Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein

Larry Summers is out at the NY Times, where he was a contributing writer. From a Times spokesperson:
“Lawrence Summers was a contributing writer for New York Times Opinion on a 1-year contract beginning in January, 2025. We do not intend to renew this contract. We thank him for his contributions.”

Donate to The Labor Force Show your support with a contribution.

Starbucks workers are on strike, please join me in donating to their strike fund!
secure.actblue.com/donate/tlf-s...

“Nobody Blames the Landlord. They Just Take Away the Kids.” All too often, when parents can’t afford safe housing, the solution child welfare services offer is putting their children in foster care.

Every year, tens of thousands of children are taken from their families because their parents can't afford decent housing. Most child welfare agencies do virtually nothing to help them even as the affordable housing crisis worsens. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Re: my case: "How Big a Piece of Shit is Larry Summer?"

Finding: Too Big

Revolving Door Project Calls On OpenAI, Harvard, and Other Organizations To Cut Ties With Larry Summers. The call comes in light of recently released email correspondence between Summers and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, showing the close relationship the two shared long after Epstein’s 2008 conviction.

This will not be the last one of these

surely Larry Summers isn't gonna get wrapped up in this whole Epstein thing! Oh wait

Something absolutely perfect about Larry Summers riffing about the scourge of woke cancel culture being unfair to predatory men in a friendly email to his pal JEFFREY EPSTEIN.

Signed

@newyorkerunion.bsky.social

Donate to Support the Fired Four: Alma, Ben, Jake, Jasper, organized by Louryn Strampe On November 5, 2025, Conde Nast management illegally fired four union l… Louryn Strampe needs your support for Support the Fired Four: Alma, Ben, Jake, Jasper

On Wednesday, Conde Nast management illegally fired four union leaders. While our union fights these illegal dismissals, the “Fired Four” have been left with no severance or COBRA coverage. Please donate to help cover their living expenses at the link below.

Tell Condé bosses to reinstate the Fired Four, reverse the suspensions and end the union-busting On Nov. 5, 2025 in an egregious attempt at union-busting, Condé Nast management illegally terminated four union members – Alma Avalle, Jake Lahut, Jasper Lo and Ben Dewey – for participating in federa...

Conde Nast illegally fired union leaders, sign this petition demanding they reverse course. I did. actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

The Myth That Mamdani Will Cause New York City’s Richest to Leave - The American Prospect Millionaire tax flight would devastate a future Mamdani administration. If the rich leave, how could anything be financed? But research shows that wealthy individuals move at lower rates than others, ...

Also, check out this thing I wrote: prospect.org/2025/10/23/m...

Poster from 1936 says: Join the March to Old Age Security, with a long line of happy people

Poster with picture of old man holding pipe: More Security for the American Family (1939)

The Social Security Administration used to have an incredible communications arm, including even a film unit. This was crucial in helping people understand the program, and how it would work. From 1936, 1939.
www.ssa.gov/history/puba...

Requesting a government backstop for wasteful do-nothing data centers while SNAP benefits hang in the balance? You have got to be fucking kidding me. These people are shameless

Dissatisfaction with the status quo leads people understandably to project every candidate that makes them feel a little excited - AOC, Mamdani, Bernie, whatever - to run for a higher office but it’s worth remembering they might be best suited for the jobs they already have, which are important.

In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape

Under Trump, the draconian future of homelessness policy is coming into focus: mass internment. Utah is building a 16-acre site to detain up to 1,300 homeless people inside locked "accountability centers." This is profoundly alarming.

Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:

The New York Times’ “Moderation Advantage” Is a Statistical Illusion After accounting for money and incumbency the supposed electoral bonus for moderate candidates vanishes entirely.

"The Times needs to discredit academic research because that research has reached an inconvenient consensus: the electoral benefits of moderation have largely disappeared."

data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-new-yo...

The New York Times’ “Moderation Advantage” Is a Statistical Illusion After accounting for money and incumbency the supposed electoral bonus for moderate candidates vanishes entirely.

The NYT editorial board told Democrats that they must discard populism be more “centrist” to win. Stanford’s @adambonica.bsky.social ran the data that the NYT used and shows that the entire premise is false.

The Myth That Mamdani Will Cause New York City’s Richest to Leave - The American Prospect Millionaire tax flight would devastate a future Mamdani administration. If the rich leave, how could anything be financed? But research shows that wealthy individuals move at lower rates than others, even in response to higher personal income taxes.

Millionaires are again threatening to flee NYC if Zohran Mamdani is elected, but progressives are calling their bluff. “It is sort of stunning how little people making over a million dollars a year migrate out of New York state.” From @robinks.com: trib.al/AVPxdDQ

I do believe this explains a lot of chaos in Chicago, it's just a bunch of poorly vetted thugs doing whatever they want

The Myth That Mamdani Will Cause New York City’s Richest to Leave - The American Prospect Millionaire tax flight would devastate a future Mamdani administration. If the rich leave, how could anything be financed? But research shows that wealthy individuals move at lower rates than others, ...

Zohran Mamdani will be New York City's next mayor. Will that cause the wealthy to flee the city in droves? Recent history says absolutely not. In fact, the rich typically move less than any other income group. @robinks.com has the story:
prospect.org/2025/10/23/m...

The Myth That Mamdani Will Cause New York City’s Richest to Leave - The American Prospect Millionaire tax flight would devastate a future Mamdani administration. If the rich leave, how could anything be financed? But research shows that wealthy individuals move at lower rates than others, ...

The rich want us to think that they will leave New York City if taxes increase, but extensive research shows that opposite is true: the rich migrate less than any other income group.

I wrote about the myth of millionaire tax flight for
@prospect.org
prospect.org/2025/10/23/m...

what is wrong with this guy?

Add Cincinnati to the rapidly expanding list of cities where homeless students sleep in parking lots because their families can't afford a place to live.

www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2...

Just for the record, Fetterman's red flag that people ignored in order to see him as a left wing populist was that he was a fucking insurance executive, not a fucked up Marine

The Villains on Pre-K TV Are Cuddly, Annoying and … Morally Interesting

For New York Times Magazine, I wrote about the ethical complexity of one of the most irritating shows on television... SuperKitties.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/m...

Pretty much yeah

I think you can say that Platner has (at best) exhibited a history of really poor judgement, which makes him a bad candidate, without gloating, "See! He LOOKED like a reactionary because of his muscles!" The I-told-you-so tone about your arm-chair profiling is so pointless.

This is really cool. I've known a lot of people who've struggled with union-disillusionment and just resorted to cynicism.