That's interesting, I'll have to make a little detour the next time I visit family in Grand Rapids!

If you haven't heard it, Planet Money did a radio version of this piece, it's even wilder to hear some of these things than it is to read them.

@travisview.bsky.social sounds like some movie night episodes in the offing

I wish I lived closer to this, it sounds like such a fun event honestly. :)

They really did the cover dirty with the image crop though, really ruins the whole message:

It's so weird to see what's essentially an 8chan post in the FT

Fantastic article, and I loved your QAA episode on him too. Are there any contemporary versions of Conroy that come to mind for you? Any laborers in the content mines that rise to the level of an everyman's literary movement?

Looks like some editor had a change of heart lol

The whole report is well worth a read. The information environment is changing, and not for the better. www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2...

Given those structural conditions, progressive donors should really be shoveling more money into shaping this information environment if we want to turn back the worst impulses of nativism and hate politics that are so pervasive in rightwing politics today.

As legacy media (and the incentive structure to be correct on the facts) gets overtaken in people's media diets by these online pundits (and their incentives to get eyeballs and clicks), the choose-your-own-adventure version of reality we exist in now is probably only going to get worse.

The report highlights some discrepancies that at least track with my perceptions of social media pundits: in general they're more conservative, they're on The Bad Place, and they're monetized in some way or another.

I love JF! I just got Wu He and Yan Lianke in translation there last week. :)

My much smarter colleagues wrote a short research note on these trends in Mexico last month, I imagine we'll be doing more work of a similar ilk in the future as trade relationships become more volatile.

cbm.rhg.com/research-not...

If making cars in Mexico for export to the US gets more expensive because of tariffs, it could curb enthusiasm from Chinese companies investing there to supply parts.

Another point of tension will be the ICTS rules, which could kneecap the business rationale for some Chinese companies.

A significant chunk of new Chinese announced investments are in the auto sector, mostly coming from auto parts manufacturers who have followed other carmakers to Mexico. While some demand comes from the local market, ultimately the most important thing is access to the US.