Benji
@johnbenjamin.bsky.social
Writer on business, econ, Israel-Palestine.
Work in Time, The New Republic, Barron’s, Fortune, Boston Globe, The Hill, etc.
Also has a day job.
jbenjamin.co
Work in Time, The New Republic, Barron’s, Fortune, Boston Globe, The Hill, etc.
Also has a day job.
jbenjamin.co
Reposted by Benji
Noticeable, is it not, that every member of this admin starts and ends at the surface.
Hegseth’s fixation here. Duffy on dressing nice while flying.
The reflex to rename stuff — from ‘Gulf of America’ to DC’s nfl stadium.
We can’t think beyond surface bc we can’t fix anything beyond there either.
Hegseth’s fixation here. Duffy on dressing nice while flying.
The reflex to rename stuff — from ‘Gulf of America’ to DC’s nfl stadium.
We can’t think beyond surface bc we can’t fix anything beyond there either.
November 25, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Noticeable, is it not, that every member of this admin starts and ends at the surface.
Hegseth’s fixation here. Duffy on dressing nice while flying.
The reflex to rename stuff — from ‘Gulf of America’ to DC’s nfl stadium.
We can’t think beyond surface bc we can’t fix anything beyond there either.
Hegseth’s fixation here. Duffy on dressing nice while flying.
The reflex to rename stuff — from ‘Gulf of America’ to DC’s nfl stadium.
We can’t think beyond surface bc we can’t fix anything beyond there either.
Reposted by Benji
Some estimates say 30–50% of GDP growth this year is just AI spend. Strip out AI and data centers and business investment is flat, commercial construction is shrinking, and the only real bright spot is the AI boom which, so far, seems great for GDP and bad for workers.
How the U.S. Economy Became Hooked on AI Spending
Growth has been bolstered by data-center investment and stock-market wealth. A reversal could raise the risk of recession.
www.wsj.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Some estimates say 30–50% of GDP growth this year is just AI spend. Strip out AI and data centers and business investment is flat, commercial construction is shrinking, and the only real bright spot is the AI boom which, so far, seems great for GDP and bad for workers.
Ah yes, regime change, that thing that famously stabilizes cross-border migration
Cracks me up how you could just replace Venezuela and Venezuelans with Iraq and Iraqis and it’d be indistinguishable from something written in 2002
November 25, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Ah yes, regime change, that thing that famously stabilizes cross-border migration
Reposted by Benji
answer is great but also it's telling that the guy who's been saying this since day 1 has to answer about whether he's an antisemite for 5 min every interview while the same people grin vacantly at the jewish space lasers lady and call her a brave warrior
WELKER: What is your message to Jewish New Yorkers who feel you won't be tough enough in your response to antisemitism?
MAMDANI: That I am looking forward to being the next mayor and fulfilling the commitment I've made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them but to celebrate and cherish them
MAMDANI: That I am looking forward to being the next mayor and fulfilling the commitment I've made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them but to celebrate and cherish them
November 23, 2025 at 4:26 PM
answer is great but also it's telling that the guy who's been saying this since day 1 has to answer about whether he's an antisemite for 5 min every interview while the same people grin vacantly at the jewish space lasers lady and call her a brave warrior
Reposted by Benji
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
-FDR, 1937
-FDR, 1937
November 22, 2025 at 6:31 PM
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
-FDR, 1937
-FDR, 1937
It’s not the main point, but what’s with this administration’s insane animus toward Canada?
You hear a lot less from them about Mexico — a country with a leftist Jewish socialist woman in charge.
Why?
You hear a lot less from them about Mexico — a country with a leftist Jewish socialist woman in charge.
Why?
November 21, 2025 at 7:31 PM
It’s not the main point, but what’s with this administration’s insane animus toward Canada?
You hear a lot less from them about Mexico — a country with a leftist Jewish socialist woman in charge.
Why?
You hear a lot less from them about Mexico — a country with a leftist Jewish socialist woman in charge.
Why?
People have called anti-semitism “the socialism of fools”: a pseudo-intellectual prejudice masking as total political economy.
Anti-immigration has become that for the American right. It’s their uni-cause.
Anti-immigration has become that for the American right. It’s their uni-cause.
this defies parody. also helps explain why Sec Bessent bizarrely blamed immigrants when confronted with a question about high beef prices
November 21, 2025 at 2:23 AM
People have called anti-semitism “the socialism of fools”: a pseudo-intellectual prejudice masking as total political economy.
Anti-immigration has become that for the American right. It’s their uni-cause.
Anti-immigration has become that for the American right. It’s their uni-cause.
Reposted by Benji
The US continues to lose manufacturing jobs—payrolls are down 94k over the last year, & another 6k jobs were lost in September
Transportation (especially auto manufacturing) and electronics/electrical manufacturing are the biggest losers, but almost no subsectors are doing well
Transportation (especially auto manufacturing) and electronics/electrical manufacturing are the biggest losers, but almost no subsectors are doing well
November 20, 2025 at 1:37 PM
The US continues to lose manufacturing jobs—payrolls are down 94k over the last year, & another 6k jobs were lost in September
Transportation (especially auto manufacturing) and electronics/electrical manufacturing are the biggest losers, but almost no subsectors are doing well
Transportation (especially auto manufacturing) and electronics/electrical manufacturing are the biggest losers, but almost no subsectors are doing well
Reposted by Benji
Strangling the world-beating export industry which cross-subsidizes higher education for Americans. The White House says that's good news!
The White House just blasted this out under the headline "Good News You May Have Missed"
November 20, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Strangling the world-beating export industry which cross-subsidizes higher education for Americans. The White House says that's good news!
Reposted by Benji
The president said “Quiet, piggy” to a female reporter who asked him about the Epstein files—a continuation of his long-standing pattern of denigrating women. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Trump Told a Woman, ‘Quiet, Piggy,’ When She Asked Him About Epstein
The comment continues the president’s long-standing pattern of denigrating female journalists.
www.theatlantic.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:32 AM
The president said “Quiet, piggy” to a female reporter who asked him about the Epstein files—a continuation of his long-standing pattern of denigrating women. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Benji
It's all been leading up to the "President Donald Trump is a white-hat pedophile, actually" gambit. All of American history has been leading up to it.
Nancy Mace: "You can see in the Epstein emails that he's clearly targeting President Trump as retribution for him being a good man ... he's a good man who protects women. That's what real men do."
November 18, 2025 at 5:33 PM
It's all been leading up to the "President Donald Trump is a white-hat pedophile, actually" gambit. All of American history has been leading up to it.
Depending how bad conditions on the ground get, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fuentes (or similar) beat Vance in a primary.
There’s a reason Gore ran in 2000 but Cheney didn’t in 2008.
There’s a reason Gore ran in 2000 but Cheney didn’t in 2008.
November 18, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Depending how bad conditions on the ground get, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fuentes (or similar) beat Vance in a primary.
There’s a reason Gore ran in 2000 but Cheney didn’t in 2008.
There’s a reason Gore ran in 2000 but Cheney didn’t in 2008.
This sounds noble, but functionally it just means you believe in absolutely nothing.
Raskin: We are a big tent. We must be a huge, vast tent. I say this is a party that’s got room for Marjorie Taylor Greene if she wants to come over.
November 18, 2025 at 1:58 AM
This sounds noble, but functionally it just means you believe in absolutely nothing.
Reposted by Benji
NEW: An analysis finds that NIH funding cuts have disrupted at least 383 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants that were enrolled in studies that were testing treatments for conditions including cancer, heart disease and brain disease.
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 PM
NEW: An analysis finds that NIH funding cuts have disrupted at least 383 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants that were enrolled in studies that were testing treatments for conditions including cancer, heart disease and brain disease.
Reposted by Benji
i'd say it did. the public put a group of thieves, vandals and extremists in office last november and they promptly went about destroying everything that might work to limit their ability to loot, steal and inflicting pain on the people they hate
This whole NYT account about the weaponization of DOJ is beyond disturbing. Kinda feels like the US government fell in January.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
November 17, 2025 at 2:19 PM
i'd say it did. the public put a group of thieves, vandals and extremists in office last november and they promptly went about destroying everything that might work to limit their ability to loot, steal and inflicting pain on the people they hate
Reposted by Benji
No one demanded the market distorting effects of personalist dictatorship more than capital, they should be happy with their choice. bsky.app/profile/carl...
YELLEN: “.. businesses feel paralyzed by the uncertainty about policies that represent the strong but really personal whims of a single individual.”
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
No one demanded the market distorting effects of personalist dictatorship more than capital, they should be happy with their choice. bsky.app/profile/carl...
Reposted by Benji
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 13, 2025 at 10:12 PM
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
The defining cultural artifact of MAGA is not The Iliad or Beowulf, like they imagine, but the “I’m no doctor but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night” commercial series.
JD Vance calls ibuprofen "useless medication" and implies it's not "necessary, safe and effective."
November 13, 2025 at 2:19 PM
The defining cultural artifact of MAGA is not The Iliad or Beowulf, like they imagine, but the “I’m no doctor but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night” commercial series.
Not-impossible scenario:
The files get released. They’re quite damning for Trump.
Trump then pardons Maxwell from her minimum security prison, in exchange for her testifying that he’s innocent / muddying the waters enough for the scandal to end in a draw.
The files get released. They’re quite damning for Trump.
Trump then pardons Maxwell from her minimum security prison, in exchange for her testifying that he’s innocent / muddying the waters enough for the scandal to end in a draw.
Q: Is the president considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell?
LEAVITT: It's not something he's talking about or even thinking about at this moment in time
(Not a no!)
LEAVITT: It's not something he's talking about or even thinking about at this moment in time
(Not a no!)
November 13, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Not-impossible scenario:
The files get released. They’re quite damning for Trump.
Trump then pardons Maxwell from her minimum security prison, in exchange for her testifying that he’s innocent / muddying the waters enough for the scandal to end in a draw.
The files get released. They’re quite damning for Trump.
Trump then pardons Maxwell from her minimum security prison, in exchange for her testifying that he’s innocent / muddying the waters enough for the scandal to end in a draw.
Reposted by Benji
The attorney general and the FBI director, a manosphere podcaster bro, pulled into the situation room a member of Congress best known for getting kicked out of a Beetlejuice musical for drunkenly giving her date a handy, in order to pressure her about the president's child sex trafficking scandal.
November 12, 2025 at 11:23 PM
The attorney general and the FBI director, a manosphere podcaster bro, pulled into the situation room a member of Congress best known for getting kicked out of a Beetlejuice musical for drunkenly giving her date a handy, in order to pressure her about the president's child sex trafficking scandal.
Reposted by Benji
One horrific thing to me is that the president- a man who has gotten away with everything including literal murder up to this point- seems extremely nervous about anything regarding Epstein coming out. Like how bad does it have to be
November 12, 2025 at 7:24 PM
One horrific thing to me is that the president- a man who has gotten away with everything including literal murder up to this point- seems extremely nervous about anything regarding Epstein coming out. Like how bad does it have to be
Reposted by Benji
Americans might not understand it, but in many cultures it’s considered bad or even immoral to be a child rapist
November 12, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Americans might not understand it, but in many cultures it’s considered bad or even immoral to be a child rapist
I have to admit to having some atavistic Kennedy love, but I am so, so bearish on this kid’s electoral chances. He seems very flakey and genuinely anti-social.
Jack Schlossberg says he'll run for the New York congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Jerrold Nadler. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/n...
Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy Heir, to Seek Nadler’s N.Y. Congressional Seat
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:20 AM
I have to admit to having some atavistic Kennedy love, but I am so, so bearish on this kid’s electoral chances. He seems very flakey and genuinely anti-social.