Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈
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josephpolitano.bsky.social
Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈
@josephpolitano.bsky.social
71K followers 530 following 9.2K posts
Writing a data-driven newsletter about economics @ apricitas.io

Nuance? In this Economy

Full Employment Stan, Brazilian Coffee Tariff Victim |
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Reposted by Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Finished Lowenstein's "Ways & Means" on the financial and tax reforms that won the Civil War for the Union—brilliant book that manages to make bond sales gripping & shows how many US institutions (land-grant colleges, Union Pacific, etc) we owe to wartime reforms
www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Joey Politano's review of Ways and Means
5/5: "The Yankees did not whip us in the field—we were whipped in the Treasury Department" bemoaned one Confederate officer. The man was half right, as the well-earned American victories on the battle...
www.goodreads.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:40 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Another book haul. You think I can be stopped? I can’t even stop myself
A picture of four books, “A Rage for Justice: The Passion and Politics of Phillip Burton” by John Jacobs “The Ministry of Time” by Kalene Bradley, “Into the bright sunshine: young Herbert Hoover and the fight for civil rights” by Samuel Freedman and “Kololo Hill” by Neema Shah
November 10, 2025 at 10:27 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Nowadays Thug life is apparently when you want to return to 2015 tariff rates
The “Pay Back” Numbers being quoted by the Radical Left Lunatics, who would love to see us lose on Tariffs because of how bad it would be for our Country, are much higher than those being stated by our Fake Opposition — Opposition mainly from Foreign Countries that would do anything to be allowed to charge us Tariffs without retribution. The actual Number we would have to pay back in Tariff Revenue and Investments would be in excess of $2 Trillion Dollars, and that, in itself, would be a National Security catastrophe. Those opposed to us in the United States Supreme Court are giving low Numbers so that the Court will think it is easy to get out of this terrible situation that these Anarchists and Thugs have put us into!
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Finished Lowenstein's "Ways & Means" on the financial and tax reforms that won the Civil War for the Union—brilliant book that manages to make bond sales gripping & shows how many US institutions (land-grant colleges, Union Pacific, etc) we owe to wartime reforms
www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Joey Politano's review of Ways and Means
5/5: "The Yankees did not whip us in the field—we were whipped in the Treasury Department" bemoaned one Confederate officer. The man was half right, as the well-earned American victories on the battle...
www.goodreads.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:40 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
coping, seething, etc
All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!! Anyone who doesn’t will be substantially “docked.” For those Air Traffic Controllers who were GREAT PATRIOTS, and didn’t take ANY TIME OFF for the “Democrat Shutdown Hoax,” I will be recommending a BONUS of $10,000 per person for distinguished service to our Country. For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU. You didn’t step up to help the U.S.A. against the FAKE DEMOCRAT ATTACK that was only meant to hurt our Country. You will have a negative mark, at least in my mind, against your record. If you want to leave service in the near future, please do not hesitate to do so, with NO payment or severance of any kind! You will be quickly replaced by true Patriots, who will do a better job on the Brand New State of the Art Equipment, the best in the World, that we are in the process of ordering. The last “Administration” wasted Billions of Dollars trying to fix antiquated “junk.” They had no idea what they were doing! Again, to our great American Patriots, GOD BLESS YOU - I won’t be able to send your money fast enough! To all others, REPORT TO WORK IMMEDIATELY. GOD BLESS AMERICA! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
November 10, 2025 at 3:35 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Committing self-harm by reading another Oren Cass oped in the FT, but what always strikes me as stupid about his work is the idea of tariffs as panacea. "If we had tariffs we wouldn't need stringent environmental standards" no Oren actually those two things are unrelated
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/191e3601-9838-45cb-a976-c265ea9a9263 If Mexico, Canada and the US commit to maintaining balanced trade among themselves, labour and environmental standards need not be so carefully policed. Each country will have an incentive to manage its currency in a co-operative manner. An agreement would establish protocols where imbalances do emerge. Tariffs could increase or decrease accordingly — a safety valve to open and shut, rather than one unscrewed and tossed aside.
November 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Trvthnvke for the TradCath legal community
fintwitter.bsky.social FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 17h
🚨 *SUPREME COURT REJECTS BID TO OVERTURN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RIGHTS
November 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Good morning, Baltimore!
A picture of a light rail train emblazoned with the Maryland flag in front of a large series of apartment buildings in downtown Baltimore
November 9, 2025 at 5:25 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
A picture of Dr Manhattan blowing up Rorschach but captioned with “the poorest person on Twitter may have access to more beauty and meaning in life than the most wealthy person in the world”
November 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
I am much more sympathetic than most to the idea that increasing mortgage credit is important (because it can induce a lot of building among low/middle income households) but increasing the maximum loan duration by 60% is like the worst possible way of doing this lmfao
thedotcity.bsky.social patrick.kennedy @thedotcity.bsky.social · 2d
Oh good. the 50-year mortgage. That should solve everything.
November 8, 2025 at 10:20 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
New book haul again, can’t stop won’t stop
A picture of two books, “The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank Savings and Trust” by Justine Hill Edward’s and “For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran’s Women-Led Uprising” by Nilo Tabriz and Fatemeh Jamalpour
November 8, 2025 at 8:45 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Sign of the times is I saw Jehovah’s Witnesses passing out pamphlets on how to cope with rising prices (screenshot of the online version because no way was I gonna grab a physical copy)
A picture of “AWAKE!” mag by the Jehovah’s Witnesses with the cover saying “coping with rising prices”
November 8, 2025 at 6:52 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Just finished Jonathan Mahler’s “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning” on the NYC Mayoral Race and the Yankees World Series Run in 1977

One of the best books on NYC I’ve ever read, and I’m so excited to read his next book “Gods of New York” on the 1980s
www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Joey Politano's review of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning
5/5: One of the best books on New York City you will ever read—Jonathan Mahler is able to tightly weave together the personal drama of the 1977 NY Yankees' World Series run with the hotly contested ma...
www.goodreads.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Canada's provincial economic accounts came out this week—in 2024, all provinces & Nunavut grew!

Fastest: Nunavut (6.9%), PEI (3.8%), Nova Scotia (3.1%), Alberta (3%), Saskatchewan (3%)

Slowest: Yukon (-2.5%), NW Territories (-0.8%), British Columbia (1.1%), Ontario (1.6%), Manitoba (1.7%)
A graph of RGDP growth by Province-Territory in Canada
November 8, 2025 at 5:14 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
"500-foot statue of George Washington," you should not be getting creativity-mogged by both the Washington Monument and Mt. Rushmore designers

Also, you guys *do* know what happened to Prometheus right?
November 8, 2025 at 4:39 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
God you gotta love Lincoln (from Roger Lowenstein’s Ways & Means on the financing of the civil war, on the original debate about creating the Greenback)
Grievously for the bill, Chase had deep reservations regarding the probity of legal tender. He also had constitutional worries, although Lincoln may have mollified those. According to one visitor, the President said “Go back to Chase and tell him not to bother himself about the Constitution. Say that I have the sacred instrument here, and I am guarding it with great care”
November 8, 2025 at 3:55 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Everyone knows the famous inscription on the Statue of Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, unless they’re from FUCKING OHIO”
acabcalloway.bsky.social DSAUSA.ORG/JOIN , MSW (NOT A MAN) @acabcalloway.bsky.social · 3d
I am begging the entire klal to go immediately to therapy.
November 8, 2025 at 5:53 AM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Good piece, the thing I would add is that because the Senate underrepresents urban areas, the Republican *national* brand naturally becomes much too right-wing to win in major cities
mnolangray.bsky.social M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 4d
Across the developed world, big city conservative mayors and council majorities are quite common—except in the US. Why are Republicans are so much less relevant in cities than their peers in every other developed country? My latest:
mnolangray.substack.com/p/why-are-re...
Why Are Republicans So Irrelevant In Big City Politics?
A little armchair political science among friends.
mnolangray.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:29 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
I got bad news: Sound Transit is subject to tariffs
a slide deck showing tariffs are affecting sound transit costs
November 7, 2025 at 6:14 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Another month of US transit data is just in, & DC's WMATA remains the fastest-growing major US transit agency, with ridership up 12% compared to last year

King County Metro (Seattle, +7.5%) & SEPTA (Philly, +6%) have performed well, while LA Metro & NJTransit have lost riders🧵
a graph of ridership growth the top 10 us metro agencies, with WMATA, Metro (Seattle), SEPTA, CTA, MTA, MBTA, Muni, and LIRR seeing growth while LA Metro and NJTransit shrink
November 7, 2025 at 5:32 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
NEW CANADIAN JOBS DATA:

Employment Growth: +67k
Unemployment Rate: 6.9% (-0.2%)
Prime Age (25-54) Employment Rate: 83.5% (+0.2%) Employment Level: 21.1M
A graph of Canadian unemployment, employment growth, prime age employment rates, and employment levels
November 7, 2025 at 1:44 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
How is it possible that every successive sentence gets crazier
reahan.bsky.social Rea @reahan.bsky.social · 4d
Again, what the fuck, how are these words someone can spill out of their mouth
November 6, 2025 at 5:03 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
Real ones also know that the AI industry is already basically getting bailed out (because they’re exempt from the tariffs the rest of us have to pay)

www.apricitas.io/p/the-tariff...
November 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
SO excited to finally have this amazing book in my hands. Had to come to the Peterson institute to grab a copy before it (officially) becomes available in the US, stayed for the amazing talk between Kapur, Subramanian, and Simon Johnson
A picture of the book “A sixth of Humanity: Independent India’s Development Odyssey” by Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian A picture of a signed copy the book “A Sixth of Humanity” by Kapur and Subramanian
November 5, 2025 at 9:51 PM
josephpolitano.bsky.social
I think they’re trying to twist the screws on Senators to get the filibuster killed at this point
fintwitter.bsky.social FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 5d
U.S. TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE MANDATORY FLIGHT CUTS AT MAJOR US AIRPORTS STARTING FRIDAY IF NO SHUTDOWN DEAL IS REACHED -- SOURCES
November 5, 2025 at 9:05 PM