Peter Dorman
@pdorman.bsky.social
I'm a political economist and writer on economics, politics, climate change, statistics, and lots more. I've written four books, stacks of articles and reports, blogs and am working on book #5. Watch out for really bad puns.
Finally got to this. Prices are incomes, so what's with inflation? Biggest reason: inflation makes it easier to reduce *real* wages. And so it happened, if you look at wages x hours and not just hourly earnings. The rise in consumption inequality speaks volumes.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
Opinion | The Haves and Have-Nots Are, Once Again, at War
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Finally got to this. Prices are incomes, so what's with inflation? Biggest reason: inflation makes it easier to reduce *real* wages. And so it happened, if you look at wages x hours and not just hourly earnings. The rise in consumption inequality speaks volumes.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...
What would tech reactionaries do with detailed data on low propensity voters -- who they are, what gets through to them, how their political attitudes can be swayed? How would it change not only campaigning but governing itself? They maybe doing it already.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Low-Pro's
The Washington Post recently ran a background piece on the Rockbridge Network by Elizabeth Dwoskin.
open.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:19 AM
What would tech reactionaries do with detailed data on low propensity voters -- who they are, what gets through to them, how their political attitudes can be swayed? How would it change not only campaigning but governing itself? They maybe doing it already.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
I haven't seen anyone use the h-word, hostage, about the shutdown, so I will. Trump held low income people as hostages: hurt me and I'll hurt them. Human shields. As crooks at all levels know, that can be an effective strategy.
November 12, 2025 at 6:15 PM
I haven't seen anyone use the h-word, hostage, about the shutdown, so I will. Trump held low income people as hostages: hurt me and I'll hurt them. Human shields. As crooks at all levels know, that can be an effective strategy.
Question about the Democrats' senatorial cave. None of the notorious 8 are up for re-election next year. They delayed the cave until after this year's election. So it looks like they thought voters would be angry with them. If so, what's the motivation?
November 11, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Question about the Democrats' senatorial cave. None of the notorious 8 are up for re-election next year. They delayed the cave until after this year's election. So it looks like they thought voters would be angry with them. If so, what's the motivation?
Speculative, yes, but worth considering: is the economic motive at the heart of authoritarian tech politics the need to *force* government and other systems to be restructured around AI?
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Where Will the Revenue for AI Come From?
Explaining the grotesque politicization of Big Tech
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Speculative, yes, but worth considering: is the economic motive at the heart of authoritarian tech politics the need to *force* government and other systems to be restructured around AI?
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
OK, someone explain to me why this order was signed by Jackson. Is there a politics to this I don't understand?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
Supreme Court Temporarily Allows Trump to Curtail Food Stamp Funding
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:47 AM
OK, someone explain to me why this order was signed by Jackson. Is there a politics to this I don't understand?
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
The numbers are indisputable, but what's the reason? Here's a theory. (Hint: it has nothing to do with the Talmud.)
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Why So Many Jewish Economists?
and physicists, theoretical biologists and mathematicians....
open.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:47 PM
The numbers are indisputable, but what's the reason? Here's a theory. (Hint: it has nothing to do with the Talmud.)
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Another Halloween with no trick or treaters. Where are the kids? Why aren't they out prowling the streets in their costumes? Is it just here, or is there a general decline in communal traditions all over? As in, boo-ing alone.
November 1, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Another Halloween with no trick or treaters. Where are the kids? Why aren't they out prowling the streets in their costumes? Is it just here, or is there a general decline in communal traditions all over? As in, boo-ing alone.
Whenever I see a new piece by a climate denier ("actually, temperatures haven't gone up" etc.), I want to ask "What part exactly of the analysis by Svante Arrhenius do you disagree with?"
October 27, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Whenever I see a new piece by a climate denier ("actually, temperatures haven't gone up" etc.), I want to ask "What part exactly of the analysis by Svante Arrhenius do you disagree with?"
A classic racist trope. "You're so worried about a little discrimination. What about the horrible things done to *my* people? Your problems are so irrelevant. In fact, by focusing on them, you show you're really my enemy."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/n...
Vance Criticizes Mamdani’s Comments About Islamophobia After 9/11
www.nytimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 5:33 PM
A classic racist trope. "You're so worried about a little discrimination. What about the horrible things done to *my* people? Your problems are so irrelevant. In fact, by focusing on them, you show you're really my enemy."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/n...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/n...
Why have demonstrations? Among other things, they get people into alignment so they can join forces on a particular issue.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
The Ketchup Theory of Political Demonstrations
More precisely, it’s the alignment theory, but ketchup gets the point across pretty well.
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Why have demonstrations? Among other things, they get people into alignment so they can join forces on a particular issue.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
This is a predictable result of the policy framing. For 20 yrs we've been trying to tell them that rebating carbon fees is the way to go -- much better politics too. "Don't send your money to oil companies and petrostates, send it back to yourselves!"
grist.org/politics/dem...
grist.org/politics/dem...
Why Democrats aren't talking about climate change much anymore
As Democrats reflect on the 2024 election, talking about the "planetary emergency" is out, and "cheap energy" is in.
grist.org
October 22, 2025 at 5:23 PM
This is a predictable result of the policy framing. For 20 yrs we've been trying to tell them that rebating carbon fees is the way to go -- much better politics too. "Don't send your money to oil companies and petrostates, send it back to yourselves!"
grist.org/politics/dem...
grist.org/politics/dem...
It's apple pie time again, so here is my path to perfect piedom returned from the archives. I found a local source of Belle de Boskoop, so I'm in luck. I've recently seen the claim that crisp > pie, but that's true only if you overdo the cinnamon. Don't.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Apple Pie for Breakfast
Here’s something I heard a long time ago: If you’re from the rest of the world, a Yankee is someone from the United States.
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:23 AM
It's apple pie time again, so here is my path to perfect piedom returned from the archives. I found a local source of Belle de Boskoop, so I'm in luck. I've recently seen the claim that crisp > pie, but that's true only if you overdo the cinnamon. Don't.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Another purpose of demonstrations is that they align the demonstrators. People have many different priorities and viewpoints. Demonstrations induce them to coalesce around a shared priority and purpose, setting aside their other differences.
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Civil Resistance Confronts the Autocracy
While MAGA’s spin was both insane and revealing, the No Kings Day 2 Marches were a major step towards taking our country back.
open.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Another purpose of demonstrations is that they align the demonstrators. People have many different priorities and viewpoints. Demonstrations induce them to coalesce around a shared priority and purpose, setting aside their other differences.
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
A pair of signs seen today in Portland:
"Make American Think Again"
"Make Fascism Wrong Again"
Two sides of the same coin, maybe the same piece of cardboard.
"Make American Think Again"
"Make Fascism Wrong Again"
Two sides of the same coin, maybe the same piece of cardboard.
October 19, 2025 at 3:18 AM
A pair of signs seen today in Portland:
"Make American Think Again"
"Make Fascism Wrong Again"
Two sides of the same coin, maybe the same piece of cardboard.
"Make American Think Again"
"Make Fascism Wrong Again"
Two sides of the same coin, maybe the same piece of cardboard.
A thing about inequality people often overlook is that it restructures supply. We get more higher-end stuff and less lower-end. Life gets harder for those who aren't rich.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
Delta and United Are Leaving Other Airlines Behind
www.nytimes.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:12 AM
A thing about inequality people often overlook is that it restructures supply. We get more higher-end stuff and less lower-end. Life gets harder for those who aren't rich.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/b...
Beach reading, literally.
October 16, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Beach reading, literally.
Jeez, nobody should show this to the Supreme Court or the nullification of Section 2 will be a done deal.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
The Supreme Court Case That Could Hand the House to Republicans
www.nytimes.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Jeez, nobody should show this to the Supreme Court or the nullification of Section 2 will be a done deal.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
All this yammering, and the issue of control never comes up. Whatever it's "thinking", how does AI get control of physical processes? Who lets it manufacture, put additives into food, determine medical procedures, whatever?
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/o...
Opinion | How Afraid of the A.I. Apocalypse Should We Be?
www.nytimes.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:43 PM
All this yammering, and the issue of control never comes up. Whatever it's "thinking", how does AI get control of physical processes? Who lets it manufacture, put additives into food, determine medical procedures, whatever?
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/o...
The problem isn't just that climate politics are broken, but that we have no way to measure how broken they are, or whether they were really unbroken before they broke. In other words, we lack benchmarks.
peterdorman.substack.com/p/how-would-...
peterdorman.substack.com/p/how-would-...
How Would We Know if Climate Politics Were Broken?
A delayed response to David Wallace-Wells
peterdorman.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:32 AM
The problem isn't just that climate politics are broken, but that we have no way to measure how broken they are, or whether they were really unbroken before they broke. In other words, we lack benchmarks.
peterdorman.substack.com/p/how-would-...
peterdorman.substack.com/p/how-would-...
OK, but how can you defend yourself against an email?
October 13, 2025 at 4:46 PM
OK, but how can you defend yourself against an email?
Greetings from Portland, where ICE is locked in combat with Animal Antifa.
October 12, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Greetings from Portland, where ICE is locked in combat with Animal Antifa.
What's happening with vertical integration vs outsourcing? I'm not sure, but here is a compendium of theories that between them can explain whatever trend we're in.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Vertical Integration
Over the past 100+ years, industrial capitalism has seen waves of vertical integration and outsourcing.
open.substack.com
October 11, 2025 at 10:46 PM
What's happening with vertical integration vs outsourcing? I'm not sure, but here is a compendium of theories that between them can explain whatever trend we're in.
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
open.substack.com/pub/peterdor...
Listening again to Robert Burns' Jacobites song:
"What is right and what is wrong, by the law, by the law?
What is right and what is wrong by the law?
What is right and what is wrong, a short sword and a long,
A weak arm and a strong for to draw, for to draw.
A weak arm and a strong for to draw."
"What is right and what is wrong, by the law, by the law?
What is right and what is wrong by the law?
What is right and what is wrong, a short sword and a long,
A weak arm and a strong for to draw, for to draw.
A weak arm and a strong for to draw."
October 7, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Listening again to Robert Burns' Jacobites song:
"What is right and what is wrong, by the law, by the law?
What is right and what is wrong by the law?
What is right and what is wrong, a short sword and a long,
A weak arm and a strong for to draw, for to draw.
A weak arm and a strong for to draw."
"What is right and what is wrong, by the law, by the law?
What is right and what is wrong by the law?
What is right and what is wrong, a short sword and a long,
A weak arm and a strong for to draw, for to draw.
A weak arm and a strong for to draw."
To a manicurist everything looks like a nail.
October 7, 2025 at 4:56 AM
To a manicurist everything looks like a nail.