James Medlock
@jdcmedlock
Followers
114K
Following
179K
Media
10K
Statuses
73K
More good things for everyone.
Northern California | He/Him
Joined February 2014
I'll bet anyone $1 million dollars that the US does not enter hyperinflation.
484
587
8K
This guy is going to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s so fucking over
29
140
2K
RT @Brendan_Duke: Antoni has distinguished himself with his lack of shame in producing viral dishonest analyses that have been criticized b….
0
196
0
@MissVega8888 It was the most glorious time to be alive. 1985 was arguably the highest quality of life. A single earner could support a family of four, neighborhood kids played together, we had strong law enforcement, military, and were respected around the globe. And best music and movies.
9
15
362
That's right
The tech-right's obsession with 'cracked coders' leads them to inevitable failure in areas they don't understand, because they ignore subject matter expertise, denigrate soft skills, and reject epistemic virtues like caution and humility.
8
142
1K
Generate videos in just a few seconds. Try Grok Imagine, free for a limited time.
498
527
4K
This would be a nice path towards single payer, but under Slotkin’s proposed policy it would also destroy the federal tax code.
0
0
60
With healthcare, it is funky to have some employers mandated to provide coverage and some getting around it with hours restrictions or firm size exemptions - I’d much prefer to strengthen the mandate while also offering a low cost Medicaid buy-in that employers could choose.
1
0
65
The real low-wage-employer subsidy is work requirements. If you remove the ability to survive without the boss, then you lower bargaining power and wages (though this analysis is complicated by work requirements not actually raising labor force participation).
2
2
99
I think a lot of people conceive of something like food stamps as allowing employers to lower wages (because employees can survive on less) when really they raise wages (because employees can survive without the boss).
Saying Medicaid/food stamps subsidize walmart relies either on a misunderstanding of how wages are set, or depends on a conservative notion that corporations have a responsibility to administer the welfare state. The real arg is work requirements and EITC subsidize walmart.
1
4
151
And the crazy thing is, if you want to make a company pay a certain amount in wages, we have a tool for that: minimum wage. You can just write down the number, you don’t have to build a Rube Goldberg machine. And if you feel you’ve maxed out on MW, just boost those benefits. EZ!.
3
13
226
So either companies discriminate against parents, companies face fewer incentives to do things we want them to do via the tax code, or, most likely, they just decide to avoid the whole mess and subcontract. None of these outcomes are desirable!.
I think the likely second order effect of this policy is that many companies would simply stop hiring low income workers and hire contractors instead. @profsheena explains how this is bad in his book "The Fissured Workplace".
3
4
176
Say a company does not follow that incentive and hires parents who happen to receive Medicaid. Suddenly the company is no longer eligible for tax credits. But why would our desire for companies to, say, make green investments, hinge on that??.
4
2
177
First off, if you’re getting means-tested benefits while working a full time job, it’s probably because you have children that raise your eligibility threshold. So this is basically a big “don’t hire parents” incentive for companies.
5
12
313
This rhetoric seems to appeal to people but the policy is completely incoherent and likely to make things worse.
If a global company is paying its workers so little that they need federal benefits, that company should lose eligibility for tax incentives.
20
53
1K
RT @IrvingSwisher: After failing to pay attn to the housing bubble and bust in the 2000s, Republicans zone in on Fannie & Freddie in early….
0
20
0
The IRS is moving onto a seventh commissioner since Trump took office — Billy Long is reportedly set to be nominated to an ambassadorship. More people have been IRS commissioner in six months under Trump than during the entire 2010s.
4
4
184
The media environment matters and has a negativity bias!.
Media coverage of inflation has a significant and asymmetric effect on consumer inflation expectations, from @cconces, @PascalFrank12, and Jane M. Ryngaert
10
19
276
If nutpicking is fair game, we should really make an effort to highlight right wing crazies. There are young nazis who think liking big butts is betraying the aryan race!
Wow, a lot of these "wokeness gone too far" stories are just bad faith creations of online right wingers who then get treated as reliable, neutral observers by the media for whatever reason?
7
16
391
Ah well nevertheless
Many of us are looking for a positive message from the left (the democrats in the US, the center left in Europe) to win the coming elections. My two cents: Now that autocracy has shown more and more clearly its true nature, its barbarity, its randomness, make the next elections.
9
21
441
No no you don't get it, it's not inflation - you are just poorer now!
A reminder that the "is this inflation?" debate is a distraction. Tariffs will reduce real incomes one way or another.
2
2
92
Once again I encourage the GOP to die on the hill of using a narrowly defined economic term divorced from how most voters understand it.
Bessent: It would not have been inflation. A one-time price adjustment is just like does your driver's license license cost more this year.
3
7
187