Brian Levy
@brianlevy387.bsky.social
Practitioner. Researcher. Humanist. Professor of Practice, SAIS JHU 2012-24. Academic Director, Mandela School of Gov, U of Cape Town 2012-19. Governance & growth World Bank1989-2012. Now UCLA. Website & blog at http://workingwiththegrain.com
Good & bad news re LA homelessness.
Good news: Bold governance reforms provide a promising new platform for action.
Bad news: Trump budget cuts could produce a homelessness tsunami.
A trial by fire is coming. Will the reforms be up to the task ahead?
workingwiththegrain.com/2025/10/01/h...
Good news: Bold governance reforms provide a promising new platform for action.
Bad news: Trump budget cuts could produce a homelessness tsunami.
A trial by fire is coming. Will the reforms be up to the task ahead?
workingwiththegrain.com/2025/10/01/h...
Hope in the dark? LA’s bold governance reforms to address homelessness
The drumbeat of dispiriting daily news makes it difficult to look beyond immediate crisis. Where to find hope? Los Angeles’ ongoing homelessness crisis might seem an especially unlikely place to lo…
workingwiththegrain.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Good & bad news re LA homelessness.
Good news: Bold governance reforms provide a promising new platform for action.
Bad news: Trump budget cuts could produce a homelessness tsunami.
A trial by fire is coming. Will the reforms be up to the task ahead?
workingwiththegrain.com/2025/10/01/h...
Good news: Bold governance reforms provide a promising new platform for action.
Bad news: Trump budget cuts could produce a homelessness tsunami.
A trial by fire is coming. Will the reforms be up to the task ahead?
workingwiththegrain.com/2025/10/01/h...
Reposted by Brian Levy
Occam's Razor always rules. Always.
September 28, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Occam's Razor always rules. Always.
Reposted by Brian Levy
this is not how the ICJ works, but the sentiment is admirable.
'Jews, rebel!': Ex-Knesset speaker calls on world Jews to take Israel to ICJ over Gaza
***
www.haaretz.com
August 11, 2025 at 3:42 AM
this is not how the ICJ works, but the sentiment is admirable.
Reposted by Brian Levy
Reposted by Brian Levy
Wow, this is great.
Once again, the "real America," or what we hope is real, poking up its head.
h/t bsky.app/profile/oisi...
Once again, the "real America," or what we hope is real, poking up its head.
h/t bsky.app/profile/oisi...
August 9, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Wow, this is great.
Once again, the "real America," or what we hope is real, poking up its head.
h/t bsky.app/profile/oisi...
Once again, the "real America," or what we hope is real, poking up its head.
h/t bsky.app/profile/oisi...
Reposted by Brian Levy
This is the number that keeps me up at night
It’s one thing to say they want to deport 20 million people, it’s even one thing to go nuts brazenly doing whatever you can as the executive branch to make it happen, but the fact that they’re going to give ICE an additional 45B shows how committed they are to seeing this through.
July 1, 2025 at 9:32 PM
This is the number that keeps me up at night
I've lived through this before. Forced removals in Cape Town set in motion decades of protest, repression & dehumanization, & destroyed the city's soul. In vibrant, diverse LA, the consequences of forced removals will be devastating. How to avoid catastrophe? workingwiththegrain.com/2025/06/20/u...
‘Undocumented’ in LA – some stubborn facts
I’ve lived through this before. My first two decades of life were during peak apartheid in Cape Town, South Africa. Beneath the glistening surface of the city’s sunshine, mountains and ocean…
workingwiththegrain.com
June 20, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I've lived through this before. Forced removals in Cape Town set in motion decades of protest, repression & dehumanization, & destroyed the city's soul. In vibrant, diverse LA, the consequences of forced removals will be devastating. How to avoid catastrophe? workingwiththegrain.com/2025/06/20/u...
Reposted by Brian Levy
Fantastic
Jeffries: "We will not be lectured by Donald Trump and anyone in the Republican Party about issues of law and order ... he pardoned hundreds of violent felons, criminals, who brutally assaulted police officers and attacked the Capitol on January 6. That's what Donald Trump did on day one."
June 9, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Fantastic
Reposted by Brian Levy
I’m saddened to learn of Stanley Fischer’s passing. He is known as a top economist of course. But I was lucky to observe him, long time ago, also as a diplomat and peacemaker getting Israelis and Palestinians to work together. His talents will be much missed.
June 1, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I’m saddened to learn of Stanley Fischer’s passing. He is known as a top economist of course. But I was lucky to observe him, long time ago, also as a diplomat and peacemaker getting Israelis and Palestinians to work together. His talents will be much missed.
A thought: Instead of an ongoing flood of annoying, thinly-disguised fundraising text messages, might it perhaps be helpful to the Democratic Party to send text messages that connected credibly with the substance and concrete organizing tasks of our current moment? One can dream......
May 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
A thought: Instead of an ongoing flood of annoying, thinly-disguised fundraising text messages, might it perhaps be helpful to the Democratic Party to send text messages that connected credibly with the substance and concrete organizing tasks of our current moment? One can dream......
Decades of good intentions gone wrong helped fuel Los Angeles' twin homelessness & affordable housing crises. Recent reform initiatives offer hope that progressive approaches to governance can become part of the solution. Introducing my new research project. workingwiththegrain.com/2025/04/16/f...
From crisis to renewal? Affordable housing and homelessness in Los Angeles
In dark times, I take inspiration from the great social scientist Albert Hirschman’s commitment to the search for ‘a bias for hope’, for “avenues of escape from exaggerated notions of a…
workingwiththegrain.com
April 16, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Decades of good intentions gone wrong helped fuel Los Angeles' twin homelessness & affordable housing crises. Recent reform initiatives offer hope that progressive approaches to governance can become part of the solution. Introducing my new research project. workingwiththegrain.com/2025/04/16/f...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/b... This is an outrageous article, with the main point buried at the end: combining regressive tariffs and the scaling back of progressive taxation is the “ideal” way of redistributing from the poor/middle to the rich, under the cover of economic nationalism
Republicans Like to Cut Taxes. With Tariffs, Trump Is Raising Them.
President Trump’s tariffs are scrambling the Republican plan for the economy, long centered on tax cuts and growth.
www.nytimes.com
April 5, 2025 at 10:09 AM
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/b... This is an outrageous article, with the main point buried at the end: combining regressive tariffs and the scaling back of progressive taxation is the “ideal” way of redistributing from the poor/middle to the rich, under the cover of economic nationalism
Reposted by Brian Levy
The former ambassador to Denmark for the United States, Rufus Gifford, posted this video on his Facebook account:
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
March 29, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The former ambassador to Denmark for the United States, Rufus Gifford, posted this video on his Facebook account:
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
Ht: @hpsc24.bsky.social
This very pessimistic piece is well worth a read. Its pessimism needs to be taken seriously - even if it (hopefully) proves to be wrong.
Sunday reading: What Authoritarianism Means
I wrote about why even critical observers underestimated the speed and scope of the Trumpist assault, why they overestimated democratic resilience – about what America is now, and what comes next?
New piece:
I wrote about why even critical observers underestimated the speed and scope of the Trumpist assault, why they overestimated democratic resilience – about what America is now, and what comes next?
New piece:
What Authoritarianism Means
Even critical observers underestimated the speed and scope of the Trumpist assault, they overestimated democratic resilience. What is America now, and what comes next?
thomaszimmer.substack.com
March 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
This very pessimistic piece is well worth a read. Its pessimism needs to be taken seriously - even if it (hopefully) proves to be wrong.
How we got to this dismal place. By providing an intellectual foundation (one that trickled into popular culture) for our post-truth era, epistemic radicalism has been the Trojan horse of the reactionary-populist, anti-institutionalist right. Nice piece! nilsgilman.substack.com/p/how-did-ac...
How Did Academia Not See It Coming
Because to see it coming would have required a direct confrontation several decades ago along the central ideological dividing line within academia
nilsgilman.substack.com
March 8, 2025 at 5:44 PM
How we got to this dismal place. By providing an intellectual foundation (one that trickled into popular culture) for our post-truth era, epistemic radicalism has been the Trojan horse of the reactionary-populist, anti-institutionalist right. Nice piece! nilsgilman.substack.com/p/how-did-ac...
Reposted by Brian Levy
Trump's enablers have made a Faustian bargain to advance their particular agendas, but they are as likely to find themselves at each other's throats www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/t...
The Coming Showdown in Trumpworld | by Dani Rodrik - Project Syndicate
Dani Rodrik points out that a coalition comprising incompatible financial and ideological interests cannot last.
www.project-syndicate.org
March 1, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Trump's enablers have made a Faustian bargain to advance their particular agendas, but they are as likely to find themselves at each other's throats www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/t...
Thanks to @twpcommunity.org for publishing my new research on 'socially-embedded bureaucracy'. [Links in newsletter below.] If only these were times when we were looking for creative ways to reinvigorate public service, instead of having the prospect of disaster barreling towards us at high speed.
January - February Newsletter now out.
Read the newsletter here 👉 open.substack.com/pub/twpcop/p...
Read the newsletter here 👉 open.substack.com/pub/twpcop/p...
February 18, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Thanks to @twpcommunity.org for publishing my new research on 'socially-embedded bureaucracy'. [Links in newsletter below.] If only these were times when we were looking for creative ways to reinvigorate public service, instead of having the prospect of disaster barreling towards us at high speed.
In times of crisis, holding open the door to a hopeful future needs not just urgency, but clarity vis-a-vis goals, tactics, strategy & vision. For each, the lens of South Africa’s struggle to establish & sustain its own democracy offers useful lessons. workingwiththegrain.com/2025/02/13/p...
Protecting the guardrails of America’s democracy – some lessons from South Africa
Now what? Four weeks into the Trump administration, a wrecking ball threatens to wreak havoc with millions of peoples’ lives. A sense of urgency is in the air. Indeed, we urgently need to bea…
workingwiththegrain.com
February 13, 2025 at 10:49 PM
In times of crisis, holding open the door to a hopeful future needs not just urgency, but clarity vis-a-vis goals, tactics, strategy & vision. For each, the lens of South Africa’s struggle to establish & sustain its own democracy offers useful lessons. workingwiththegrain.com/2025/02/13/p...
This needs a wider lens @drodrik.bsky.social Canada is skillfully targeting its retaliation at products from states with Republican senators& reps. The seemingly unified Republican phalanx is (hopefully) brittle - it is crucial at this time to expose Trump's haphazardness & recklessness. Go Canada!
It’s weird that economists and commentators think Trump’s tariffs are crazy (rightly so) but regard retaliation as normal and acceptable (knowing, as they should, that it will not change Trump’s mind and that tariffs’ costs are borne primarily at home).
February 2, 2025 at 5:45 PM
This needs a wider lens @drodrik.bsky.social Canada is skillfully targeting its retaliation at products from states with Republican senators& reps. The seemingly unified Republican phalanx is (hopefully) brittle - it is crucial at this time to expose Trump's haphazardness & recklessness. Go Canada!
Reposted by Brian Levy
Preventing Unintended Mortality from the 90-Day Assistance Freeze
Blog and thread. US assistance has been at the forefront of global victories against famine and pestilence worldwide. The 90-day assistance freeze (still) threatens that.
www.cgdev.org/blog/prevent...
Blog and thread. US assistance has been at the forefront of global victories against famine and pestilence worldwide. The 90-day assistance freeze (still) threatens that.
www.cgdev.org/blog/prevent...
Preventing Deaths During the 90-Day Assistance Freeze
US assistance has been at the forefront of the global fight against famine and pestilence worldwide. Any delay or disruption of that support will have an immense cost.
www.cgdev.org
February 1, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Preventing Unintended Mortality from the 90-Day Assistance Freeze
Blog and thread. US assistance has been at the forefront of global victories against famine and pestilence worldwide. The 90-day assistance freeze (still) threatens that.
www.cgdev.org/blog/prevent...
Blog and thread. US assistance has been at the forefront of global victories against famine and pestilence worldwide. The 90-day assistance freeze (still) threatens that.
www.cgdev.org/blog/prevent...
Reposted by Brian Levy
For those who say ‘aid doesn’t work, it’s all taken by the corrupt’ and so on… a natural experiment is occurring that is tragically proving you wrong. May it end soon.
February 2, 2025 at 12:24 AM
For those who say ‘aid doesn’t work, it’s all taken by the corrupt’ and so on… a natural experiment is occurring that is tragically proving you wrong. May it end soon.
Four crusaders. And not much new under the sun. A new/old story. workingwiththegrain.com/2025/01/21/n...
Now what? The despair, complacency and resistance traps
Back in 2016/17, when I was living in Washington, resistance was in the air. Resistance was not futile, but it turns out to not have been enough – so here we are. As history is again teaching…
workingwiththegrain.com
January 21, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Four crusaders. And not much new under the sun. A new/old story. workingwiththegrain.com/2025/01/21/n...
Today 1/21, after the inauguration, the executive orders, & the salute, I join Bluesky. Today's Episcopal bishop Marianne Budde words to Donald Trump feel like a perfect first post. Truth to power. Forthright. Clear. Lowering, not raising the temperature of rage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVIn...
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde appeals to President Trump to have mercy upon immigrants and minorities
YouTube video by ONEST NETWORK
www.youtube.com
January 21, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Today 1/21, after the inauguration, the executive orders, & the salute, I join Bluesky. Today's Episcopal bishop Marianne Budde words to Donald Trump feel like a perfect first post. Truth to power. Forthright. Clear. Lowering, not raising the temperature of rage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVIn...