I am awed by your ability to keep the conversation positive and educational, and yes, compelling. Thank you and I'm so glad you're here and on all the things.
My wife who is a retired teacher was tutoring an immigrant mother to take the GED. Shes lived in the US for 30 years. She has 4 daughters born here. While she hasn’t come right out and said it, she is very likely undocumented brought here as a child. This weekend she said she could no longer meet and was going to drop perusing the GED because she is scared to go out in public. My wife used to tutor her at a local library. She’s heartbroken over this. While this is a single example, i see how it fits into your comment about withdrawing from society. Its real. But i hope it doesn’t last.
I never took an economics course but I think you are an excellent teacher of it. I so enjoy hearing your optimism and how you create space for those of us who don’t have this knowledge understand. So thank you!
I read this when I woke up this morning instead of the terrible headlines we have been faced with each morning. Thank you. You are really helping all of your readers stay positive and focused!!
Some good, pragmatic thinking here. This lens reminds me of Aikido.
For those not familiar, and borrowing from the Somatopia.com site:
"Aikido is based on the idea that you can blend with an opponent's energy instead of trying to overpower them physically or mentally. In essence, it involves using their momentum against them while avoiding direct confrontation by redirecting their energy away from you rather than trying to match their strength or force them away from you with your own strength."
The Trump style is to overreach, under-deliver and alienate his allies and voters as his policies and tactics begin to hurt them. Let him.
Thank you for breaking down this first week's events in bite sized chunks. I appreciate your ability to provide facts and balance in the midst of chaos.
Thank you for this. I’ve deleted most of my news apps and notifications over the last few weeks but this perspective makes me think that we’ll make it through the next four years after all.
I hope you are right. I’m just scared. It’s going to be a looong 4 years, and most right-wingers are ignorant and vulnerable to propaganda, which makes them slow to learn or impossible to teach.
I like your point about immigration not being a zero sum game. I don't know too many citizens looking to be busboys, carwash cleaners, janitors, etc. When those that do those jobs are gone, the right may have to rethink their opinions.
I think this argument would benefit a lot from explaining what you would need to see before feeling not optimistic about the future. If you’re always going to be optimistic no matter what, how much trust can we really put in your perspective?
Your argument seems to be that Americans will not be helped by Trump’s policies. They haven’t been helped for years by Republican policies, as you point out with the tax cuts . . . Yet, they keep getting voted in.
Why do we think Americans will suddenly learn from this mistake when they haven’t learned from so many others?
Problems are getting worse and spreading to more and more people, as is the lack of hope that things will get better. It’s a recipe for rejection. We’ve seen rejection of establishment (Trump) and with his awful policies, we’ll see a rejection of those.
One consequence of the elimination of DEI is the potential loss of special access to government contracts by marginalized owners (women, people of color, Native Americans, and even disabled veterans). These programs (including 8-A and women-owned and disabled vet-owned business designations) require that the businesses stay small, so they are unable to grow large enough to compete with companies like Halliburton or SAIC for federal contracts. It's still not clear if these programs are on the chopping block, but legal experts say that the DEI EO allows for government agencies to cancel contracts of these kinds with no explanation. These small businesses -- some that employ as many as 150 people -- could be in danger of surviving.
I am awed by your ability to keep the conversation positive and educational, and yes, compelling. Thank you and I'm so glad you're here and on all the things.
I agree. She's a breath of crisp, fresh air.
That’s so kind to say!
My wife who is a retired teacher was tutoring an immigrant mother to take the GED. Shes lived in the US for 30 years. She has 4 daughters born here. While she hasn’t come right out and said it, she is very likely undocumented brought here as a child. This weekend she said she could no longer meet and was going to drop perusing the GED because she is scared to go out in public. My wife used to tutor her at a local library. She’s heartbroken over this. While this is a single example, i see how it fits into your comment about withdrawing from society. Its real. But i hope it doesn’t last.
My next Bloomberg column gets into this more. I think undocumented is very inaccurate epithet.
I never took an economics course but I think you are an excellent teacher of it. I so enjoy hearing your optimism and how you create space for those of us who don’t have this knowledge understand. So thank you!
Wow thank you so much for saying so, I’m truly blushing!
I am this same sort of severely optimistic. Things are blowing up, but we’re going to find out what we’re not ok with blowing up really quickly.
I read this when I woke up this morning instead of the terrible headlines we have been faced with each morning. Thank you. You are really helping all of your readers stay positive and focused!!
We can do this!
Some good, pragmatic thinking here. This lens reminds me of Aikido.
For those not familiar, and borrowing from the Somatopia.com site:
"Aikido is based on the idea that you can blend with an opponent's energy instead of trying to overpower them physically or mentally. In essence, it involves using their momentum against them while avoiding direct confrontation by redirecting their energy away from you rather than trying to match their strength or force them away from you with your own strength."
The Trump style is to overreach, under-deliver and alienate his allies and voters as his policies and tactics begin to hurt them. Let him.
Thank you for breaking down this first week's events in bite sized chunks. I appreciate your ability to provide facts and balance in the midst of chaos.
I do it for myself too! I’m not always reading the news smiling but if I collect my thoughts I feel better.
Thank you for this. I’ve deleted most of my news apps and notifications over the last few weeks but this perspective makes me think that we’ll make it through the next four years after all.
We’ve got the right solutions and policy on our side.
I hope you are right. I’m just scared. It’s going to be a looong 4 years, and most right-wingers are ignorant and vulnerable to propaganda, which makes them slow to learn or impossible to teach.
He’s got a base, supporters, and people who gave him a second chance. Just chip away at them, rather than attack the whole or the loudest.
I like your point about immigration not being a zero sum game. I don't know too many citizens looking to be busboys, carwash cleaners, janitors, etc. When those that do those jobs are gone, the right may have to rethink their opinions.
It’s not how the labor market works! Immigrants grow the economy. Even economists who don’t like immigrants admit that.
Thank you for what you do - I always love reading your posts!
Wonderful to hear!
I think this argument would benefit a lot from explaining what you would need to see before feeling not optimistic about the future. If you’re always going to be optimistic no matter what, how much trust can we really put in your perspective?
Your argument seems to be that Americans will not be helped by Trump’s policies. They haven’t been helped for years by Republican policies, as you point out with the tax cuts . . . Yet, they keep getting voted in.
Why do we think Americans will suddenly learn from this mistake when they haven’t learned from so many others?
Problems are getting worse and spreading to more and more people, as is the lack of hope that things will get better. It’s a recipe for rejection. We’ve seen rejection of establishment (Trump) and with his awful policies, we’ll see a rejection of those.
always enjoy your reflections. required reading.
Thank you so much.
One consequence of the elimination of DEI is the potential loss of special access to government contracts by marginalized owners (women, people of color, Native Americans, and even disabled veterans). These programs (including 8-A and women-owned and disabled vet-owned business designations) require that the businesses stay small, so they are unable to grow large enough to compete with companies like Halliburton or SAIC for federal contracts. It's still not clear if these programs are on the chopping block, but legal experts say that the DEI EO allows for government agencies to cancel contracts of these kinds with no explanation. These small businesses -- some that employ as many as 150 people -- could be in danger of surviving.
OMG, thank you for this. I needed this.
Cheers!
When did Zuckerberg start looking like Beaker?
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/0/05/Beaker.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101015151246