Chris Cunningham
@econcunningham.bsky.social
Urban, Housing, Real Estate and Public Economics; former Fed Economist, Founder Citinomics.com; Syracuse grad, dad, hiker, living in Den Haag, NL.
Sunday morning at 10:30 and the The Hague city services was out to empty to a full recycling vault. This is great infrastructure, but it also requires diligent service provision.
November 10, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Sunday morning at 10:30 and the The Hague city services was out to empty to a full recycling vault. This is great infrastructure, but it also requires diligent service provision.
This is pretty clearly a man-made lake.
November 10, 2025 at 1:32 PM
This is pretty clearly a man-made lake.
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
Spoiler alert, in the wonder murder mystery series The Residence, trading government contracts for private White House renovations was a serious crime that might drive someone to murder to avoid detection...
Meet the 37 private donors for Trump’s ballroom—many of whom have ongoing governmental contracts or regulatory cases.
It sure looks like their multi-million dollar donations are a way to curry favor.
It sure looks like their multi-million dollar donations are a way to curry favor.
Meet all 37 White House ballroom donors funding the $300 million build, including Silicon Valley tech giants, crypto bros and the Lutnicks | Fortune
The list, reviewed by Fortune, did not mention specific dollar amounts offered by each contributor.
fortune.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Spoiler alert, in the wonder murder mystery series The Residence, trading government contracts for private White House renovations was a serious crime that might drive someone to murder to avoid detection...
What should a future democratic president--if there is one--do with the Trump Ballroom?
cunningham75.substack.com/p/convert-th...
cunningham75.substack.com/p/convert-th...
Convert the Trump Ballroom into the Museum of Tenuous Democracy
What to do with the defiled East Wing of the White House?
cunningham75.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 8:14 PM
What should a future democratic president--if there is one--do with the Trump Ballroom?
cunningham75.substack.com/p/convert-th...
cunningham75.substack.com/p/convert-th...
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
Fraud is legal
Exclusive | Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder
The pardon follows months of efforts by Changpeng Zhao to boost Trump crypto company
www.wsj.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Fraud is legal
I tried to write a paper on the hedonic value of architecture that stalled for funding. But I did spend a lot of time reading architecture texts, and I'm pretty sure this violates certain rules of proportion.
See the White House as It Stood and What Trump Envisions www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
See the White House as It Stood and What Trump Envisions www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
White House East Wing: See Before Trump's Renovations, and Plans for His Ballroom
Here's how the White House looked before demolition of the East Wing began, and what the president plans for it.
www.nytimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:11 PM
I tried to write a paper on the hedonic value of architecture that stalled for funding. But I did spend a lot of time reading architecture texts, and I'm pretty sure this violates certain rules of proportion.
See the White House as It Stood and What Trump Envisions www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
See the White House as It Stood and What Trump Envisions www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
Let’s be clear about what just happened: Jimmy Kimmel, a prominent late-night comedian, was just taken off the airwaves because the Trump administration didn’t like what he had to say — and threatened his employer until they shut him up. voxdotcom.visitlink.me/fryLLE
September 18, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Let’s be clear about what just happened: Jimmy Kimmel, a prominent late-night comedian, was just taken off the airwaves because the Trump administration didn’t like what he had to say — and threatened his employer until they shut him up. voxdotcom.visitlink.me/fryLLE
This is a really important paper. American infrastructure is expensive because we outsourced the capacity design (or perhaps even bid) effectively.
🚨NEW RESULTS (w/ Slattery & Nober)
- When gov't engineers retire, highway projects cost more: the engineers pay for themselves 6 times over
- Improving gov’t engineer quality from the 25th to 75th percentile reduces costs by 14%, equal to 3x avg. engineer pay
Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
- When gov't engineers retire, highway projects cost more: the engineers pay for themselves 6 times over
- Improving gov’t engineer quality from the 25th to 75th percentile reduces costs by 14%, equal to 3x avg. engineer pay
Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
September 12, 2025 at 9:58 PM
This is a really important paper. American infrastructure is expensive because we outsourced the capacity design (or perhaps even bid) effectively.
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
Kirk paid to bus people to J6, man. He was not invested in a peaceful path
to winning democracy through debate, he was happy to have the appearance of playing within the rules of constitutional liberalism while actively working to overthrow it. www.govinfo.gov/app/details/...
to winning democracy through debate, he was happy to have the appearance of playing within the rules of constitutional liberalism while actively working to overthrow it. www.govinfo.gov/app/details/...
September 11, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Kirk paid to bus people to J6, man. He was not invested in a peaceful path
to winning democracy through debate, he was happy to have the appearance of playing within the rules of constitutional liberalism while actively working to overthrow it. www.govinfo.gov/app/details/...
to winning democracy through debate, he was happy to have the appearance of playing within the rules of constitutional liberalism while actively working to overthrow it. www.govinfo.gov/app/details/...
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
“If Spokane, Bremerton, Bothell and Shoreline can eliminate parking mandates citywide, Seattle should be no sweat. After all, Seattle leads the region in ditching cars and forming carfree households.”
September 11, 2025 at 4:32 AM
“If Spokane, Bremerton, Bothell and Shoreline can eliminate parking mandates citywide, Seattle should be no sweat. After all, Seattle leads the region in ditching cars and forming carfree households.”
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
The oldest trick in the climate delay playbook:
1. Rule out all other measures as unnecessary and counterproductive because we will introduce CO2 pricing
2. Then rule out CO2 pricing because it would make things unaffordable
3. Checkmate
1. Rule out all other measures as unnecessary and counterproductive because we will introduce CO2 pricing
2. Then rule out CO2 pricing because it would make things unaffordable
3. Checkmate
German Conservatives call for ditching the 2035 phaseout of fossil fuel vehicle sales, arguing that we (will) price CO2 with ETS2, so no other measure is needed
But the minute ETS2 starts in 2027 and makes fuel more expensive, they *will* campaign against it, mark my words
But the minute ETS2 starts in 2027 and makes fuel more expensive, they *will* campaign against it, mark my words
September 10, 2025 at 7:07 AM
The oldest trick in the climate delay playbook:
1. Rule out all other measures as unnecessary and counterproductive because we will introduce CO2 pricing
2. Then rule out CO2 pricing because it would make things unaffordable
3. Checkmate
1. Rule out all other measures as unnecessary and counterproductive because we will introduce CO2 pricing
2. Then rule out CO2 pricing because it would make things unaffordable
3. Checkmate
He died as he lived, discounting the costs of America's gun fetish.
September 11, 2025 at 8:52 AM
He died as he lived, discounting the costs of America's gun fetish.
These vehicles are absurd. Most tradesmen need either a full bed and/or an enclosed bed. This is just for men that are trying to compensate for some perceived inadequacies. We moved to Europe in part to escape these things gunning up our streets and they're far, far, deadlier than a conventional car
Trump is trying to force the EU to legalize US car bloat, and European safety leaders are furious:
"Europe now risks being flooded with oversized, under-regulated U.S. pick-up trucks and SUVs – vehicles that are...completely out of step with Europe’s vision for safer, more sustainable mobility."
"Europe now risks being flooded with oversized, under-regulated U.S. pick-up trucks and SUVs – vehicles that are...completely out of step with Europe’s vision for safer, more sustainable mobility."
ETSC: Mutual Recognition Deal with U.S. Will Cost Lives on Europe’s Roads
By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the United States, the European Union has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice…
etsc.eu
August 28, 2025 at 7:46 AM
These vehicles are absurd. Most tradesmen need either a full bed and/or an enclosed bed. This is just for men that are trying to compensate for some perceived inadequacies. We moved to Europe in part to escape these things gunning up our streets and they're far, far, deadlier than a conventional car
Perhaps I'm still scarred by a grad school summer in a light shaft-only apartment in Philly, but I wonder if some of this is just an arms race. My A/C (especially window or wall mounted mini-splits) dump hot air onto my neighbors, forcing them to get an A/C unit to off set it.
New @nberpubs: "Why Did Air Conditioning Adoption Accelerate Faster Than Predicted? Evidence from Mexico" www.nber.org/papers/w3410...
August 12, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Perhaps I'm still scarred by a grad school summer in a light shaft-only apartment in Philly, but I wonder if some of this is just an arms race. My A/C (especially window or wall mounted mini-splits) dump hot air onto my neighbors, forcing them to get an A/C unit to off set it.
The Netherlands is curtailing english instruction to deter foreign students. One challenge, many texts books that the faculty use aren't available in dutch.
Notice how it is not just the US. Even “good boys” govs are being idiots.
Nature’s careers team spoke to students, academics and immigration-policy specialists in the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia to take the pulse of student-visa challenges. #Academicsky 🧪
August 11, 2025 at 12:58 PM
The Netherlands is curtailing english instruction to deter foreign students. One challenge, many texts books that the faculty use aren't available in dutch.
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
Sabotage.
Head of NASA Sean Duffy intends to destroy a satellite that collects key data on carbon dioxide and plant health, by causing it to burn up in the atmosphere. The U.S. Dept of Agriculture and private agriculture firms use the data to forecast crop yield, drought conditions and more.
Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose
The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.
www.npr.org
August 10, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Sabotage.
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
N: Oslo,
E: Tokyo,
S: Capetown,
W: Oahu.
E: Tokyo,
S: Capetown,
W: Oahu.
August 8, 2025 at 3:01 PM
N: Oslo,
E: Tokyo,
S: Capetown,
W: Oahu.
E: Tokyo,
S: Capetown,
W: Oahu.
Do you remember when violating US and international law was something we'd try to keep on the DL?
youtu.be/sWwN-yDCjOM?...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...
youtu.be/sWwN-yDCjOM?...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...
Trump Directs Military to Target Foreign Drug Cartels
www.nytimes.com
August 8, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Do you remember when violating US and international law was something we'd try to keep on the DL?
youtu.be/sWwN-yDCjOM?...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...
youtu.be/sWwN-yDCjOM?...
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
1/3 of BLS leadership positions are currently vacant.
Field offices around the country are closing due to staff shortages.
They fired the advisory council that was assessing how to increase survey response rates.
These are not actions you take if you actually want to improve the data.
Field offices around the country are closing due to staff shortages.
They fired the advisory council that was assessing how to increase survey response rates.
These are not actions you take if you actually want to improve the data.
August 7, 2025 at 6:41 PM
1/3 of BLS leadership positions are currently vacant.
Field offices around the country are closing due to staff shortages.
They fired the advisory council that was assessing how to increase survey response rates.
These are not actions you take if you actually want to improve the data.
Field offices around the country are closing due to staff shortages.
They fired the advisory council that was assessing how to increase survey response rates.
These are not actions you take if you actually want to improve the data.
Reposted by Chris Cunningham
Badgers can't talk, so thank goodness they have the National Highways PR department to help communicate their appreciation.
August 8, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Badgers can't talk, so thank goodness they have the National Highways PR department to help communicate their appreciation.
When you train an AI on people's personal emails, it learns how people actually respond to serious set backs:
www.businessinsider.com/gemini-self-...
www.businessinsider.com/gemini-self-...
Google says it's working on a fix for Gemini's self-loathing 'I am a failure' comments
Google Gemini users said the bot is sharing self-loathing messages while attempting to solve tasks, including "I am a disgrace to this universe."
www.businessinsider.com
August 8, 2025 at 9:24 AM
When you train an AI on people's personal emails, it learns how people actually respond to serious set backs:
www.businessinsider.com/gemini-self-...
www.businessinsider.com/gemini-self-...
Invstr: What's Bitcoin's innate value proposition?
BitBro: It offers a trustless means of payment.
Invstr: Cool. I'll buy some of your shares on the exchange. I trust you to buy and hold Bitcoin for me.
BitBro: It offers a trustless means of payment.
Invstr: Cool. I'll buy some of your shares on the exchange. I trust you to buy and hold Bitcoin for me.
Sorry to pollute the feed with technical financial terms, but this is all fxcking nuts
www.ft.com/content/8a16...
www.ft.com/content/8a16...
August 8, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Invstr: What's Bitcoin's innate value proposition?
BitBro: It offers a trustless means of payment.
Invstr: Cool. I'll buy some of your shares on the exchange. I trust you to buy and hold Bitcoin for me.
BitBro: It offers a trustless means of payment.
Invstr: Cool. I'll buy some of your shares on the exchange. I trust you to buy and hold Bitcoin for me.
I'm boning up on EU rural development programs and I'm happy to report that Commission acronym production has increased by 16%!!
August 6, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I'm boning up on EU rural development programs and I'm happy to report that Commission acronym production has increased by 16%!!