Sam Thorpe
@samthorpe.bsky.social
Researching the economics of inequality, tax, capital flows, and industrial policy. Formerly federal fiscal policy @ Brookings; research + organizing @ UChicago.
That said, all of these complaints certainly still apply - this would have been a lot more useful when Romney was in office than it is now.
New "please tax me more" op-ed from Mitt Romney is only about 13 years too late to be helpful.
As a presidential candidate in 2012, he gave off *slightly* different vibes.
1) at a time when candidates still routinely released their tax returns. he refused.
(1/x)
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
As a presidential candidate in 2012, he gave off *slightly* different vibes.
1) at a time when candidates still routinely released their tax returns. he refused.
(1/x)
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
www.nytimes.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:02 PM
That said, all of these complaints certainly still apply - this would have been a lot more useful when Romney was in office than it is now.
Surprisingly good and even-handed stuff from Mitt Romney on taxes (!!). Although I'm sure we would disagree on some of the details, He's clear that we need to lift the FICA earnings cap and close the capital gains at death loophole. I wish this was the sort of debate we were having nationally.
Opinion | Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me
www.nytimes.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Surprisingly good and even-handed stuff from Mitt Romney on taxes (!!). Although I'm sure we would disagree on some of the details, He's clear that we need to lift the FICA earnings cap and close the capital gains at death loophole. I wish this was the sort of debate we were having nationally.
Mainstream media outlets are treating this far too credulously. This is clearly and demonstrably an Orban-style attempt to use favored oligarchs to buy up media outlets. The papers of record need to stand up for press freedom before it's too late.
Shock as Orbán allies take ownership of Hungary’s most-read newspaper
Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orbán media group Indamedia
www.theguardian.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Mainstream media outlets are treating this far too credulously. This is clearly and demonstrably an Orban-style attempt to use favored oligarchs to buy up media outlets. The papers of record need to stand up for press freedom before it's too late.
Absolutely baffling that mainstream coverage of the Paramount bid for WBD barely alludes to its political dimension. If it goes through, right-wing billionaires will wholly own FOX, CBS, and CNN. This, not antitrust claims, is the reason that Paramount is likely to succeed.
December 8, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Absolutely baffling that mainstream coverage of the Paramount bid for WBD barely alludes to its political dimension. If it goes through, right-wing billionaires will wholly own FOX, CBS, and CNN. This, not antitrust claims, is the reason that Paramount is likely to succeed.
I don't think this fully negates John's point - we'd expect at least some 25-34 year olds with college degrees (and esp. advanced degrees) to be new entrants, and very few 25-34 year olds with only high school degrees to be. But I think looking at both provides a more nuanced picture!
December 3, 2025 at 10:58 AM
I don't think this fully negates John's point - we'd expect at least some 25-34 year olds with college degrees (and esp. advanced degrees) to be new entrants, and very few 25-34 year olds with only high school degrees to be. But I think looking at both provides a more nuanced picture!
I find the big uptick for 25-34s with an MA and higher in summer 2025 interesting too. Probably the best descriptive evidence that this is starting to have an effect on advanced degree holders.
December 3, 2025 at 10:57 AM
I find the big uptick for 25-34s with an MA and higher in summer 2025 interesting too. Probably the best descriptive evidence that this is starting to have an effect on advanced degree holders.
Oh, this is really interesting. I hadn't looked at these numbers before. Decomposing this, it seems like high school unemployment for 25-34 year olds has been ~flat (with some fluctuations) since 2022, while college unemployment for the same group has increased somewhat since 2024:
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Oh, this is really interesting. I hadn't looked at these numbers before. Decomposing this, it seems like high school unemployment for 25-34 year olds has been ~flat (with some fluctuations) since 2022, while college unemployment for the same group has increased somewhat since 2024:
Reposted by Sam Thorpe
It still seems relevant to compare within, say, 25-34. The ratio of college unemployment to high school unemployment is definitely higher than it has been previously.
December 1, 2025 at 8:29 PM
It still seems relevant to compare within, say, 25-34. The ratio of college unemployment to high school unemployment is definitely higher than it has been previously.
Hah - friends and I were just figuring this out for econ. At least in econ, it's just the test you did best on, but worth confirming it's the same across disciplines!
November 18, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Hah - friends and I were just figuring this out for econ. At least in econ, it's just the test you did best on, but worth confirming it's the same across disciplines!
Reposted by Sam Thorpe
A senior academic using mentoring as leverage to obtain sex is a contemptible abuser of power.
Summers conferred with Epstein frequently about how to extract sexual favors from a Harvard econ grad (AB '04, PhD '09)
The grad is from China
Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril"
Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package
bit.ly/3LHpin8
The grad is from China
Epstein and Summers referred to her by the codename "Peril"
Racism and sexual exploitation in one efficient package
bit.ly/3LHpin8
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jef...
bit.ly
November 17, 2025 at 8:07 AM
A senior academic using mentoring as leverage to obtain sex is a contemptible abuser of power.
Quinn and Turner (2020), in a book also written before the AI bubble began, suggest the same factors were at play in the dot-com boom, along with another interesting narrative factor that (again) feels rather familiar today:
November 17, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Quinn and Turner (2020), in a book also written before the AI bubble began, suggest the same factors were at play in the dot-com boom, along with another interesting narrative factor that (again) feels rather familiar today:
R:e the 'AI bubble,' this analysis of what drove the 1929 bubble from White (1990) feels rather familiar. The difficulty of assessing fundamentals in novel industries + a massive expansion of retail investors + an expansion in credit availability are all seen as providing fuel to the fire.
November 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
R:e the 'AI bubble,' this analysis of what drove the 1929 bubble from White (1990) feels rather familiar. The difficulty of assessing fundamentals in novel industries + a massive expansion of retail investors + an expansion in credit availability are all seen as providing fuel to the fire.
The sharp increase in the UK (doubling in the last decade, especially since Brexit!) seems particularly notable. So does the decline and persistently low level in Germany (although delayed East German reunification effects almost certainly playing a role there.)
November 14, 2025 at 2:33 PM
The sharp increase in the UK (doubling in the last decade, especially since Brexit!) seems particularly notable. So does the decline and persistently low level in Germany (although delayed East German reunification effects almost certainly playing a role there.)
Another fantastic new stylized fact from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com - stable or declining NEET rates in many developed economies have been driven by a decline in parenting. The share neither studying, in work, looking for work, *or parenting* has marched up steadily since 2000. www.ft.com/content/bd61...
November 14, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Another fantastic new stylized fact from @jburnmurdoch.ft.com - stable or declining NEET rates in many developed economies have been driven by a decline in parenting. The share neither studying, in work, looking for work, *or parenting* has marched up steadily since 2000. www.ft.com/content/bd61...
Really interesting new paper that changed my priors on recent shifts in college education! In short, strong labor markets explain most of the decline in community college enrollments, while four-year enrollments have actually remained similar. See also www.chalkbeat.org/2025/11/11/i....
Joe Winkelmann & I have released a new @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social working paper:
"Labor Market Strength and Declining Community College Enrollment"
We show stronger labor markets since 2009 explain most of the decline in community college enrollments.
wheelockpolicycenter.org/high-quality...
"Labor Market Strength and Declining Community College Enrollment"
We show stronger labor markets since 2009 explain most of the decline in community college enrollments.
wheelockpolicycenter.org/high-quality...
November 12, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Really interesting new paper that changed my priors on recent shifts in college education! In short, strong labor markets explain most of the decline in community college enrollments, while four-year enrollments have actually remained similar. See also www.chalkbeat.org/2025/11/11/i....
There are very real economic costs here, especially to federal employees and businesses in areas with many federal employees (the recent VA election results may in part reflect this). But they're not generally as big as naive reporting on the daily or weekly costs would suggest.
November 5, 2025 at 11:58 AM
There are very real economic costs here, especially to federal employees and businesses in areas with many federal employees (the recent VA election results may in part reflect this). But they're not generally as big as naive reporting on the daily or weekly costs would suggest.
Hey Ben, these estimates are slightly misleading since the vast majority of shutdown costs are typically recouped after reopening. The nonpartisan CBO's most recent analysis suggests the lasting costs will be between $7 bn and $14 bn *total*, not per week (see linked).
www.cbo.gov
November 5, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Hey Ben, these estimates are slightly misleading since the vast majority of shutdown costs are typically recouped after reopening. The nonpartisan CBO's most recent analysis suggests the lasting costs will be between $7 bn and $14 bn *total*, not per week (see linked).
Reposted by Sam Thorpe
These big wins will embolden Dems to take on Trump's lawbreaking and show there's a price for GOP enabling of him. Folks hate to hear this, but normal patterns are asserting themselves: Liberalism isn't dead, Rs are likely to lose in 2026, and Trump is really unpopular, not a magical exception.
November 5, 2025 at 1:30 AM
These big wins will embolden Dems to take on Trump's lawbreaking and show there's a price for GOP enabling of him. Folks hate to hear this, but normal patterns are asserting themselves: Liberalism isn't dead, Rs are likely to lose in 2026, and Trump is really unpopular, not a magical exception.
Reposted by Sam Thorpe
The Pentagon “inviting in” private equity “to refurbish some real estate, or even raise financing against the real estate” and to develop “financing tools for the army’s supply chain and overall capex”: surely the apotheosis of long-hegemonic-cycle theory. Arrighi undefeated.
on.ft.com/3WPMwcU
on.ft.com/3WPMwcU
October 21, 2025 at 7:42 AM
The Pentagon “inviting in” private equity “to refurbish some real estate, or even raise financing against the real estate” and to develop “financing tools for the army’s supply chain and overall capex”: surely the apotheosis of long-hegemonic-cycle theory. Arrighi undefeated.
on.ft.com/3WPMwcU
on.ft.com/3WPMwcU
Reposted by Sam Thorpe
Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
October 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Trump's mechanism to pay the troops during the shutdown is by far the most illegal budgetary action he's taken as POTUS, potentially setting the stage to break everything.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
It's also needless because Congress would easily pass a troop pay bill if Johnson were willing to gavel in.
Long thread.
Reposted by Sam Thorpe
BREAKING via WSJ
The Trump administration is planning sweeping changes in criminal division at the IRS.
Full Story: on.wsj.com/3LbVFtK
The Trump administration is planning sweeping changes in criminal division at the IRS.
Full Story: on.wsj.com/3LbVFtK
October 16, 2025 at 12:12 AM
BREAKING via WSJ
The Trump administration is planning sweeping changes in criminal division at the IRS.
Full Story: on.wsj.com/3LbVFtK
The Trump administration is planning sweeping changes in criminal division at the IRS.
Full Story: on.wsj.com/3LbVFtK
Gonna be blasting Voodoo for the foreseeable future. If you haven't listened to D'Angelo before, start here and don't stop:
Send It On
YouTube video by D'Angelo - Topic
www.youtube.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Gonna be blasting Voodoo for the foreseeable future. If you haven't listened to D'Angelo before, start here and don't stop:
RIP D'Angelo. Your favorite musician's favorite musician. Responsible for three of the greatest albums of all time, and played a hand in dozens of others. Such a loss.
Before deciding to pursue economics, I thought I was going to spend my life as a musician. Back then, D was my biggest inspiration.
Before deciding to pursue economics, I thought I was going to spend my life as a musician. Back then, D was my biggest inspiration.
D'Angelo talks funk and plays a P-Funk tune.
YouTube video by Nelson George
youtu.be
October 14, 2025 at 6:55 PM
RIP D'Angelo. Your favorite musician's favorite musician. Responsible for three of the greatest albums of all time, and played a hand in dozens of others. Such a loss.
Before deciding to pursue economics, I thought I was going to spend my life as a musician. Back then, D was my biggest inspiration.
Before deciding to pursue economics, I thought I was going to spend my life as a musician. Back then, D was my biggest inspiration.
Can't believe this is how I found out D'Angelo died. Just fucked up. Surely Voodoo will go down in history as one of the greatest albums of all time, but everything he touched was gold. Unreal.
October 14, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Can't believe this is how I found out D'Angelo died. Just fucked up. Surely Voodoo will go down in history as one of the greatest albums of all time, but everything he touched was gold. Unreal.