Andy Langenkamp
@andylangenkamp.bsky.social
Senior analyst at ECR Research & ICC Consultants. Geopolitics/economy/financial markets. Words in FT, Guardian, Politico, The Hill, The Messenger, NRC, FD, Trouw, Volkskrant, Tijd, Trouw, Knack et al
It’s jarring to see Trump give Mamdani a warmer embrace than the Democratic Party has. But it’s also a testament to the power of economic populism, and a concrete example of how much Mamdani can teach his party www.readtangle.com/trump-and-ma...
The Trump–Mamdani White House meeting.
Plus, the charities Tangle staff members support.
www.readtangle.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:54 AM
It’s jarring to see Trump give Mamdani a warmer embrace than the Democratic Party has. But it’s also a testament to the power of economic populism, and a concrete example of how much Mamdani can teach his party www.readtangle.com/trump-and-ma...
Trump always & ever loves winners, whether a Saudi crown prince, a billionaire businessman, or, apparently, a democratic-socialist mayor fresh off an underdog win. He also admires those who dress well and carry themselves with confidence www.readtangle.com/trump-and-ma...
The Trump–Mamdani White House meeting.
Plus, the charities Tangle staff members support.
www.readtangle.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Trump always & ever loves winners, whether a Saudi crown prince, a billionaire businessman, or, apparently, a democratic-socialist mayor fresh off an underdog win. He also admires those who dress well and carry themselves with confidence www.readtangle.com/trump-and-ma...
An important but unstated goal of crypto advocates is to integrate crypto into traditional finance so thoroughly that it becomes too-big-to-fail and backed by an implicit government support www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
Leave the Gold in the Ground
Yap money stones, consultation fees, Morgan Stanley vendors, crypto-to-GSE contagion and the Epstein files.
www.bloomberg.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:45 PM
An important but unstated goal of crypto advocates is to integrate crypto into traditional finance so thoroughly that it becomes too-big-to-fail and backed by an implicit government support www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
Very few people genuinely believe in multilateralism & multilateral institutions as good things in themselves. (Most of them are found in think-tanks or editorial board meetings at the @FT , not in presidential or prime ministerial offices.) www.ft.com/content/2f65...
The G20 has a mission but not a role
An institution that relied on principled co-operation was always going to stumble
www.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Very few people genuinely believe in multilateralism & multilateral institutions as good things in themselves. (Most of them are found in think-tanks or editorial board meetings at the @FT , not in presidential or prime ministerial offices.) www.ft.com/content/2f65...
Imagine defending a suitor who’s a serial arsonist because the other guy has a jaywalking citation; both bachelors are lawbreakers, after all. That’s the perverse moral arithmetic of more than a few Trump apologists www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
Opinion | The Outrageous False Equivalences That Prop Up President Trump
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Imagine defending a suitor who’s a serial arsonist because the other guy has a jaywalking citation; both bachelors are lawbreakers, after all. That’s the perverse moral arithmetic of more than a few Trump apologists www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
Given this map, it's hardly surprising that unrest is growing in Latin America brilliantmaps.beehiiv.com/p/11-midweek...
November 19, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Given this map, it's hardly surprising that unrest is growing in Latin America brilliantmaps.beehiiv.com/p/11-midweek...
Tariff shocks through history have actually been aggregate demand shocks rather than price ones. They’ve led to higher unemployment and, ironically given current discussions in the US, lower inflation www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
How Affordability Disrupted Trump’s Economic Case for Tariffs
American voters feeling the sting of higher prices forced Trump to backpedal on tariffs
www.bloomberg.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Tariff shocks through history have actually been aggregate demand shocks rather than price ones. They’ve led to higher unemployment and, ironically given current discussions in the US, lower inflation www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Wishful thinking or is Trump really losing his iron grip on the Republican party? heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-1...
November 17, 2025 (Monday)
President Donald J.
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Wishful thinking or is Trump really losing his iron grip on the Republican party? heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-1...
With real disposable personal income in Sept 2025 still fractionally below where it was in Jan 2021, there is hardly a surplus of spendable inflation-adjusted consumer purchasing power that points to painless way out from America’s affordability trap stephenroach.substack.com/p/affordabil...
Affordability for Dummies
A primer on America's most contentious economic issue.
stephenroach.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:26 PM
With real disposable personal income in Sept 2025 still fractionally below where it was in Jan 2021, there is hardly a surplus of spendable inflation-adjusted consumer purchasing power that points to painless way out from America’s affordability trap stephenroach.substack.com/p/affordabil...
In de harde cijfers is nog weinig te merken van buitenlands talent dat Amerika ontvlucht? www.economist.com/graphic-deta...
Despite claims, foreign students have not yet been put off America
Our analysis shows that a reported dip in arrivals this year may be a mirage
www.economist.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:46 PM
In de harde cijfers is nog weinig te merken van buitenlands talent dat Amerika ontvlucht? www.economist.com/graphic-deta...
China appears to have got what it wants, which is control over its own destiny. By using its leverage from rare earths, it has kept US pressure at arm’s length. Now, it needs to unlock stronger domestic demand; the real test will be at home www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
End the Shutdown, Buy the Dip
Democrats are trying to figure out what went wrong. Asset prices never cared.
www.bloomberg.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM
China appears to have got what it wants, which is control over its own destiny. By using its leverage from rare earths, it has kept US pressure at arm’s length. Now, it needs to unlock stronger domestic demand; the real test will be at home www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
Ganesh had A'dam/Randstad vs 'De Provincie' ook kunnen noemen www.ft.com/content/f9c2...
November 10, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Ganesh had A'dam/Randstad vs 'De Provincie' ook kunnen noemen www.ft.com/content/f9c2...
At ~14.5% margins, the S&P is more profitable than ever. And unlike the clear “bubbles” of Dotcom and Pandemania, current valuations are well within trend. Adjusting for margins, the current p/e is ~17.75%, which is about the same as it was from 2015-2018! a16z.substack.com/p/charts-of-...
Charts of the week (11/7)
Valuations not so crazy? US startups doing it faster; survey says: gimme more; forward-deployed goes parabolic; SF is so back
a16z.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
At ~14.5% margins, the S&P is more profitable than ever. And unlike the clear “bubbles” of Dotcom and Pandemania, current valuations are well within trend. Adjusting for margins, the current p/e is ~17.75%, which is about the same as it was from 2015-2018! a16z.substack.com/p/charts-of-...
These days, if you knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, than to hire a handyman to fix your drywall a16z.substack.com/p/why-ac-is-... HT @semafor.com
Why AC is cheap, but AC repair is a luxury
The Baumol Effect and Jevons paradox are related
a16z.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
These days, if you knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, than to hire a handyman to fix your drywall a16z.substack.com/p/why-ac-is-... HT @semafor.com
U.S. employers have announced 1.1 million layoffs so far this year — the largest reading since the pandemic recession and on par with 2008 and 2009 job cuts during the Great Recession www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Layoffs rise to recession-like levels through October, new report says
Employers have announced 1.1 million job cuts so far this year, the highest reading since the pandemic, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:24 PM
U.S. employers have announced 1.1 million layoffs so far this year — the largest reading since the pandemic recession and on par with 2008 and 2009 job cuts during the Great Recession www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Bretton Woods, GATT, dollar hegemony looked like pillars of a universal order but were just instruments of demographic arbitrage. "The international order” was actually a contingent settlement that only worked whilst specific demographic conditions held 7thin.gs/p/automation...
The Automation Trap
Robots, Old People, And What Happens When Nobody’s Left to Buy.
7thin.gs
November 6, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Bretton Woods, GATT, dollar hegemony looked like pillars of a universal order but were just instruments of demographic arbitrage. "The international order” was actually a contingent settlement that only worked whilst specific demographic conditions held 7thin.gs/p/automation...
China ages rapidly. Europe’s population shrinks. The US will grow only through immigration – which is now politically constrained. The demographic heartlands of future demand are clear 7thin.gs/p/automation...
The Automation Trap
Robots, Old People, And What Happens When Nobody’s Left to Buy.
7thin.gs
November 6, 2025 at 9:29 PM
China ages rapidly. Europe’s population shrinks. The US will grow only through immigration – which is now politically constrained. The demographic heartlands of future demand are clear 7thin.gs/p/automation...
The real question isn’t how to fight Chinese robots. It’s how to ensure automation’s benefits spread rather than concentrate 7thin.gs/p/automation...
The Automation Trap
Robots, Old People, And What Happens When Nobody’s Left to Buy.
7thin.gs
November 6, 2025 at 5:24 PM
The real question isn’t how to fight Chinese robots. It’s how to ensure automation’s benefits spread rather than concentrate 7thin.gs/p/automation...
The longest shutdown ever. Supreme Court hearings on Trump’s trade powers. America still sets the rhythm of the global economy — but right now the beat is off. I looks at how these overlapping shocks are rewriting the risk map for investors ecrresearch.com/research/glo...
November 6, 2025 at 11:46 AM
The longest shutdown ever. Supreme Court hearings on Trump’s trade powers. America still sets the rhythm of the global economy — but right now the beat is off. I looks at how these overlapping shocks are rewriting the risk map for investors ecrresearch.com/research/glo...
Hong Kong’s leaders reject the choice between being a Chinese or a world city, if “world” is another way of saying “Western”. Hong Kong officials insist that the territory can prosper without hewing to liberal, democratic values www.economist.com/internationa...
China places a Hong Kong-sized bet on Western decline
The territory aims to prove that a non-free society can be a global financial hub
www.economist.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Hong Kong’s leaders reject the choice between being a Chinese or a world city, if “world” is another way of saying “Western”. Hong Kong officials insist that the territory can prosper without hewing to liberal, democratic values www.economist.com/internationa...
There’s been so much talk this year about crypto and Bitcoin specifically, and Bitcoin’s role as a debasement hedge. And yet not only have Treasuries and Bitcoin offered similar returns, the Bitcoin volatility has been so much more aggressive www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
How Are We Feeling About That Debasement Trade?
Hello and welcome to the newsletter, a grab bag of daily content from the Odd Lots universe. Sometimes it's us, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, bringing you our thoughts on the most recent developme...
www.bloomberg.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:16 PM
There’s been so much talk this year about crypto and Bitcoin specifically, and Bitcoin’s role as a debasement hedge. And yet not only have Treasuries and Bitcoin offered similar returns, the Bitcoin volatility has been so much more aggressive www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
As a year ago, this election was less an endorsement of a programme than another expression of frustration. Mamdani’s joyful campaign made New Yorkers feel good, but his victory could make Republican strategists feel even better www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
Democrats risk drawing the wrong lessons from one good day
Moderate governors offer a better model than a charming socialist in New York
www.economist.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:54 PM
As a year ago, this election was less an endorsement of a programme than another expression of frustration. Mamdani’s joyful campaign made New Yorkers feel good, but his victory could make Republican strategists feel even better www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
President Trump isn’t yet winning voters over on the agenda he promised, and he’s also activating his political opposition with his power grabs. This is a recipe for a midterm blowout www.readtangle.com/the-2025-ele...
Democrats sweep the 2025 elections.
What do the results portend for the 2026 midterms?
www.readtangle.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:39 PM
President Trump isn’t yet winning voters over on the agenda he promised, and he’s also activating his political opposition with his power grabs. This is a recipe for a midterm blowout www.readtangle.com/the-2025-ele...
Remember the bumper stickers: “I’d Take Mean Tweets & $2 Gas Right Now.” Well… here you go: A lot of people will take mean texts & fighting Trump right now. Or mean texts & their federal job, or stability from the government, or even just political power www.readtangle.com/the-2025-ele...
Democrats sweep the 2025 elections.
What do the results portend for the 2026 midterms?
www.readtangle.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Remember the bumper stickers: “I’d Take Mean Tweets & $2 Gas Right Now.” Well… here you go: A lot of people will take mean texts & fighting Trump right now. Or mean texts & their federal job, or stability from the government, or even just political power www.readtangle.com/the-2025-ele...
Tuesday’s results signal that many voters in all the constituencies that moved toward Trump in 2024 remain within reach for both parties www.readtangle.com/the-2025-ele...
Democrats sweep the 2025 elections.
What do the results portend for the 2026 midterms?
www.readtangle.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Tuesday’s results signal that many voters in all the constituencies that moved toward Trump in 2024 remain within reach for both parties www.readtangle.com/the-2025-ele...