoritarians are arguably more culpable than the dear leader. What's infuriating is that they know better, but they're willing to make their own self serving accommodations while selling out the national interest. This for a country that has given them so much.

ICE is an unfolding disaster too. It will be our biggest law enforcement agency, with a budget larger than most militaries worldwide. Staffed hurriedly with low level qualifications and poor training. And reporting only to Don. Lookin forward to those masked, unidentified agents multiplying?

The children and grandchildren of our "leaders" will be able to read where we all stood when called to take a stand. I hope JD, Oren et al sleep well.

Good luck America.

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Comment deleted
Sep 7, 2025
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Karl's avatar

Well put. Oren bought the ticket, now he's gonna take the ride. You're right that this leaves him and fellow apologists uncomfortable, knowing that their long term reputation is forever lashed to Don.

Look for the whataboutism to get more strident as they flounder with their plight. It's the smart people who dig in deepest once they've capitulated because they have more invested. They had a bigger leap to reach their original acquiescence, so they cling to it more fiercely than the working class stiff who just voted change but didn't join the cult.

Good luck America.

Scott Whitmire's avatar

“ICYMI: Read this fantastic piece from Mike Lind in Commonplace on why tax-advantaged retirement accounts should not be speculating in private equity and cryptocurrency.”

And while you’re at it, please explain, from a conservative economist’s view, why we should even have gas preferred investment accounts and not just a government funded pension. The rich will still have more money than they will need, but why should the rest of us subsidize it? And yes, I took full advantage of these accounts, maximizing my contributions towards the end of my working life.

Richard's avatar

It will be amusing to watch Europe discover that the essential thing to make EVs work is electricity

Ron Bengtson's avatar

Great info, thanks for the update!

Greg's avatar

One does wonder if we are capable of measuring short-sightedness at the nanometer level.