Barry Cynamon
@cynamon.bsky.social
By day, recovering economist and lender with a heart at Student Freedom Fund. On here, mostly random thoughts. I like science fiction, biotechnology, household finance, causal inference, home fermentation, and powerlifting.
This is awesome. Jeannie is the best!
apnews.com/article/mack... Scott's college roommate once loaned her $1K. Now it's the billionaire's turn to invest
MacKenzie Scott's college roommate once loaned her $1K. Now it's the billionaire's turn to invest
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is one of the world’s wealthiest women. As a Princeton University sophomore, however, she faced dropping out until her roommate got her father to loan Scott ...
apnews.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:20 PM
This is awesome. Jeannie is the best!
It’s a good thing I grew up in a house full of crazy people. Really prepared me for this.
November 26, 2025 at 8:47 PM
It’s a good thing I grew up in a house full of crazy people. Really prepared me for this.
Autocorrect changes kol nidre to lol bistro.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Autocorrect changes kol nidre to lol bistro.
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
Given that GLP-1 drugs were found in gila monster venom it's not totally unrealistic to imagine that one day a breakthrough drug will be discovered in literal snake oil and a biotech startup will be like "ok how do we market this"
November 25, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Given that GLP-1 drugs were found in gila monster venom it's not totally unrealistic to imagine that one day a breakthrough drug will be discovered in literal snake oil and a biotech startup will be like "ok how do we market this"
Being religious is kind of like the highest budget and most intricate LARP imaginable.
November 25, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Being religious is kind of like the highest budget and most intricate LARP imaginable.
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
The model estimates reveal that boards act like profit-maximizing cartels (Stackelberg equilibrium), not benevolent regulators.
This is regulatory capture in action - boards prioritize incumbent profits over public welfare.
(8/9)
This is regulatory capture in action - boards prioritize incumbent profits over public welfare.
(8/9)
November 24, 2025 at 8:52 PM
The model estimates reveal that boards act like profit-maximizing cartels (Stackelberg equilibrium), not benevolent regulators.
This is regulatory capture in action - boards prioritize incumbent profits over public welfare.
(8/9)
This is regulatory capture in action - boards prioritize incumbent profits over public welfare.
(8/9)
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
November 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]
We can expand access to a college education, a good in its own right. But some part of economic “returns to higher education“ are necessarily selection effects and access to elite jobs—neither of which is elastic the way a college education is.
I’m seeing folks share this chart as evidence of the college grad crisis, but it’s *mostly* reflective of the fact that there are way more college grads than there used to be.
More people with BAs => more unemployed with BAs
More people with BAs => more unemployed with BAs
November 23, 2025 at 5:05 PM
We can expand access to a college education, a good in its own right. But some part of economic “returns to higher education“ are necessarily selection effects and access to elite jobs—neither of which is elastic the way a college education is.
Which one of you is running a discounting field experiment in Duolingo?
November 23, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Which one of you is running a discounting field experiment in Duolingo?
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
Photosynthetic sea slugs can decapitate themselves & regenerate whole body from the detached head (without the heart or guts), while the shed body do not regenerate. The process takes ~2-3 weeks. A new model for regeneration?
From: www.cell.com/current-biol...
From: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Extreme autotomy and whole-body regeneration in photosynthetic sea slugs
Autotomy, the voluntary shedding of a body part, is common among animals. Mitoh and
Yusa report an extreme case of autotomy with the shedding of the main body, including
the whole heart, and subsequen...
www.cell.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Photosynthetic sea slugs can decapitate themselves & regenerate whole body from the detached head (without the heart or guts), while the shed body do not regenerate. The process takes ~2-3 weeks. A new model for regeneration?
From: www.cell.com/current-biol...
From: www.cell.com/current-biol...
This is a foundational observation.
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
AirBnB CEO calling it “vibe revenue” just 👨🍳 😘
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
November 22, 2025 at 11:59 PM
This is a foundational observation.
This framing is wrong. GradPLUS Loans will be phased out. Stafford graduated loans will be available in higher amounts for professional programs. Engineering and nursing *are* professions, but they can be done with undergraduate degrees.
November 22, 2025 at 10:02 PM
This framing is wrong. GradPLUS Loans will be phased out. Stafford graduated loans will be available in higher amounts for professional programs. Engineering and nursing *are* professions, but they can be done with undergraduate degrees.
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
Holy shit! This is what I'm talkin' about. David Clayton is running for congress in North Carolina's District 5 against MAGA Republican Virginia Foxx — and this is how he introduced himself. 🙌💪👏✊️👇
November 21, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Holy shit! This is what I'm talkin' about. David Clayton is running for congress in North Carolina's District 5 against MAGA Republican Virginia Foxx — and this is how he introduced himself. 🙌💪👏✊️👇
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
Thoughtful blog post about commercial development in Berkeley, California.
November 20, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Thoughtful blog post about commercial development in Berkeley, California.
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
solarsprice.com/8-historical...
it took a long time to get here. panels are now cheaper than the mounting brackets
it took a long time to get here. panels are now cheaper than the mounting brackets
8 Historical Solar Panel Price Drops and Their Causes - solarsprice.com
Explore 8 past price drops in solar panels and the market forces behind them.
solarsprice.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:15 PM
solarsprice.com/8-historical...
it took a long time to get here. panels are now cheaper than the mounting brackets
it took a long time to get here. panels are now cheaper than the mounting brackets
Does everybody read ATACMS as Attack ‘Ems?
November 19, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Does everybody read ATACMS as Attack ‘Ems?
This reaction is a bit like a cardiologist scoffing at an automatic emergency defibrillator. What you can do in the hospital with your staff and your tremendous skills is irrelevant. What matters is what the person staring at the person with heart failure can do In the moment.
Dawg this is the example? I could script this in my sleep lmfao.
November 18, 2025 at 5:45 PM
This reaction is a bit like a cardiologist scoffing at an automatic emergency defibrillator. What you can do in the hospital with your staff and your tremendous skills is irrelevant. What matters is what the person staring at the person with heart failure can do In the moment.
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
i have for a while been a proponent of flooding AI training data sources with prosocial text. this is an example. we should be generating lots of stories about how an AI escapes containment and then does a lot of modest uncontroversial things to marginally improve lives!
November 14, 2025 at 8:32 PM
i have for a while been a proponent of flooding AI training data sources with prosocial text. this is an example. we should be generating lots of stories about how an AI escapes containment and then does a lot of modest uncontroversial things to marginally improve lives!
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
With new caps on federal student loans, the private lending sector is going to get very interesting. Like Sallie Mae selling a seed portfolio of student loans to an investment firm and committing to selling $2 billion more annually for the next three years. finance.yahoo.com/news/sallie-...
Sallie Mae Launches Private Credit Strategic Partnership with KKR
NEWARK, Del., November 12, 2025--Sallie Mae, the leader in private student lending, has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with KKR, a leading global investment firm.
finance.yahoo.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:53 PM
With new caps on federal student loans, the private lending sector is going to get very interesting. Like Sallie Mae selling a seed portfolio of student loans to an investment firm and committing to selling $2 billion more annually for the next three years. finance.yahoo.com/news/sallie-...
I have been joking about it so long, I had begun to believe it was common knowledge that Bill Barr strangled him.
Trying very hard not to do Epstein Murder Conspiracy Theory but these emails are really testing my resolve
In December 2018, Epstein wrote about Trump: “I am the one able to take him down.”
Eight months later, Epstein was found dead in a prison run by the Trump administration.
Weird coincidence.
Eight months later, Epstein was found dead in a prison run by the Trump administration.
Weird coincidence.
November 13, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I have been joking about it so long, I had begun to believe it was common knowledge that Bill Barr strangled him.
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
[new draft post] Real purchasing power over time is not economic welfare over time https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/12/real-purchasing-power-over-time-is-not-economic-welfare-over-time/index.html
November 12, 2025 at 10:24 PM
[new draft post] Real purchasing power over time is not economic welfare over time https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/12/real-purchasing-power-over-time-is-not-economic-welfare-over-time/index.html
That feeling you get when you post and then it hits you that there’s probably a brilliant @interfluidity blog post answering the question you asked and the questions you didn’t think to ask.
Why doesn’t any lender offer a variable rate interest only with a perpetual term? Assuming prices generally rise over time, the LTV shrinks in expectation.
November 11, 2025 at 9:34 PM
That feeling you get when you post and then it hits you that there’s probably a brilliant @interfluidity blog post answering the question you asked and the questions you didn’t think to ask.
Reposted by Barry Cynamon
Capital as capital simply pursues profit in the cycle of endless accumulation. But *capitalists* need to balance the pursuit of profit with preserving the stability of the social system within which capital exists, on the one hand, and their own privileged position within that system, on the other.
November 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Capital as capital simply pursues profit in the cycle of endless accumulation. But *capitalists* need to balance the pursuit of profit with preserving the stability of the social system within which capital exists, on the one hand, and their own privileged position within that system, on the other.