alex williams
@atwilliams.bsky.social
macroeconomist and computer user at http://www.common-wealth.org, editor at www.continuousvariation.com, fellow at stanford, partisan of the republic of letters, "RTs = ya gotta see this"
your context clues won't help you here
your context clues won't help you here
Pinned
alex williams
@atwilliams.bsky.social
· Aug 22
"because only that exists which can be posted, bodies themselves fell under the regime of the symbolic" - literal Kittler
Reposted by alex williams
Like oil companies aren’t idiots. There’s basically no long term upside to taking over Venezuelan oil production. Especially now
January 3, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Like oil companies aren’t idiots. There’s basically no long term upside to taking over Venezuelan oil production. Especially now
havent seen any good "oh so i guess thats what Chevron Deference means now" jokes yet
January 3, 2026 at 3:01 PM
havent seen any good "oh so i guess thats what Chevron Deference means now" jokes yet
Reposted by alex williams
as a final note this is part of why i have such a burning hatred for gamblers right now. you have to assume from here on out that everything admin does will be subject to insider trading of some sort
January 3, 2026 at 11:25 AM
as a final note this is part of why i have such a burning hatred for gamblers right now. you have to assume from here on out that everything admin does will be subject to insider trading of some sort
Reposted by alex williams
Im seeing discussions about consultations with congress, authorizations of force etc. I have to say this transcends any of what I would call sub constitutional technicalities. The president has gone to war with a foreign power and, it seems, kidnapped a foreign head of state on the basis of nothing.
January 3, 2026 at 9:43 AM
Im seeing discussions about consultations with congress, authorizations of force etc. I have to say this transcends any of what I would call sub constitutional technicalities. The president has gone to war with a foreign power and, it seems, kidnapped a foreign head of state on the basis of nothing.
is there actually more to james c scott/david graeber in the long run that cant be accounted for under "bureaucracy, regardless of relation to production, is also an independent site of proletarianization" ?
January 2, 2026 at 1:22 PM
is there actually more to james c scott/david graeber in the long run that cant be accounted for under "bureaucracy, regardless of relation to production, is also an independent site of proletarianization" ?
Reposted by alex williams
funding lotteries have been waiting for this moment
This report in Nature on the costs of competing for & administering scientific grants is shocking: "In other words, European taxpayers will have spent more on the funding process than on the funding itself, and the scientific ecosystem has been drained." www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪
Point of no returns: researchers are crossing a threshold in the fight for funding
With so little money to go round, the costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth. When that happens, nobody wins.
www.nature.com
January 2, 2026 at 11:52 AM
funding lotteries have been waiting for this moment
Reposted by alex williams
This would be so popular at the national level if centrist Democrats let us use those words in that order
Mamdani: "The cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family, because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few"
January 1, 2026 at 8:04 PM
This would be so popular at the national level if centrist Democrats let us use those words in that order
Reposted by alex williams
I was wondering what Mamdani's first executive order would be, and I'm not disappointed by this.
He has wiped off the books EVERY Eric Adams executive order issued on or after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges.
He has wiped off the books EVERY Eric Adams executive order issued on or after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges.
January 1, 2026 at 11:07 PM
I was wondering what Mamdani's first executive order would be, and I'm not disappointed by this.
He has wiped off the books EVERY Eric Adams executive order issued on or after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges.
He has wiped off the books EVERY Eric Adams executive order issued on or after September 26, 2024, the day Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges.
times squares
#AccidentalAbstractions, Times Square NYC, January 1, 2026, early morning
January 1, 2026 at 5:03 PM
times squares
Reposted by alex williams
It's official: Bulgaria is in the euro-zone.
An excerpt from an atypically emotional NYE address by the Central Bank governor:
"Thank you, friends. We are home.
This is not a protocol. It is a feeling.
In this sense, the euro is not just an economic solution...
www.bnb.bg/AboutUs/Pres...
An excerpt from an atypically emotional NYE address by the Central Bank governor:
"Thank you, friends. We are home.
This is not a protocol. It is a feeling.
In this sense, the euro is not just an economic solution...
www.bnb.bg/AboutUs/Pres...
December 31, 2025 at 11:30 PM
It's official: Bulgaria is in the euro-zone.
An excerpt from an atypically emotional NYE address by the Central Bank governor:
"Thank you, friends. We are home.
This is not a protocol. It is a feeling.
In this sense, the euro is not just an economic solution...
www.bnb.bg/AboutUs/Pres...
An excerpt from an atypically emotional NYE address by the Central Bank governor:
"Thank you, friends. We are home.
This is not a protocol. It is a feeling.
In this sense, the euro is not just an economic solution...
www.bnb.bg/AboutUs/Pres...
Reposted by alex williams
Yearly reminder that you CAN just become a different person, you're not as imprisoned in your life as you think. You can just be the one who dresses nice or exercises or reads a lot, or whatever. You can just start doing it, some people might make fun of you but they don't really care.
December 31, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Yearly reminder that you CAN just become a different person, you're not as imprisoned in your life as you think. You can just be the one who dresses nice or exercises or reads a lot, or whatever. You can just start doing it, some people might make fun of you but they don't really care.
Reposted by alex williams
The assessments of 1 and 2 on this list are about as well-trodden as any macroeconomic discourse get and absolutely impervious to the empirical reality of how bond and currency markets treat Treasuries and the USD.
So, of these four options, we have:
1. Economic collapse
2. financial engineering (that probably won’t work, and even if it does still wouldn’t be great)
3. Eliminate at least part of the American welfare state
4. Increase the average families taxes by $77 every two weeks ($5.50 a day).
hard choice
1. Economic collapse
2. financial engineering (that probably won’t work, and even if it does still wouldn’t be great)
3. Eliminate at least part of the American welfare state
4. Increase the average families taxes by $77 every two weeks ($5.50 a day).
hard choice
December 30, 2025 at 8:03 PM
The assessments of 1 and 2 on this list are about as well-trodden as any macroeconomic discourse get and absolutely impervious to the empirical reality of how bond and currency markets treat Treasuries and the USD.
Reposted by alex williams
Cat running for office: But we're going to get rid of the humans because they've been treating us very badly. And our bowls will be full in the morning- perhaps fuller than ever before
October 29, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Cat running for office: But we're going to get rid of the humans because they've been treating us very badly. And our bowls will be full in the morning- perhaps fuller than ever before
the more i learn about him the more confident i am that goethe is one of the posters of all time
December 31, 2025 at 4:29 PM
the more i learn about him the more confident i am that goethe is one of the posters of all time
Reposted by alex williams
absolutely world-changing. even beyond the “harm”, my hope for greater drug literacy is that some people who’ve only drank alcohol and think cannabis is a Dangerous Substance would realize that THEY are the ones more playing with fire.
December 31, 2025 at 3:43 PM
absolutely world-changing. even beyond the “harm”, my hope for greater drug literacy is that some people who’ve only drank alcohol and think cannabis is a Dangerous Substance would realize that THEY are the ones more playing with fire.
Reposted by alex williams
Every major city oughta have their own book review. Well done.
We launched Oakland Review of Books in 2025, starting with an events calendar and vibe reports and, as we've gone on, more and more blogs and reviews and even a few full-on bangers. (And The Oakland syllabus!) We've actually done a lot.
But 2026 is going to be The Year of ORB!
But 2026 is going to be The Year of ORB!
December 31, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Every major city oughta have their own book review. Well done.
"attempts to exit the symbolic order using the symbolic order have been met by continuation of the symbolic order"
"I discovered reverse escapism—when you plunge into imagined worlds, yearning for oblivion, only to find super-exaggerated versions of the worst people and ideas that are plaguing you in real life." New from @jilldlawrence.bsky.social: lnk.thebulwark.com/4qyw6CO
How I Failed Escapism 101
‘The Diplomat’ and ‘The Black Wolf’ are too close to reality for comfort.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 31, 2025 at 4:01 PM
"attempts to exit the symbolic order using the symbolic order have been met by continuation of the symbolic order"
Reposted by alex williams
biggest technological revolution of our lifetimes and it's not AI or blockchain or cryptocurrency or metaverse.
“South Africans like Dr. Booley have found a remedy for power cuts that have plagued people in the developing world for years. Thanks to swiftly falling prices of Chinese made solar panels and batteries, they now draw their power from the sun.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/c...
Cheap Solar Is Transforming Lives and Economies Across Africa
www.nytimes.com
December 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
biggest technological revolution of our lifetimes and it's not AI or blockchain or cryptocurrency or metaverse.
Reposted by alex williams
"Excess fuel supplies, a hardware backlog and a more competitive alternative bode ill for LNG market incumbents. A crash is looming."
I'm used to making forecasts a few years ahead. But things are moving fast now. I wrote this story in Sept and now Reuters is running with the same message
I'm used to making forecasts a few years ahead. But things are moving fast now. I wrote this story in Sept and now Reuters is running with the same message
Breakingviews - Renewables turn LNG glut into a sinkhole
Drillers from Exxon to Shell aim to boost global supply of the fossil fuel by 50% by 2030. Yet demand in key markets like China is falling. And hopes of gas replacing coal power look misplaced as sola...
www.reuters.com
December 29, 2025 at 7:26 PM
"Excess fuel supplies, a hardware backlog and a more competitive alternative bode ill for LNG market incumbents. A crash is looming."
I'm used to making forecasts a few years ahead. But things are moving fast now. I wrote this story in Sept and now Reuters is running with the same message
I'm used to making forecasts a few years ahead. But things are moving fast now. I wrote this story in Sept and now Reuters is running with the same message
Reposted by alex williams
so it happened - greens just met labour in the polling average
December 29, 2025 at 12:17 PM
so it happened - greens just met labour in the polling average
Reposted by alex williams
Masked agents dragged a teacher from her classroom. They pepper-sprayed a toddler. They shot a father of two, for the crime of trying to go to work.
This is Trump’s America—and we need your help to keep exposing it.
trib.al/vg825QS
This is Trump’s America—and we need your help to keep exposing it.
trib.al/vg825QS
Trump’s Immigration Nightmare: It Is Happening Here
With astonishing speed, the administration has toppled the most cherished pillars of a free society. And the experts agree: It’s all going to get much, much worse.
trib.al
December 29, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Masked agents dragged a teacher from her classroom. They pepper-sprayed a toddler. They shot a father of two, for the crime of trying to go to work.
This is Trump’s America—and we need your help to keep exposing it.
trib.al/vg825QS
This is Trump’s America—and we need your help to keep exposing it.
trib.al/vg825QS
Reposted by alex williams
[screaming at the top of my lungs, once again] the fundamental technology of humanity is care
We didn't survive and thrive as a species because we had warriors or hunters - pretty much every omnivore can manage that.
We did so because we developed Grandmothers, and domesticated Dogs.
Community is what defines us as a species, and every "self-reliant" libertarian shitweasel be damned.
We did so because we developed Grandmothers, and domesticated Dogs.
Community is what defines us as a species, and every "self-reliant" libertarian shitweasel be damned.
"my least woke opinion is---"
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
December 28, 2025 at 7:02 AM
[screaming at the top of my lungs, once again] the fundamental technology of humanity is care
Reposted by alex williams
America has 925 billionaires as of this year. Collectively they have a record $6.9 trillion in wealth.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
December 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
America has 925 billionaires as of this year. Collectively they have a record $6.9 trillion in wealth.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.
When 925 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
Reposted by alex williams
90% of bluesky posts, to me
this fellow has broken loose from somewhere; he’s talking about something and somebody we don’t know
December 27, 2025 at 10:00 PM
90% of bluesky posts, to me