Anisha Steephen

Opinion | G.O.P. to Gen Z: Pay Double for Health Insurance or Go Without

New from @nataliefoster.bsky.social on how the pending health care premium spikes are going to really impact young people, already feeling intense economic stress with a weak labor market and sky high housing costs.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/o...

(3/3) After a jobs report showing 32,000 private-sector losses in September, this is the worst time to pull investment. A serious leader keeps projects that cut bills and harden the system when electricity costs are rising. Trump is bad for business, bad for families, & bad for the American economy.

Energy Costs are Rising. Trump and Big Tech Are to Blame On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to cut energy costs in half. Now, energy costs are skyrocketing.

(2/3) Energy crosses state lines & party lines. Canceling grid upgrades, efficiency, storage, & heat pumps means higher monthly costs, longer outages, & fewer local jobs. Working families & frontline communities get hit first, but everyone pays for a weaker grid. More context in my TIME piece:

White House cancels nearly $8B in clean energy projects in blue states The Trump administration has announced the cancellation of $7.6 billion in funding for clean energy projects across 16 states.

(1/3) Trump promised cheaper energy. But today his DOE is pulling $8B from projects that would lower costs and strengthen the grid, just as AI data center demand soars. That chills investment, slows construction, and leaves families & small businesses facing higher power bills and weaker reliability

i have said this before but when “getting rid of race in admissions” for the administration means “you can’t even try to reach out to underrepresented communities and encourage them to apply and if you do it is illegal discrimination against white people” then the actual goal here is segregation

Energy Costs are Rising. Trump and Big Tech Are to Blame On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to cut energy costs in half. Now, energy costs are skyrocketing.

If you want to build a bunch of AI data centers, and also pull the rug out from under the wind, solar + battery industries that contributed **94%** of all new generation last year, you're gonna end up with an energy affordability crisis.

From @asteephen.bsky.social:

time.com/7312151/ener...

READ: ESP Fellow @asteephen.bsky.social breaks down why families are facing higher energy bills—from the rollback of clean energy incentives to the rapid growth of AI data centers—and how these shifts are raising costs for families.

NEW PIECE: Powell and the Federal Reserve System has already failed to meet the moment and not defending Lisa Cook will seal both Powell's and the Fed's fate.

www.crisesnotes.com/powell-will-...

i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.

Energy Costs are Rising. Trump and Big Tech Are to Blame On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to cut energy costs in half. Now, energy costs are skyrocketing.

Energy bills are rising nationwide, and Trump and the GOP are to blame. They rolled back clean energy incentives and greenlit an AI surge, pushing costs onto working families and deepening economic & environmental inequality. I break it down in TIME today: time.com/7312151/ener...

Dear journalists:

The President has not fired Lisa Cook. The President is *trying* to illegally fire her.

Your words shape people’s reality. Please be accurate in your reporting.

Trump posts a letter stating that he is removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook

Beyond Bidenomics | Perspectives On what is living and what is dead in economic policy.

so okay! first piece out from me at Common Wealth

"Beyond Bidenomics: On what is living and what is dead in economic policy"

the argument is that progressives should take credit for the successful parts of the pandemic policy response and build the next Thing

www.common-wealth.org/perspectives...

Trump Vs. Powell: The Big Takeaways from Trump’s Assault on the Federal Reserve Support Notes on the Crises! Hello readers; I’m long overdue for major updates across a whole range of issues. I have continued to work full time on Notes on the Crises but the work of setting...

NEW PIECE: I'm back, finally, and its a long one. Superficially this moment is a vindication for Central Bank Independence but at a deeper level, cutting the Fed off from its independent agency brethren is its death warrant.

www.crisesnotes.com/trump-vs-pow...

From airfare to rent, companies are using your data to jack up prices.

With your help, ESB experts @bedoyausa.bsky.social and @dohamekki.bsky.social will join @groundwork.bsky.social's @lindsayowens.bsky.social at @sxsw.com to break down these deceptive pricing practices and how to fight back.

The Fight For Control Of Your Money What’s at stake in the showdown between President Trump and Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve?

🎧LEVER TIME: Inside the Trump-Powell fight over Federal Reserve “independence.”

Matt Stoller & Nathan Tankus on how the era of insulating the Fed from democracy has coincided with financial crises, bailouts & a huge upward transfer of wealth.

www.levernews.com/the-fight-fo...

IRS: Churches should be allowed to make political endorsements Since 1954, the IRS has banned nonprofits — including congregations — from participating in political campaigns. The agency now says political endorsements by churches should be allowed.

The IRS said clergy and houses of worship should be allowed to make political endorsements, a potential move away from a 71-year-old policy that banned the mixing of religion and politics.

The Fiscal State Under Siege: Why People Hate the IRS, and Why You Should Care How Trump, DOGE, and Project 2025 Are Turning the IRS Into a Tool of Authoritarian Rule Editor’s Introduction: Hello readers, it's Nathan Tankus and I am very happy to bring to you the first in a l...

Astoundingly good article from @asteephen.bsky.social on the role of taxation in a democratic society, and what the current US Government is doing to turn the IRS into their own instrument of political control.

www.crisesnotes.com/the-fiscal-s...

I have no words

Natural disasters are anything but. Nature may bring the storm, but policy choices decide who survives. Too many rural communities are left without the infrastructure, warning systems, or resources to keep people safe. Until that changes, lives will continue to be lost. My heart goes out to Texas.

Inside DOGE's Dangerously Hasty IRS Modernization Plan This is the second installment in the Notes on the Crises series on the IRS. While the first essay traced how the agency has become a political target and potential tool of authoritarianism, this piec...

NEW @crisesnotes.bsky.social PIECE: Today @asteephen.bsky.social & @iraregmi.bsky.social provide a 2nd installment in their series on DOGE at the IRS. Today's piece is on the so-called "modernization" of the IRS's legacy IT systems & the manifold dangers posed

www.crisesnotes.com/inside-doges...

Inside DOGE's Dangerously Hasty IRS Modernization Plan This is the second installment in the Notes on the Crises series on the IRS. While the first essay traced how the agency has become a political target and potential tool of authoritarianism, this piec...

As Republicans push a reconciliation bill that includes significant cuts to IRS funding don’t miss what’s already underway: DOGE has laid off staff, rushed tech upgrades, and is pursuing access to + control of sensitive taxpayer data. More from me + @iraregmi.bsky.social in @crisesnotes.bsky.social

Senate leadership ponders rural hospital fund to sway megabill holdouts The fund would help rural hospitals that could be hurt by the Senate's cut to provider taxes.

I know my colleagues already dropped this line (h/t: @brendanvduke.bsky.social ), but it bears repeating - there already exists a rural hospital fund and it is called:

🚨🚨MEDICAID🚨🚨
www.politico.com/live-updates...

Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event

Now that we’ve seen the full Senate text, we can say for certain: either the House or the Senate version would be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in history.

Each have the largest Medicaid and largest SNAP cuts ever. And each give huge tax cuts to the rich.

"This is not about eliminating bureaucracy, fraud, waste, or abuse. It’s about repurposing it to serve a new model of power and breaking the chain of democratic accountability between Congress, the law, and the public."

Important, scary stuff.

Delighted to read @asteephen.bsky.social in @crisesnotes.bsky.social and unsurprisingly, completely in agreement. Read the whole thing!

Also read my @crisesnotes.bsky.social piece for context. www.crisesnotes.com/the-fiscal-s...

LIVE Press Conference: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles amidst major ICE protests. YouTube video by FOX 5 Washington DC

🚨 Kristi Noem confirms IRS agents are in LA “to help us track how these violent protestors are funded." She names “NGOs out there, unions, other individuals” as possible targets. This is fiscal surveillance weaponized to silence dissent.📍29:15 in the video stream.

The Fiscal State Under Siege: Why People Hate the IRS, and Why You Should Care How Trump, DOGE, and Project 2025 Are Turning the IRS Into a Tool of Authoritarian Rule Editor’s Introduction: Hello readers, it's Nathan Tankus and I am very happy to bring to you the first in a l...

If you're following the GOP tax bill disaster, my latest in @crisesnotes.bsky.social traces how this effort builds on a longstanding campaign to weaken the IRS and consolidate fiscal power in the hands of the wealthy. This is the first in a series on DOGE, taxes, and the future of public governance.