Conor Smyth
@consmyth18.bsky.social
Economics graduate student at John Jay College | Writer with bylines at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Jacobin, Current Affairs, and People’s Policy Project | Host of the History Onion podcast
Check out my latest for @fairmediawatch.bsky.social
The Washington Post is deceptively pushing policies that make it more likely that we will get fascism in Europe. More importantly for Jeff Bezos, they will make it less likely that the rich will have to pay more taxes.
fair.org/home/wapo-sa...
fair.org/home/wapo-sa...
WaPo Says ‘Hard Math’ Means Europe Must Lower Its Quality of Life
The idea that France may not be able to afford its social spending is a fantasy Washington Post reporters are presenting to their readers as fact.
fair.org
October 18, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Check out my latest for @fairmediawatch.bsky.social
Reposted by Conor Smyth
a heartwarming story of how being an unethical and talentless hack is no barrier to success when you are willing to endlessly flatter the wretched views of rich dipshits
Bari Weiss is set to be named the editor in chief of CBS News, the New York Post reports
October 2, 2025 at 8:12 PM
a heartwarming story of how being an unethical and talentless hack is no barrier to success when you are willing to endlessly flatter the wretched views of rich dipshits
This is spot on. The path forward isn’t moderating. It’s building out a media/comms infrastructure to support left politicians.
But if that's the case, then the main problem is not position taking, it's the utter inability to push the issues you're strong on into the center of discourse.
That is to say: it's a media problem. An information problem. A comms problem. A power problem.
Which won't be solved by retreat.
That is to say: it's a media problem. An information problem. A comms problem. A power problem.
Which won't be solved by retreat.
September 26, 2025 at 5:20 PM
This is spot on. The path forward isn’t moderating. It’s building out a media/comms infrastructure to support left politicians.
Interestingly, with the progressive policy of free buses, you get the opposite result. Public perception of a positive effect (“I saved time”) that contrasts with the empirical finding that travel times slightly increased
September 24, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Interestingly, with the progressive policy of free buses, you get the opposite result. Public perception of a positive effect (“I saved time”) that contrasts with the empirical finding that travel times slightly increased
When an expert intervenes in a debate that Matt has very strong, ~very informed~, opinions about
The level of academic snobbery and gatekeeping on here is genuinely out of control — just because you preface something with "not to be an elitist jerk" doesn't mean you're not being an elitist jerk.
Not to be an elitist jerk but why would I pay to read non-evaluation experts argue about the meaning of policy evaluation? I guess I am going to have to dig out that thread I wrote on GICP about sustainable impacts and threshold crossing events.
August 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
When an expert intervenes in a debate that Matt has very strong, ~very informed~, opinions about
Reposted by Conor Smyth
I think we have to admit that one reason there's no "liberal Joe Rogan" is that anyone on the left who actually starts acting a little wild, drawing a little attention, making a little fuss ... immediately draws shitloads of criticism & scolding from other people on the left.
August 21, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I think we have to admit that one reason there's no "liberal Joe Rogan" is that anyone on the left who actually starts acting a little wild, drawing a little attention, making a little fuss ... immediately draws shitloads of criticism & scolding from other people on the left.
Clint Eastwood
Here’s a question: who is the artist with politics you disagree strongly with, whose politics *do* (in your view) influence their art, that you still think is talented and whose work you enjoy?
August 9, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Clint Eastwood
Fuck DOGE
We will, for years to come, have to live with the degradation and harm DOGE has done to public expertise
"People take statistical agencies for granted. So they're easy to cut because there's no lobby or special interest group that's powerful enough to protect them."
- Ethan Harris, former head of global economic research at Bank of America
www.reuters.com/business/us-...
- Ethan Harris, former head of global economic research at Bank of America
www.reuters.com/business/us-...
July 31, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Fuck DOGE
This is awesome
July 30, 2025 at 8:49 PM
This is awesome
Reposted by Conor Smyth
From our latest episode “John Maynard Keynes’s Vision for a Future Utopia,” in which we discuss Keynes’s seminal 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren.”
July 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM
From our latest episode “John Maynard Keynes’s Vision for a Future Utopia,” in which we discuss Keynes’s seminal 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren.”
Reposted by Conor Smyth
the high point of my being denounced as a neoliberal shill on tiktok is when i insisted that gentrification is downstream of housing supply constraints, and isn’t a quality inherently possessed by people you don’t like
maybe I’ll get pilloried for like “not getting the joke” or whatever, but this is absolutely how, like, a comfortable percentage of Cool People think the dynamics of housing costs work and it fucking sucks
July 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
the high point of my being denounced as a neoliberal shill on tiktok is when i insisted that gentrification is downstream of housing supply constraints, and isn’t a quality inherently possessed by people you don’t like
Reposted by Conor Smyth
If you live in any of America's like ~4 biggest cities the concept of positive-sum growth is so totally foreign it seems impossible because of the refusal to build housing, the end result is people morally pit groups against each other for the existing apartment stock
maybe I’ll get pilloried for like “not getting the joke” or whatever, but this is absolutely how, like, a comfortable percentage of Cool People think the dynamics of housing costs work and it fucking sucks
July 29, 2025 at 4:33 PM
If you live in any of America's like ~4 biggest cities the concept of positive-sum growth is so totally foreign it seems impossible because of the refusal to build housing, the end result is people morally pit groups against each other for the existing apartment stock
Reposted by Conor Smyth
Reposted by Conor Smyth
From our latest episode “John Maynard Keynes’s Vision for a Future Utopia.” Source: “The Leisure Agenda.” By Ryan Cooper. Published by People’s Policy Project. #thehistoryonion #historyonion #history #economics #politics #keynes #keynesian #leisure #work #overworked #capitalism #neoliberalism
July 28, 2025 at 4:59 PM
From our latest episode “John Maynard Keynes’s Vision for a Future Utopia.” Source: “The Leisure Agenda.” By Ryan Cooper. Published by People’s Policy Project. #thehistoryonion #historyonion #history #economics #politics #keynes #keynesian #leisure #work #overworked #capitalism #neoliberalism
Just made a BlueSky account for the history podcast I cohost with my brother. Check it out below!!
From our latest episode: “John Maynard Keynes’s Vision for a Future Utopia.” Source: “The golden age.” By John Quiggin. Published by Aeon. #thehistoryonion #historyonion #history #economics #politics #keynes #keynesian #leisure #work #overworked #capitalism #neoliberalism
July 26, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Just made a BlueSky account for the history podcast I cohost with my brother. Check it out below!!
My latest for @fairmediawatch.bsky.social. 2500 words on why the NYT is failing lower-income Americans.
A historic weakening of the safety net should warrant not only major attention, but significant scrutiny from national media outlets. And yet, at the @nytimes.com, the approach has been to distract and obscure above all else.
fair.org/home/nyt-obs...
fair.org/home/nyt-obs...
NYT Obscured Worst Harms of Trump’s Budget
Through inaction and poor coverage, the New York Times undermined opposition to some of the Trump reconciliation bill's most damaging policies.
fair.org
July 17, 2025 at 9:53 PM
My latest for @fairmediawatch.bsky.social. 2500 words on why the NYT is failing lower-income Americans.
The views expressed by the editorial side of a paper are not necessarily tightly linked to the paper’s reporting. But in this case NYT reporters have absolutely been on the war path against Mamdani since the editorial board came out against him
The NYT today continued to falsely link Mamdani to a phrase he never said (but is nonetheless the correct moral position) and associated him with a loss in a race he had nothing to do with where the Bernie-backed candidate won.
July 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
The views expressed by the editorial side of a paper are not necessarily tightly linked to the paper’s reporting. But in this case NYT reporters have absolutely been on the war path against Mamdani since the editorial board came out against him
Exactly. And I will add a quote from MLK that should have put to rest the extremist version of popularism a while ago: “Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
Again: I would love for @mattyglesias.bsky.social or some other Popularist to explain how they cognize this. If you chase what's popular *now*, you will be constantly behind the thermostatic swing, flattering what public opinion *was*.
Gallup has new polling on immigration. Topline findings:
-Americans hate Trump's immigration policy (35% approve, 62% disapprove)
-Share who say immigration is a "good thing" for the country just hit an all-time high (79%)
news.gallup.com/poll/692522/...
-Americans hate Trump's immigration policy (35% approve, 62% disapprove)
-Share who say immigration is a "good thing" for the country just hit an all-time high (79%)
news.gallup.com/poll/692522/...
July 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Exactly. And I will add a quote from MLK that should have put to rest the extremist version of popularism a while ago: “Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
lol
just setting these next to each other
July 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
lol
Reposted by Conor Smyth
Trump's immigration policies are cruel, unconstitutional, and polling underwater, so of course NYTimes leaps to Trump's rescue with a new story saying Democrats need to go along with him.
I dunno maybe resist fascism and seize on your opponent's weakness? Just sayin.
chart via @gelliottmorris.com
I dunno maybe resist fascism and seize on your opponent's weakness? Just sayin.
chart via @gelliottmorris.com
July 6, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Trump's immigration policies are cruel, unconstitutional, and polling underwater, so of course NYTimes leaps to Trump's rescue with a new story saying Democrats need to go along with him.
I dunno maybe resist fascism and seize on your opponent's weakness? Just sayin.
chart via @gelliottmorris.com
I dunno maybe resist fascism and seize on your opponent's weakness? Just sayin.
chart via @gelliottmorris.com
This is actually a great example of how the media legitimizes suppression of the left. Top Democratic officials pulling the strings to get their favorites (i.e. centrists) elected is so standard as to warrant no coverage. But when a progressive official does that, it’s suddenly “unprecedented”
April 17, 2025 at 12:24 AM
This is actually a great example of how the media legitimizes suppression of the left. Top Democratic officials pulling the strings to get their favorites (i.e. centrists) elected is so standard as to warrant no coverage. But when a progressive official does that, it’s suddenly “unprecedented”
Reposted by Conor Smyth
"News consumers have no major paper espousing a truly progressive perspective," writes @conorsmyth.bsky.social fair.org/home/leading...
Leading Papers Give Two Cheers for DOGE
Criticism of DOGE by major editorial boards has been weak, and often overshadowed by the boards’ support for the ideas behind DOGE or DOGE itself.
fair.org
March 25, 2025 at 10:03 PM
"News consumers have no major paper espousing a truly progressive perspective," writes @conorsmyth.bsky.social fair.org/home/leading...
Incredible how dumb you can be and still have an opinion perch at one of this country’s most elite media institutions. Bret Stephens proving yet again that American meritocracy is a myth
One columnist, a professional pundit, is living in a paranoid delusion. The other, a sociologist, is living in America.
March 16, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Incredible how dumb you can be and still have an opinion perch at one of this country’s most elite media institutions. Bret Stephens proving yet again that American meritocracy is a myth
Reposted by Conor Smyth
there is a class of British political journalist so deeply ignorant and self-satisfied that Peter Baker would look at their work and feel shame at their professional association
anyway one of those guys writes Playbook now
anyway one of those guys writes Playbook now
a good example of how the world is getting dumber. the new politico playbook writer didn't know who FDR was until a reader told him about that whole "new deal" thing. this newsletter is read by every important person in DC.
February 18, 2025 at 6:51 PM
there is a class of British political journalist so deeply ignorant and self-satisfied that Peter Baker would look at their work and feel shame at their professional association
anyway one of those guys writes Playbook now
anyway one of those guys writes Playbook now