Steve Cicala

Economists are on the other side of the table, being asked why we don’t cite their work.

Poli sci / anthropology / sociology

No.

The answer is no.

There are worse rules of thumb.

For those keeping track, the government is simultaneously “banning communists” from entering the country and seizing the means of production from private firms. 🙃

Sounds like Republicans ought to get all the Republicans who form the Republican majorities in the Republican-led House and the Republican-led Senate together to pass the budget that Republicans wrote with the Republican White House and that Republicans now insist absolutely must be passed.

Broadview police chief accuses ICE agents of making false 911 calls Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said ICE agents are draining the resources of his department and the community by making false 911 calls.

If ICE were instead on the receiving end, the reaction would be a fully kitted-out pre-dawn raid of gratuitous violence.

They’re going to laugh at a summons, and nothing will come of it.

Better to bring them in on terms they understand.

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

The "think what Republicans could do without the filibuster" argument was more compelling when it actually restrained their activities. But at this point there are basically no laws for them in the traditional sense.

The filibuster only limits what Democrats will be able to do in the majority.

This should be central to the reporting: Republicans have the votes w/o the filibuster.

They *want* Democratic votes, but are unwilling to give up anything to get them. It's like throwing a tantrum at the dealership because they won't let you just drive off without paying. Not exactly high ground.

Chris Murphy’s Extraordinary New Takedown of Trump Should Wake Up Dems The Democratic senator has taken the lead in drawing attention to Trump’s authoritarianism. In an interview, he offers a stark new warning that should galvanize his fellow Democrats before it’s too la...

Chris Murphy: "In a different era, maybe just asking for a minor adjustment in health care tax credit policy would be enough. But it’s not a normal time. If you don’t mount a stand right now on behalf of democracy, there won’t be another opportunity."

I’m glad Murphy is out there saying these things in a clear and succinct way, because Schumer sure as hell isn’t. We’d be better off with Murphy as minority leader, because he seems to really understand the fight.

Again?

I thought the LAST WARNING was on Sept 7.

Or March 5th.

It's hard to keep track of his final offers. He's very good at this negotiation thing.

Trump: we will do project 2025
Harris: he will do project 2025
Public: oh that’s bad
Trump: I’m not gonna do it have never heard of it
Harris: he’s still gonna do it
Media: no one can predict the future 77 pinocchios

This is completely backwards: Trump is not justifying the strikes, he's justifying the use of the Alien Exclusion Act for mass deportations.

The fishermen are just collateral damage of a domestic policy gambit to get the CECOT deportations around the supreme court.

The day will come when traffic enforcement is fully automated.

They will look back on this period of lawless death and danger in horror and wonder why there was so much aversion to peaceful, carefree transportation.

Most of the power authoritarians have is freely given. We should not comply with them in advance.

Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn.

We have been sent here to fight for people.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbB...

If it were an MA thesis you'd say, "Very nice data collection, but I'd like you to use *any* of the econometric skills you learned in class. This isn't a geo/pandas degree."

Baseline for comparison is the deepest part of the COVID shutdown, fuel prices have changed dramatically, renewables have entered (or been blocked) non-randomly. Data centers are not randomly located, no sense of what counterfactual growth would have been otherwise...

The baseline for evaluating changes is *April 2020*.

Can you think of anything unusual going on around then that might have ground economic activity to a halt, driving electricity prices down?

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

My grouchy academic opinion is that prestige features from News should be of *higher* quality than their regular reporting.

I do not understand the drive to put mediocre MA theses on the front page with obvious flaws and outrageously causal claims.

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

POTUS telling his Generals to prepare for shooting on the opposition should top the news over one of these ritual shutdown dramas, I think

“Now go kill people and break things in US cities.”

What justified the security risk of bringing the entire military leadership in one room? To receive the following orders:

- Promotions will be based on Jim Crow-era criteria.
- Do not hesitate to kill, there are no rules of engagement.
- You will execute these orders in US cities against Americans.

Democrats Have the Window, Republicans Hold the Blame: Voters Poised to Blame Trump and Republicans for Shutdown - Blueprint That makes the choice for Democratic leadership a strategic one: which narrative feels mission-critical, and which can best cut through in an attention economy where, for a brief moment, Democrats wil...

Blueprint poll:
1-Voters blame Republicans for the shutdown (which has been true of every shutdown in US history)
2-Voters see the threat of ignoring Congress's power of the purse as EQUAL to loss of health care subsidies, even though health care is the only thing Dems have been messaging

There's no supremacy clause problem with state bribery laws encompassing payment of bribes to federal officials, and California's statute does, it's not limited to state government bribes. They can and should open a criminal investigation. Not wait for some future DOJ, do a state one right now.

There are only 41,000 coal miners in the United States. By way of comparison, there are 100,000 **registered** yoga teachers, 361,000 Starbucks baristas and 265,000 faculty and staff members working for the University of California system alone.

What Will Data Centers Do To Your Electric Bill? The threat of increased rates is real, but good policy can bring lower prices as demand grows. Electricity has recently replaced eggs, beef, and gasoline as the inflation concern du jour. Reporters…

Clear and sensible piece on AI load growth and your electricity bill:

energyathaas.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/w...

Let's be clear that @schumer.senate.gov and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social called for this meeting.

It's their meeting to play an active role in shaping the public perception of Democrats' competence. We are witnessing their strategy, and this is going to be the best they can do.

New paper, with @marinklevy.bsky.social and Sam Bray: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....