Mike Makowsky

Hi, former Foreign Service Officer here

The Secretary of State might be interested to learn that visa requirements and terms are generally reciprocal. We do it to them, they do it to us.

The (attempted) return of Soviet economic statistics From Warren Nutter’s “The structure and growth of Soviet industry: A comparison with the United States.” The Journal of Law and Economics 2 (1959): 147-174.: “Let us acknowl…

A Republican POTUS trying to restructure US economic statistics as Soviet-style propaganda while unilaterally imposing waves of tariffs to pursue a comically unattainable autarchic industrial utopia is some of the best darkly ironic dystopian writing I've ever come across

tinyurl.com/bp6yh68n

Mark Zandi @Markzandi · 8h The economy is on the precipice of recession. That’s the clear takeaway from last week’s economic data dump. Consumer spending has flatlined, construction and manufacturing are contracting, and employment is set to fall. And with inflation on the rise, it is tough for the Fed to come to the rescue. Unemployment remains low, but that’s only because labor force growth has gone sideways. The foreign-born workforce is shrinking, and labor force participation is declining. Telling is the economy-wide hiring freeze, particularly for recent graduates, and the decline in hours worked. Mark Zandi @Markzandi · 8h It’s no mystery why the economy is struggling; blame increasing U.S. tariffs and highly restrictive immigration policy. The tariffs are cutting increasingly deeply into the profits of American companies and the purchasing power of American households. Fewer immigrant workers means a smaller economy.

Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi says:
- We are headed for a recession
-The BLS data is totally reliable- for now
-The revisions are due to delayed reporting of DOGE govt layoffs
-Higher tariffs are dragging down the economy
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Economist Amartya Sen won a Nobel in part for asking: Why did India avoid the mass famines that killed tens of millions in China? His answer: a free press. Journalists could expose suffering and shame governments into action. Silence and avoidance, by contrast, can be deadly.

State Demographics 1962-2024 I provide a simple, clean panel dataset of the historical demographics of US states here. I made this state-year level dataset from the individual-level responses in the Current Population Survey&#…

Making a clean panel dataset of the historical demographics of US states available here:
economistwritingeveryday.com/2025/07/31/s...

Statement from the American Economics Association.

Signed by

AEA President & former USDOL Chief Economist @lkatz42.bsky.social

Former BLS Commissioner Abraham

Former Treasury DAS & Chief Economist Dynan, &

Chair of AEA Govt Relations Committee Ken Troske
bsky.app/profile/mart...

MOSCOW REPORTS BOOMING ECONOMY; But Observers Find Facts Unsupported by Figures 9.5% Growth Asserted Local Statistics Questioned Soviet Maintains Industry Showed 9.5% Growth in '62 (Published 1963)

NYT (Jan. 1963): MOSCOW REPORTS BOOMING ECONOMY
"Every three months, statistics on results of the state plan are published. The statistics are unfailingly optimistic. Each time they raise questions ... about the relationship of statistics to reality."

www.nytimes.com/1963/01/28/a...

I was just informed that our Country’s “Jobs Numbers” are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. This is the same Bureau of Labor Statistics that overstated the Jobs Growth in March 2024 by approximately 818,000 and, then again, right before the 2024 Presidential Election, in August and September, by 112,000. These were Records — No one can be that wrong? We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes. McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months. Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative. The Economy is BOOMING under “TRUMP” despite a Fed that also plays games, this time with Interest Rates, where they lowered them twice, and substantially, just before the Presidential Election, I assume in the hopes of getting “Kamala” elected – How did that work out? Jerome “Too Late” Powell should also be put “out to pasture.” Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today

Sad that this is a completely unsurprising result. A couple years ago I spoke to TV station new directors about their coverage of gun violence at a convening. They said they wanted to be less exploitive but the pressure for ratings was constant.

the right are quite literally doing the meme rn about the gdp report

Ichiro Saved One Last Surprise For Cooperstown | Defector A Hall of Fame case does not get built in the same way, or out of the same things, as a legend. There are plenty of Hall of Famers who managed to build compelling cases, in the methodical and…

David Roth on Ichiro: defector.com/ichiro-saved...

LeGuin wrote about the desire for 'unassailable safety' as one of the deep roots of evil, and I think about that a lot.

If you live in any of America's like ~4 biggest cities the concept of positive-sum growth is so totally foreign it seems impossible because of the refusal to build housing, the end result is people morally pit groups against each other for the existing apartment stock

This was a (really interesting!) working paper 7.5 years ago. One of my professors warned my in grad school that reading journals meant being at least 5 years behind the curve. Didn't realize at the time how bad he was underselling it.

What a graph

Scientist on green card detained for a week without explanation, lawyer says A Korean citizen studying in Texas on a green card was detained in San Francisco after a trip overseas. His lawyer says authorities won’t give a reason.

Tae Heung Kim, 40:
- Lived in US since he was 5
- Has green card
- Getting PhD at Texas A&M
- Researching vaccine for Lyme disease
- Has 1 minor pot charge from 2011, since sealed

Also: Detained incommunicado by DHS after returning from wedding in Korea

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

If you were alive in the 1980s, this is among the most wonderful & truly incredible things you have ever witnessed in your lifetime.

I Watched 20 Arrests In Trump’s America. Here’s What They Looked Like. "This is fishing in a stocked pool. You tell them, 'Show up at this location,' and then they show up and you grab them,” one federal agent involved with immigration court arrests told HuffPost.

Watch Trump's secret police in action. You'll observe that their behavior is not materially different from that of secret police in a multitude of other nations, notably those lacking a rule of law tradition. www.huffpost.com/entry/five-d...

Columbia Agrees to $200 Million Fine to Settle Fight With Trump

Surely this will be the payment that finally gets the extortionist to stop demanding money

Opinion | 11 tips for becoming a columnist Here’s my advice for handling the awesome responsibility of this job.

Some professional news: After more than a decade of columnizing at The Washington Post, I'm taking the buyout.
This is my last column. It is my advice to any other lucky pundits who land a perch like this -- with 11 principles I've aspired to, even if I haven't always achieved them:
wapo.st/3TU2fGw

Liberal Currents Liberal Currents offers discussion, elucidation, and defense of liberal principles and institutions.

The folks at @liberalcurrents.com are on an incredible run. Just fantastic, thoughtful commentary. liberalcurrents.com should be ribbon bookmark you click on at least once a week.

Are You Laughing Yet? Everyone can say exactly what they want, free of the fear of censorship, except by the government.

Always read @petridishes.bsky.social

ICE Lawyers Are Hiding Their Names in Immigration Court ICE attorneys fighting to deport immigrants are able to obscure their identities — no masks required.

Lawyers for ICE are increasingly hiding their identities in court. This is completely unprecedented.

“We’re not really doing names publicly,” said Judge ShaSha Xu — after stating her own name and those of the immigrants and their lawyers.

theintercept.com/2025/07/15/i...

Protests break and undermine preference falsification

"A Michigan clock company that has helped people keep time for 99 years says it’s going out of business.... [T]ariffs imposed by the Trump administration have increased the cost of essential components that aren’t available in the U.S."
www.nbcnews.com/business/bus...

Homan: "People need to understand ICE officers and Border Patrol don't need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them ... based on their physical appearance."

Bar chart titled “The Supreme Court vs. The Lower Courts: Rulings on the Trump Administration” showing three horizontal bar charts for May 1-June 23, 2025. Federal District Courts: large red bar (82 cases, 94.3% against) with tiny green bar (5 cases, 5.7% for). Circuit Courts of Appeal: medium red bar (15 cases, 68.2% against) with smaller green bar (7 cases, 31.8% for). Supreme Court: tiny red bar (1 case, 6.3% against) with large green bar (15 cases, 93.7% for). Shows dramatic reversal from lower courts ruling against Trump administration to Supreme Court ruling for it.

Since May:

Federal district courts have ruled against Trump admin 94% of the time.

Supreme Court has sided with the Trump admin 94% of the time.

A judiciary at war with itself.

Given funding uncertainty, the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania has decided not to authorize any standing faculty hires during the current fiscal year. Zero hires. Across the entire school.

Musk has adjusted Grok’s algorithm so it’s now a neo-Nazi.

Pretty cool that almost every progressive commentator, elected official and organization still uses Musk’s X algorithm to communicate with the public! Good job guys.

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting adjudicating this case. But if this Court wishes to permit the Government to flout the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Due Process Clause, it cannot avoid accountability for that lawlessness by tasking the lower courts with inventing a rationale. The Court's continued refusal to justify its extraordinary decisions in this case, even as it faults lower courts for failing properly to divine their import, is indefensible. * "In a democracy, power implies responsibility. The greater the power that defies law the less tolerant can this Court be of defiance. As the Nation's ultimate judicial tri-bunal, this Court, beyond any other organ of society, is the trustee of law and charged with the duty of securing obedience to it." Mine Workers, 330 U.S., at 312 (Frankfurter, J., concurring in judgment). This Court continues to invert those principles. Today's order clarifies only one thing: Other litigants must follow the rules, but the administration has the Supreme Court on speed dial. Respectfully, I dissent.

NEW: SCOTUS shoots down a federal judge’s effort to protect eight men from being expelled—without due process—to South Sudan, where they face torture and death.

Dissenting, Sotomayor says the court’s “indefensible” decision makes it complicit in “lawlessness.” www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...