James Feigenbaum

Worried about shitposting it into existence, but this guy running BLS (and IRS at the same time) feels just right for the hell we're trapped in

Teaching my 5-year old baseball and indoctrinating him into the Red Sox. Between the yellow jerseys and the balk to stop sign stealing, yesterday's game was like 10 levels over his head.

Here is the ungated paper from the author, Luis Martinez, whose research is covered in the Economist article:

bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/u...

Going to need a (local) LLM to generate a tldr for me

August 1, 2025 AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Committee on Economic Statistics and Committee on Government Relations Statement from the American Economic Association on the Dismissal of the BLS Commissioner Leaders of the American Economic Association express their grave concern over the dismissal of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier today. The independence of the federal statistical agencies is essential to the proper functioning of a modern economy. Accurate, timely, and impartial statistics are the foundation upon which households, businesses, and policymakers make critical decisions. Undermining the independence or credibility of these agencies threatens the integrity of the information that markets, institutions, and the public rely on every day. Measuring the vast and dynamic U.S. economy in real time is inherently challenging. It is standard practice for statistical estimates to be revised as more complete and higher-quality data become available. These revisions reflect the commitment of statistical agencies to accuracy, transparency, and methodological rigor-not failure or bias. The BLS has long had a well-deserved reputation for professional excellence and nonpartisan integrity. Safeguarding this tradition is vital for the continued health of the U.S. economy and public trust in our institutions. We call upon elected officials to respect and preserve the independence of the nation's statistical infrastructure. Lawrence Katz President, American Economic Association Katharine Abraham President-Elect, American Economic Association Karen Dynan Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Economic Statistics Kenneth Troske Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Government Relations

Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing

As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements

This is a big deal

Not interviewed or acknowledged: people not run over by cars drag racing down Washington Street

"who had little academic experience before becoming chancellor"

Cool

Also the old dry cleaner that would be removed to build this is a toxic hazard and so it must remain there forever apparently

Good question. I think there's a risk if you buy off one, every other neighbor comes out of the woodwork for $. At a certain point, projects don't pencil with that many handouts/kickbacks

Surprise! NIMBY complainant is a local landlord

Neighbor sues to try to block 103-unit 40B project in Chestnut Hill - Brookline.News A neighbor has sued in an attempt to block a 103-apartment housing project in Chestnut Hill that, almost two years after it was first proposed, was recently given the go-ahead by the town’s Zoning Boa...

The developer should add a unit a day to this project for every day it is delayed by this neighbor's frivolous NIMBY lawsuit

brookline.news/neighbor-sue...

Moonshot: Public R&D and Growth (Forthcoming Article) - We estimate the long-term effect of public R&D on growth in manufacturing by analyzing new data from the Cold War era Space Race. We develop a novel empirical strategy that lev...

Forthcoming in the AER: "Moonshot: Public R&D and Growth" by Shawn Kantor and Alexander Whalley. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

What an excellent piece by Suresh Naidu. I could not agree more.

more evidence for “a bunch of AI cultists dismantled large parts of the federal government because they believed that their LLMs were intelligent and could do the work better” thesis

Eyes On the Street: A New Path Connects Two Villages In Newton - Streetsblog Massachusetts This summer, the City of Newton is testing a new configuration for Washington Street that aims to make it safer and more pleasant to walk or bike between West Newton and Newtonville. The city recently...

New bike path and street design in Newton. Nextdoor Newton crowd managed to take a break from the Adams St line color "scandal" to complain A LOT about this one but it looks great

mass.streetsblog.org/2025/07/21/e...

YouTube video by MLB Manny cuts off Damon's relay throw

The greatest relay throw cutoff in baseball history. 21 years ago youtu.be/SCdp-pSA8kc

But this quote from a Nonantum resident encapsulates pretty much everything wrong with Greater Boston zoning/housing over the last century+

Lovely sentiment, but neighborhoods probably shouldn't have stopped being "first-arrival points" in the 1880s!

'Pound of Flesh': Nonantum neighbors demonstrate at City Hall, showing no signs of backing down - Newton Beacon On Monday afternoon, as dark clouds rushed from the sky to make way for some early evening sun, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller sent an email to the community calling for a compromise in what has escalated [......

I'm still trying to form a strong opinion about the Italian Flag Street Line Painting scandal currently engulfing Newton. But the optics and rhetoric on both sides are hilarious. A "Pound of Flesh"?

www.newtonbeacon.org/honor-the-ma...

The current building is nine stories (102 feet) and 66 units. So of course current zoning only "allows for a seven-story building up to 85 feet in the C-2 district"

Cambridge steps in to raze Riverview condos; Adjacent roads close Saturday for public safety (updated) - Cambridge Day Cambridge plans to take over demolition of Riverview Condominiums, the 66-unit building where dangerous structural issues were discovered.

Tear this thing down and replace it with 200+ units, Cambridge

www.cambridgeday.com/2025/07/13/c...

This Wizard of Oz adaptation sucks

Good news everyone, AI is going to help us find coauthors now. And they're called research collaborators apparently?

@andreamatranga.bsky.social is everywhere, even in the children’s library

I hope this doesn't summon any typst zealots

AI slop is bad, but asking Claude how to fix broken LaTeX tables is magical. So I think things net out okay

I was kind of expecting your second paragraph to be: "and so I did it, 📦🔥🔥, new package here"

Heat claims more than 175,000 lives annually in Europe, latest data shows A staggering 175,000 people die from heat-related causes every year in Europe and that figure is set to soar in line with our steadily warming planet. That’s the warning from the UN World Health Organ...

Numbers like these are why I’m in favor of the widespread adoption of AC in Europe

What’s the point of fighting climate change if you’re already dead because of the heat?

In an unsigned order (with no explanation at all), the Supreme Court majority in effect overturns the Department of Education Organization Act, a law passed in 1979. Justice Sotomayor writes a long dissent, but doesn't violate the taboo of never attacking the majority for partisanship or corruption.

Ancestry seems more important than party in our sample, but we only run through 1965.

But actually, we're working on something like that now. We can't do ancestry today but we can quantify the party effect (from the classic close election RD) on immigration votes and speech. So stay tuned.

This wouldn't be the only part of the tenure process that different disciplinary norms conspire to make me do more busy work