Bill DeBaun

Live updates: Tehran launches retaliatory strikes as Trump calls for regime change The U.S. and Israel struck Iran on Saturday. President Donald Trump said the Iranian public should “take over" their government. The first strikes appeared to target Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Al...

I served 3 combat tours over our 20 years of war in the Middle East. Trump had an entire SOTU address to make the case for going to war in Iran. He did not.

Congress is absent, & for years, it has ceded its war making powers. Now, Trump has started another foreign war.

apnews.com/live/live-up...

trump going on about corruption and then slandering somali-americans makes my blood boil

I know for a fact that without it I couldn't have made the jump from guy who posts charts about FAFSA to older guy who posts charts about FAFSA.

There's also the piece that as a young professional a decade ago there was something that collapsed the (considerable) professional distance between me and let's say e.g., @kevincarey1.bsky.social to be able to interact online. I don't see the next generation up doing the same, maybe I'm missing it.

I think about this a fair bit. I don't post here professionally like I used to on X. I've mostly moved that kind of posting (but not really the same professional banter/back and forth) to LinkedIn. I think that 2010s-style posting on professional topics isn't going to blossom here.

Once again I'm asking Democrats to take their messaging cues from the sitting Democratic Senator who is the most vulnerable for re-election in 2026

CNBC…welcome to the resistance

Even the insults are amateurish.

I’ve heard better insults from middle schoolers

Today in "marginal income, wealth, & capital gains taxes are too low, & this poses an existential threat to American democracy"

Also, most people would be way better if leaning stats than things like calculus.

I use stats every day/week in my
Job. Want to guess how often I use anything within a mile of calc?

That's not what SOH-CAH-TOA stands for. It was a good guess though.

Was on a call today and said something to the effect that the typical student is much better served knowing about financial aid than trigonometry but our standards for knowledge and experience don't reflect that. SOH-CAH-TOA though, or something.

And still Senate Dems are allowing unanimous consent

This sure seems more like the tyranny the Constitution is supposed to protect against than forgiving student loans.

Trump has been talking for like 90 minutes, which is 30% of the way to how long it would take for Speaker Johnson to have an inkling about anything he said

What everyone is always saying about schemes is “the more the merrier,” we are like 7-8 people short of a George Clooney-led heist film so let’s snowball sample to capacity

I hope this become a journal article title

Which way does the causality run here

You know my @, Eddy. You don't need to subsky me here. Northern-Southwest DeBaun University A&M will eventually come to fruition, no matter the obstacles put in my way by The Powers That Be.

Even if we would stipulate that the *only* purpose of college is vocational training (ugh) if you think you, at 18 years old, not only know for sure what your future career will be but also know better than all the professors at a college what skills you will need for that career, why bother?

This is actually a good example of why the customer model is wrong.

I wouldn't have chosen poetry writing, but UNC made me take a class. And it absolutely made me become a much better writer, with an eye to concision and an ear now trained to the rhythm of words. I'm a better historian as a result.

FAFSA Reveals Earnings Data for Colleges and Graduates The Department of Education's new FAFSA changes highlight the alarming number of for-profit institutions where graduates earn less than high school completers.

I threw all the data into a searchable table. jamessmurphy.com/2025/12/09/w...

FAFSA Reveals Earnings Data for Colleges and Graduates The Department of Education's new FAFSA changes highlight the alarming number of for-profit institutions where graduates earn less than high school completers.

The Department of Education shared data today on IHEs where, 4 years after earning a credential, graduates earned less than peers with only a high school diploma.

What ED didn't shout out was just how many of those institutions are for-profits. So I got the data. jamessmurphy.com/2025/12/09/w...

The thing I try to explain the most to those who don’t live here is that the Nuzzis of the world live in Washington (the place that deserves your ire) and the rest of us live in D.C., a collection of diverse, mostly quiet, walkable residential neighborhoods with no federal representation

Regulations Must Get Workforce Pell Right (opinion) Many young people will be better served by going straight to degree programs—not using up their Pell eligibility on short-term programs. The regulations should account for this.

"For many first-generation and low-income students, their best shot at college success is immediately after high school. Using that shot—and the limited Pell dollars that come with it—on a very short program could limit their long-term career opportunities." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

We first note that hand-wringing about the decline in US college enrollments has mistakenly linked such declines to the price of four-year colleges.

But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.

Community college enrollment has been declining since 2009/10. The optimal policy response to this depends on the root of this decline.

I'm thrilled @nber.org today released my working paper with Harvard PhD Joe Winkelmann titled:

"Labor Market Strength and Declining Community College Enrollment"

Anyone wishing to pontificate about changes in the demand for a college education should be forced to stare at this graph for a bit first