Phenomenal World

Benjamin Y. Fong | Apotheosis of Point of Sale Data The future of e-commerce at Amazon rests on the increasingly complex logistics of same-day delivery—and the labor costs these entail.

And at @phenomenalworld.bsky.social, Benjamin Fong looks at the increasingly complex logistics of Amazon’s same-day delivery expansion.

Mundo em carne viva | Celso Amorim Ex-chanceler e conselheiro internacional de Lula avalia o momento geopolítico atual e comenta a invasão da Venezuela, a guerra no Irã e o lugar do Brasil nesse cenário

"As consequências ainda são difíceis de mensurar, mas é pouco plausível supor resultados de baixo custo, considerando as dimensões demográficas, históricas e políticas do Irã"

Entrevista com Celso Amorim, ex-chanceler e conselheiro internacional de Lula

www.phenomenalworld.org/pt-br/entrev...

It's Amazon's world. Benjamin Y. Fong continues his wonderful journey to reveal how we're just living in it. The latest at Phenomenal World: The Apotheosis of Point of Sale Data www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the...

After the Rent Freeze | JW Mason The cost of affordable housing in New York City

This is focused on NY, but is broadly applicable. Best analysis of housing costs I have ever seen. Let’s make housing affordable. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/aft...

Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.

Over at @phenomenalworld.bsky.social, @lenorepalladino.bsky.social explains how private credit has become the unregulated industry at the heart of the American economy and how we might address this looming crisis.

Guerras do petróleo | Rafael Ramírez Análise dos recursos energéticos da Venezuela como terreno de disputa, das nacionalizações de Chávez ao sequestro de Maduro.

Uma conversa com Rafael Ramírez, membro mais longevo do gabinete de Chávez e ex-presidente da PDVSA

www.phenomenalworld.org/pt-br/entrev...

Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.

"Developing a general framework for regulating finance, holistically and structurally, which could be put to use when reformers have the necessary leverage, is no more utopian than what private markets themselves promise." Excellent piece by @lenorepalladino.bsky.social

A Class Coup | Paulo Fontes Brazil’s military dictatorship. A coup against workers, and workers against the coup.

Paulo Fontes wrote about Brazil during the 1970s for Phenomenal World: an era when the phrase "wage squeeze" became common among Brazilian workers, when strikes were outlawed and lockouts protected. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/a-c...

Benjamin Y. Fong | Apotheosis of Point of Sale Data The future of e-commerce at Amazon rests on the increasingly complex logistics of same-day delivery—and the labor costs these entail.

E-commerce expanded rapidly with the Covid-19 pandemic, but its retail market share growth has stalled in the years since. Amazon's bid to restart that forward march rests of a new network of same-day delivery centers—and gigified delivery drivers. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the...

Oil Wars | Rafael Ramírez Analyzing Venezuela's energy resources as a site of struggle, from the nationalizations under Chávez to the ouster of Maduro.

"When Covid-19 caused oil prices to plummet worldwide, it was Donald Trump himself who called on OPEC to cut oil production and protect prices. This alone confirms the importance of the organization."

Former PVDSA president Rafael Ramirez speaks with PW. www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/o...

Oil Wars | Rafael Ramírez Analyzing Venezuela's energy resources as a site of struggle, from the nationalizations under Chávez to the ouster of Maduro.

"Someone still has to defend oil prices," says former PVDSA president Rafael Ramírez. Read the interview by PW editors Maya Aderath and Camilo Garzón (@emilnovis.bsky.social): www.phenomenalworld.org/interviews/o...

Indian Big Business | Jairus Banaji The evolution of India's corporate sector from 2000 to 2020

Interested in world’s largest far-right party? And future of democracy?
Doesn’t get better than this @phenomenalworld.bsky.social
Banaji's unsparing analysis of Indian capitalism after having talked to all the major family capitalists and bank regulators.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/fam...

Benjamin Y. Fong | Profitability estimates in retail and e-commerce Capitalist society is structurally oriented towards the future. In Marx’s formulation, capital is the process of realizing the M-C-M’ circuit, wherein an initial investment (M) in commodity production...

Serendipitous to get this in my inbox following a long conversation with a friend that was in part about the importance of better understanding (comparative) costs in any picture of "the economy" ...

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the...

Benjamin Y. Fong | Profitability estimates in retail and e-commerce Is brick-and-mortar retail bound to lose ground to the new portals of infinite choice and doorstep delivery? The picture is more complex than it might seem.

Walmart "has continued to do just fine, its revenue increasing by more than $30 billion every year for the past five years on average. Meanwhile, the e-commerce share of retail has hovered stubbornly around 16 percent after jumping significantly with the Covid-19 pandemic."

Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.

"what the politics of private finance teaches is the inadequacy of considering only what we can achieve in the short term, given the political constraints"
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/fin...

Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.

This is definitely worth a read. The New Deal financial regulatory system is mostly holes at this point. Patching it won't help much.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/fin...

Brilliant article by @jwmason.bsky.social on the economics and politics of housing we can afford

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/aft...

After the Rent Freeze | JW Mason The cost of affordable housing in New York City

"Today, New York City’s rental market is defined by two colliding forces: tenants’ need for affordable rents, and landlords’ need to repay their creditors. Only public ownership offers an escape from the mounting pressure."

Fantastic! @jwmason.bsky.social

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/aft...

still pondering this piece. if you are interested in why rents (particularly in NYC) are so high, can't recommend it enough

Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.

I wrote about how unregulated finance is now just, well, finance for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social

the center of gravity in finance has completely shifted & our mental models & policymaking approaches need to catch up

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/fin...

Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.

The collapse of auto parts supplier First Brands last fall was a harbinger of a broader trend, as the financial press reports of "stress" in private markets.

@lenorepalladino.bsky.social
surveys the growth of unregulated finance: www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/fin...

Finance in the Dark | Lenore Palladino | Finance in the Dark An opaque sector is reshaping the US. Only ambitious regulatory reform can check its power.

The $16.6 trillion in net assets held by private funds in 2025 were ultimately managed by just four thousand registered advisors.

New from Lenore Palladino, on the unregulated finance at the heart of the American economy. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/fin...

Brave New World | Herman Mark Schwartz A third industrial divide?

thanks @adamtooze.bsky.social for the shout out in
adamtooze.substack.com/p/top-links-...
to this, which got lost in the holiday 2024 season
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/a-t...
@phenomenalworld.bsky.social

The Real Cost of Affordable Housing | JW Mason Understanding the debate over distressed buildings, multifamily rental incomes, and the rent freeze

If you haven't read this fantastic piece by @jwmason.bsky.social on the complexities & the path forward for making housing affordable in NYC co-published by @nycpolicyforum.bsky.social & @phenomenalworld.bsky.social
@phenomenalworld, really you should!!

nycpolicyforum.substack.com/p/the-real-c...

After the Rent Freeze | JW Mason The cost of affordable housing in New York City

superb piece. among other things a really useful look into how apartment investing actually works www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/aft...

This is indeed broadly true of rent-stabilized landlords in NYC when they lobby against things like rent freezes or low proposed annual increases. “Rising costs” in general audience stories about this almost always describe those as, like, maintenance or wages. But it’s mostly debt-servicing.

The NYC Policy Forum is a very exciting new project which I am thrilled to be part of.

After the Rent Freeze | JW Mason The cost of affordable housing in New York City

“Any discussion of rent regulation has to grapple with the fact that owners of residential buildings pay most of their rent earnings not on maintenance or operations, but to service their debts to their creditors.”

NEW by @jwmason.bsky.social

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/aft...

In @phenomenalworld.bsky.social, Steffen Murau discusses four possible futures for the international monetary system.