Brad DeLong
@delong.social
Author of "Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century". Too online since 1995. Sometime Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. UC Berkeley Professor.
Pinned
Brad DeLong
@delong.social
· Dec 2
Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality | Substack
Economic history, economics, political economy, finance, & forecasting. Here to try to make you (and me) smarter in a world with many increasingly deep & complicated troubles... Click to read Brad DeL...
braddelong.substack.com
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brad.delong@gmail.com :: +1-925-708-0467
J. Bradford DeLong
Holgate House
2828 Webster St.
Berkeley, CA 94705
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< delong.social >
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brad.delong@gmail.com :: +1-925-708-0467
J. Bradford DeLong
Holgate House
2828 Webster St.
Berkeley, CA 94705
Reposted by Brad DeLong
Reading @delong.social latest on a new Karl Marx translation and I never conceived of Marxism in terms of 19th century utopian cults (this was not his argument, just a passing thought in my own brain). This would be a neat connection for students to make.
November 10, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reading @delong.social latest on a new Karl Marx translation and I never conceived of Marxism in terms of 19th century utopian cults (this was not his argument, just a passing thought in my own brain). This would be a neat connection for students to make.
A Note: Reitter Translates Marx as He Was
Translation is intellectual engineering: accuracy and consistency are key: choose fidelity. Reading Marx without apocalyptic filters imposed because who he was does not suit present-day purposes…
braddelong.substack.com/p/a-note-rei...
Translation is intellectual engineering: accuracy and consistency are key: choose fidelity. Reading Marx without apocalyptic filters imposed because who he was does not suit present-day purposes…
braddelong.substack.com/p/a-note-rei...
November 10, 2025 at 8:44 PM
A Note: Reitter Translates Marx as He Was
Translation is intellectual engineering: accuracy and consistency are key: choose fidelity. Reading Marx without apocalyptic filters imposed because who he was does not suit present-day purposes…
braddelong.substack.com/p/a-note-rei...
Translation is intellectual engineering: accuracy and consistency are key: choose fidelity. Reading Marx without apocalyptic filters imposed because who he was does not suit present-day purposes…
braddelong.substack.com/p/a-note-rei...
Reposted by Brad DeLong
From the less well known work of L. Frank Baum, The Sea Fairies (1911)
November 10, 2025 at 1:32 AM
From the less well known work of L. Frank Baum, The Sea Fairies (1911)
Is it "Life, Liberty, & Democracy", or Is It "Life, Liberty, & Property"?
Democracy’s failure modes in the age of the Shadow Docket. Trump gives new life and force to the fears of Friedrich von Hayek. Spite-dictated tariffs and funding whims now discipline America’s barons. That silence you... 1/
Democracy’s failure modes in the age of the Shadow Docket. Trump gives new life and force to the fears of Friedrich von Hayek. Spite-dictated tariffs and funding whims now discipline America’s barons. That silence you... 1/
November 9, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Is it "Life, Liberty, & Democracy", or Is It "Life, Liberty, & Property"?
Democracy’s failure modes in the age of the Shadow Docket. Trump gives new life and force to the fears of Friedrich von Hayek. Spite-dictated tariffs and funding whims now discipline America’s barons. That silence you... 1/
Democracy’s failure modes in the age of the Shadow Docket. Trump gives new life and force to the fears of Friedrich von Hayek. Spite-dictated tariffs and funding whims now discipline America’s barons. That silence you... 1/
Reposted by Brad DeLong
Jen is a coworker of mine. This is super messed up.
Fascism in Action in America: Jennifer Moriarty & Daniel Biss Report from Chicago NorthShore
ICE in action in the MidWest: we are, right now, in big trouble. The only way out is through, via transparency and civic resistance…
< braddelong.substack.com/p/fascism-in... >
ICE in action in the MidWest: we are, right now, in big trouble. The only way out is through, via transparency and civic resistance…
< braddelong.substack.com/p/fascism-in... >
November 8, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Jen is a coworker of mine. This is super messed up.
Fascism in Action in America: Jennifer Moriarty & Daniel Biss Report from Chicago NorthShore
ICE in action in the MidWest: we are, right now, in big trouble. The only way out is through, via transparency and civic resistance…
< braddelong.substack.com/p/fascism-in... >
ICE in action in the MidWest: we are, right now, in big trouble. The only way out is through, via transparency and civic resistance…
< braddelong.substack.com/p/fascism-in... >
November 8, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Fascism in Action in America: Jennifer Moriarty & Daniel Biss Report from Chicago NorthShore
ICE in action in the MidWest: we are, right now, in big trouble. The only way out is through, via transparency and civic resistance…
< braddelong.substack.com/p/fascism-in... >
ICE in action in the MidWest: we are, right now, in big trouble. The only way out is through, via transparency and civic resistance…
< braddelong.substack.com/p/fascism-in... >
Bubbles, Productive & Unproductive; Builders; & Bots: Why the AI Boom Isn’t One Story, But Rather the Vector Driving the AI Economy Is at Least 12-Dimensional
Six dimensions are entrepreneurial-technological-industrial aspects of bubble dynamics that are at least somewhat familiar from... 1/
Six dimensions are entrepreneurial-technological-industrial aspects of bubble dynamics that are at least somewhat familiar from... 1/
November 7, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Bubbles, Productive & Unproductive; Builders; & Bots: Why the AI Boom Isn’t One Story, But Rather the Vector Driving the AI Economy Is at Least 12-Dimensional
Six dimensions are entrepreneurial-technological-industrial aspects of bubble dynamics that are at least somewhat familiar from... 1/
Six dimensions are entrepreneurial-technological-industrial aspects of bubble dynamics that are at least somewhat familiar from... 1/
Affordability, Inflation, & the Misinformation Machine: How Prosperity Lost the Plot
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar, health/childcare costs... 1/
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar, health/childcare costs... 1/
November 7, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Affordability, Inflation, & the Misinformation Machine: How Prosperity Lost the Plot
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar, health/childcare costs... 1/
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar, health/childcare costs... 1/
Affordability, Inflation, & the Misinformation Machine: How Prosperity Lost the Plot
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar... 1/
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar... 1/
November 7, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Affordability, Inflation, & the Misinformation Machine: How Prosperity Lost the Plot
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar... 1/
Thanks to Bidenomics, full employment returned fast after the plague depression; but voters heard “affordability crisis” amid broken information channels. Housing’s post-GFC scar... 1/
Value-Thing, Not Vibes: Defending Reitter’s Translation of Marx (& Brown's Introduction) Against Troglodyte Loyalists
What the point of an introduction is: to get you to the book. Brown’s concise roadmap versus Mandel’s interminable self-centered polemic. Clarity matters more than sectarian... 1/
What the point of an introduction is: to get you to the book. Brown’s concise roadmap versus Mandel’s interminable self-centered polemic. Clarity matters more than sectarian... 1/
November 7, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Value-Thing, Not Vibes: Defending Reitter’s Translation of Marx (& Brown's Introduction) Against Troglodyte Loyalists
What the point of an introduction is: to get you to the book. Brown’s concise roadmap versus Mandel’s interminable self-centered polemic. Clarity matters more than sectarian... 1/
What the point of an introduction is: to get you to the book. Brown’s concise roadmap versus Mandel’s interminable self-centered polemic. Clarity matters more than sectarian... 1/
Elon Musk's centralized, personalist moderation of Twitter has illuminated the crisis. We built "town square" social media assuming that more voices, sharing the same information, would converge to reasoned agreement. Instead, we learned (again) that common exposures polarize; that the dunk is... 1/
November 7, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Elon Musk's centralized, personalist moderation of Twitter has illuminated the crisis. We built "town square" social media assuming that more voices, sharing the same information, would converge to reasoned agreement. Instead, we learned (again) that common exposures polarize; that the dunk is... 1/
Bidenomics: Truly Transitory Inflation, Remarkably Successful on Employment & Growth—But Unable to Break Through the Media Misinformation Machine
My attempt to set forth a balance sheet: Bidenomics was an extraordinary success. The economy healed fast; the…
braddelong.substack.com/p/bidenomics...
My attempt to set forth a balance sheet: Bidenomics was an extraordinary success. The economy healed fast; the…
braddelong.substack.com/p/bidenomics...
Bidenomics: Truly Transitory Inflation, Remarkably Successful on Employment & Growth—But Unable to Break Through the Media Misinformation Machine
My attempt to set forth a balance sheet: Bidenomics was an extraordinary success. The economy healed fast; the story never did. A brief moderate transitory inflation. A long and strong jobs and...
braddelong.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Bidenomics: Truly Transitory Inflation, Remarkably Successful on Employment & Growth—But Unable to Break Through the Media Misinformation Machine
My attempt to set forth a balance sheet: Bidenomics was an extraordinary success. The economy healed fast; the…
braddelong.substack.com/p/bidenomics...
My attempt to set forth a balance sheet: Bidenomics was an extraordinary success. The economy healed fast; the…
braddelong.substack.com/p/bidenomics...
Reposted by Brad DeLong
Trump's name wasn't on the ballot, just his party and the people and issues he supported
November 5, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Trump's name wasn't on the ballot, just his party and the people and issues he supported
Reposted by Brad DeLong
Yep. What Mamdani has an opportunity to do — and it will take both luck and talent — is to show the left-progressive policies can work. Shades of the original progressive movement and municipal reform politics.
i'm deeply glad he won but i do want to note that these are not exactly results that suggest that populist socialism is an instant win button in national politics
November 5, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Yep. What Mamdani has an opportunity to do — and it will take both luck and talent — is to show the left-progressive policies can work. Shades of the original progressive movement and municipal reform politics.
Reposted by Brad DeLong
Pains me to say it but I think this is true. Some of my colleagues in the media who’ve stayed on X don’t even realize how badly its noxious algorithm is skewing their perception of politics and reality.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Tonight's even more proof the mainstream reporters who are still on Twitter are suffering from a brain problem akin Havana Syndrome that is preventing them from accurately doing their jobs. They are being cooked alive by a snuff-focused apartheid algorithm.
November 5, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Pains me to say it but I think this is true. Some of my colleagues in the media who’ve stayed on X don’t even realize how badly its noxious algorithm is skewing their perception of politics and reality.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Also, that place seems designed to make you miserable unless you’re a Nazi. It’s just wretched.
Reposted by Brad DeLong
not to bring the vibe down, but my guess is that after tonight Trump will probably double down on gerrymandering, voter suppression, and intimidation as tactics to disincentivize Dem turnout ahead of next year‘s midterms. (with margins like these, it won’t matter, but it’s a time to be vigilant)
November 5, 2025 at 3:34 AM
not to bring the vibe down, but my guess is that after tonight Trump will probably double down on gerrymandering, voter suppression, and intimidation as tactics to disincentivize Dem turnout ahead of next year‘s midterms. (with margins like these, it won’t matter, but it’s a time to be vigilant)
Reposted by Brad DeLong
Me: Send very detailed note to company about security enhancements for Windows networking
User on Teams: Hey so I heard you broke my MacBook
This is why they pay me
User on Teams: Hey so I heard you broke my MacBook
This is why they pay me
November 5, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Me: Send very detailed note to company about security enhancements for Windows networking
User on Teams: Hey so I heard you broke my MacBook
This is why they pay me
User on Teams: Hey so I heard you broke my MacBook
This is why they pay me
Reposted by Brad DeLong
For the first time in my life I'm begging Donald Trump to post more.
November 5, 2025 at 3:46 AM
For the first time in my life I'm begging Donald Trump to post more.
Reposted by Brad DeLong
Came here to say this, but Jamelle Bouie has this covered. 👇
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.
November 5, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Came here to say this, but Jamelle Bouie has this covered. 👇
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
Reposted by Brad DeLong
It’s time for the pundits who have pushed their own regressive political preferences as wisdom to listen to people like @jenvictor.bsky.social.
Came here to say this, but Jamelle Bouie has this covered. 👇
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
November 5, 2025 at 3:38 AM
It’s time for the pundits who have pushed their own regressive political preferences as wisdom to listen to people like @jenvictor.bsky.social.
Reposted by Brad DeLong
as a vote-blue-no-matter-who democrat, I am excited for this November when we are going to elect Mikie Sherrill, Abigail Spanberger, and Zohran Mamdani
June 25, 2025 at 1:44 AM
as a vote-blue-no-matter-who democrat, I am excited for this November when we are going to elect Mikie Sherrill, Abigail Spanberger, and Zohran Mamdani
Reposted by Brad DeLong
This statement is true, and Steve also knows what I‘m about to say, so this is just additional commentary not a correction:
This is not new. Cops have been doing this for ages. Talk back to a cop and they’ll rough you up. They have been doing this and getting away with it for a very long time.
This is not new. Cops have been doing this for ages. Talk back to a cop and they’ll rough you up. They have been doing this and getting away with it for a very long time.
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
From Bovino's deposition: (1) he calls protestors "violent" if they articulate views hostile to ICE, even if no violence is manifested; (2) he instructs his forces to attack and arrest protestors who express "hyperbolic comments," which is to say, criticism of ICE and Bovino.
November 4, 2025 at 5:35 PM
This statement is true, and Steve also knows what I‘m about to say, so this is just additional commentary not a correction:
This is not new. Cops have been doing this for ages. Talk back to a cop and they’ll rough you up. They have been doing this and getting away with it for a very long time.
This is not new. Cops have been doing this for ages. Talk back to a cop and they’ll rough you up. They have been doing this and getting away with it for a very long time.
Dan Drezner joins the Sisyphus Brigade! < braddelong.substack.com/p/what-to-do... > Welcome much! Dan has put a bright blue analytic frame around the phenomenon: American foreign policy, lately, as "a bunch of stuff." Not strategy; not coherence; not even path-dependent muddle. Just different... 1/
What To Do with the Trump-Scrubbing Sanewashers?
Not weak tea, but no tea at all: attempts to scrub chaos into “strategy” in Trumpworld are really not helpful…
braddelong.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Dan Drezner joins the Sisyphus Brigade! < braddelong.substack.com/p/what-to-do... > Welcome much! Dan has put a bright blue analytic frame around the phenomenon: American foreign policy, lately, as "a bunch of stuff." Not strategy; not coherence; not even path-dependent muddle. Just different... 1/
What To Do with the Trump-Scrubbing Sanewashers?
Not weak tea, but no tea at all: attempts to scrub chaos into “strategy” in Trumpworld are really not helpful…
<https://braddelong.substack.com/p/what-to-do-with-the-trump-scrubbing>
2025-11-03 Mo
Not weak tea, but no tea at all: attempts to scrub chaos into “strategy” in Trumpworld are really not helpful…
<https://braddelong.substack.com/p/what-to-do-with-the-trump-scrubbing>
2025-11-03 Mo
November 4, 2025 at 1:39 AM
What To Do with the Trump-Scrubbing Sanewashers?
Not weak tea, but no tea at all: attempts to scrub chaos into “strategy” in Trumpworld are really not helpful…
<https://braddelong.substack.com/p/what-to-do-with-the-trump-scrubbing>
2025-11-03 Mo
Not weak tea, but no tea at all: attempts to scrub chaos into “strategy” in Trumpworld are really not helpful…
<https://braddelong.substack.com/p/what-to-do-with-the-trump-scrubbing>
2025-11-03 Mo
Looking at Today's Democratic Party
Make more, share better: it has to combine supply-side dynamism to fair distribution. But is there any reason to think that that prestidigitational construction and maintenance of such an incredibly broad political…
braddelong.substack.com/p/looking-at...
Make more, share better: it has to combine supply-side dynamism to fair distribution. But is there any reason to think that that prestidigitational construction and maintenance of such an incredibly broad political…
braddelong.substack.com/p/looking-at...
Looking at Today's Democratic Party
Make more, share better: it has to combine supply-side dynamism to fair distribution. But is there any reason to think that that prestidigitational construction and maintenance of such an...
braddelong.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Looking at Today's Democratic Party
Make more, share better: it has to combine supply-side dynamism to fair distribution. But is there any reason to think that that prestidigitational construction and maintenance of such an incredibly broad political…
braddelong.substack.com/p/looking-at...
Make more, share better: it has to combine supply-side dynamism to fair distribution. But is there any reason to think that that prestidigitational construction and maintenance of such an incredibly broad political…
braddelong.substack.com/p/looking-at...