Thomas Masterson
@thomasmasterson.bsky.social
Senior Scholar and Director of Graduate Programs at Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Well, we got six nice days.
November 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Well, we got six nice days.
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Not once does this @politico.com piece mention that CPI is near the highest of Trump’s term.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 6, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Not once does this @politico.com piece mention that CPI is near the highest of Trump’s term.
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
All 6 Branches Of Armed Forces Present At Arrest Of Undocumented Nanny
All 6 Branches Of Armed Forces Present At Arrest Of Undocumented Nanny
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI—In what they described as a collaborative effort to share resources and information in defense of U.S. territory, Pentagon officials confirmed Monday that all six branches of the ...
theonion.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
All 6 Branches Of Armed Forces Present At Arrest Of Undocumented Nanny
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
straight-up jury nullification. this guy did it, confessed to it, and the jury instructions explicitly said that if he did it intentionally, it was assault.
BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Jury acquits D.C. 'sandwich guy' charged with chucking a sub at a federal agent
Sean Dunn faced single misdemeanor offense after federal grand jurors refused to indict him on the felony charge sought by prosecutors.
www.nbcnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:34 PM
straight-up jury nullification. this guy did it, confessed to it, and the jury instructions explicitly said that if he did it intentionally, it was assault.
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
🎤 Professor Jayati Ghosh at the 2025 #PenroseLectures
Professor Ghosh, member of IIPP's Strategic Economics Alliance ( @iipp-sea.bsky.social ) Advisory Board, will deliver two public lectures at the @soaseconomics.bsky.social annual #PenroseLectures, May 20-21.
🔗 Learn more: buff.ly/RGNG5nF
Professor Ghosh, member of IIPP's Strategic Economics Alliance ( @iipp-sea.bsky.social ) Advisory Board, will deliver two public lectures at the @soaseconomics.bsky.social annual #PenroseLectures, May 20-21.
🔗 Learn more: buff.ly/RGNG5nF
May 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
🎤 Professor Jayati Ghosh at the 2025 #PenroseLectures
Professor Ghosh, member of IIPP's Strategic Economics Alliance ( @iipp-sea.bsky.social ) Advisory Board, will deliver two public lectures at the @soaseconomics.bsky.social annual #PenroseLectures, May 20-21.
🔗 Learn more: buff.ly/RGNG5nF
Professor Ghosh, member of IIPP's Strategic Economics Alliance ( @iipp-sea.bsky.social ) Advisory Board, will deliver two public lectures at the @soaseconomics.bsky.social annual #PenroseLectures, May 20-21.
🔗 Learn more: buff.ly/RGNG5nF
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
“Critics dismiss this as pie-in-the-sky socialism. But what they’re really objecting to is more fundamental: the idea that democratic governments should guarantee people’s basic needs, even if it means intervening in markets”
If guaranteeing essentials sounds radical in 2025, it speaks to how far we’ve drifted from democracy’s core promise. Markets will not save democracy.
My new piece for @theguardian.com:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My new piece for @theguardian.com:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Zohran Mamdani shows how Democrats can defeat authoritarians like Trump | Isabella Weber
Democrats have two choices: fight to make life affordable again for ordinary people or watch voters embrace authoritarians
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:27 PM
“Critics dismiss this as pie-in-the-sky socialism. But what they’re really objecting to is more fundamental: the idea that democratic governments should guarantee people’s basic needs, even if it means intervening in markets”
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Our latest working paper from Levy President @ptcherneva.bsky.social traces the "enshittification" (Doctorow)) of the modern labor market and how the postwar promise of full employment turned into a trap of precarity and debt
The Job Guarantee could be the answer.
levyinstitute.org/publications...
The Job Guarantee could be the answer.
levyinstitute.org/publications...
November 6, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Our latest working paper from Levy President @ptcherneva.bsky.social traces the "enshittification" (Doctorow)) of the modern labor market and how the postwar promise of full employment turned into a trap of precarity and debt
The Job Guarantee could be the answer.
levyinstitute.org/publications...
The Job Guarantee could be the answer.
levyinstitute.org/publications...
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
This clip should be everywhere Democrats can get it. This is how we need to learn to speak to the press.
October 31, 2025 at 2:27 PM
This clip should be everywhere Democrats can get it. This is how we need to learn to speak to the press.
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
The first "Disturbance" of November! Tune in for new material from vibraphonist Yuhan Su, DJ Nicola Conte, composer/arranger Zhengtao Pan, and trumpeter/multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Payton.
www.jazzfluxus.com/episodes
*photo creds/ALT
www.jazzfluxus.com/episodes
*photo creds/ALT
November 5, 2025 at 10:29 AM
The first "Disturbance" of November! Tune in for new material from vibraphonist Yuhan Su, DJ Nicola Conte, composer/arranger Zhengtao Pan, and trumpeter/multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Payton.
www.jazzfluxus.com/episodes
*photo creds/ALT
www.jazzfluxus.com/episodes
*photo creds/ALT
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Here Trump takes his entire theory of governance to its logical conclusion by demanding Democrats improve the parts of government he keeps trying to destroy
Trump trashes Obamacare in a new post. Funding under this law is the main dispute between the two parties in the ongoing government shutdown standoff.
October 31, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Here Trump takes his entire theory of governance to its logical conclusion by demanding Democrats improve the parts of government he keeps trying to destroy
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Welp — @davidhogg.bsky.social to Scott Jennings: "People are tired of being lectured by men with Rolexes on CNN about affordability in this country. That’s why Zohran is resonating."
November 4, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Welp — @davidhogg.bsky.social to Scott Jennings: "People are tired of being lectured by men with Rolexes on CNN about affordability in this country. That’s why Zohran is resonating."
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Why do we pay so much for healthcare? Hint, it's not Obamacare deanbaker22.substack.com/p/why-is-hea...
Why Is Healthcare Expensive?
It's the Costly Trinity: Drugs, Insurers, and Doctors
deanbaker22.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Why do we pay so much for healthcare? Hint, it's not Obamacare deanbaker22.substack.com/p/why-is-hea...
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
this country is terrified of the greatness of Black women, ex. 114,292:
The goal post will always be moved.
When your parents used to say, "you gotta be twice as good to get half as much...." it never stopped being true.
I dont wanna hear about meritocracy or "DEI."
When your parents used to say, "you gotta be twice as good to get half as much...." it never stopped being true.
I dont wanna hear about meritocracy or "DEI."
November 3, 2025 at 1:12 PM
this country is terrified of the greatness of Black women, ex. 114,292:
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
I think this is one of the craziest Econ papers I've ever seen, insane depth and great presentation at FMM!
🚨NEW PAPER🚨
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We all know the 2022 energy price shock fueled the cost of living crisis. It also caused a profit bonanza for the very rich. We show the US reaped the largest profits ($377bn) of any country. 50% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 29, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I think this is one of the craziest Econ papers I've ever seen, insane depth and great presentation at FMM!
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Trump did on 60 Minutes what he does every time. He spews a blizzard of lies, exaggerations and assorted other falsehoods, and if (as usual) the reporter isn’t equipped or doesn’t bother to push back, he keeps going.
Here is a detailed list, via @mehdirhasan.bsky.social
zeteo.com/p/factchecki...
Here is a detailed list, via @mehdirhasan.bsky.social
zeteo.com/p/factchecki...
![• "We have no inflation." Inflation is at 3%.
• "It's at 2%. It's-- it's the perfect inflation." Inflation is at 3%.
• "Right now [grocery prices are] going down." Grocery prices are up 1.4% since
Trump came to office.
• "A year ago, we were a dead country." Not only did the US have the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in both 2023 and 2024, but the Economist magazine called it "the envy of the world."
• "11,888 murderers were let into our country." Not only is this number inaccurate, but many of the non-citizens convicted of homicide either here or abroad came in during Trump's first term.
• "Washington, DC, was... almost like a crime capital of the world." In 2023, per PolitiFact, "at least 49 other cities in the world had higher homicide rates.
• "[Biden] hardly went anywhere. Guy couldn't leave his bedroom." Not only did Joe Biden visit roughly as many countries in his term of office as Trump did in his first term, but Biden was the first US president to visit an active warzone - Ukraine - not under the control of US forces.
• "I made Middle East peace. For 3,000 years, they couldn't do it." There is no peace in Palestine, no peace deal in place, and it isn't a 3,000-year-old conflict.
• "Communist, not socialist. Communist. He's far worse than a socialist."
Zohran Mamdani is not a communist.
• "I can't give them $1.5 trillion so that they can give welfare to people that came into our country illegally." The Trump/GOP claim that Democrats want to give free healthcare to undocumented immigrants has been repeatedly debunked.
• "They emptied their mental institutions and their insane asylums-- into the United States of America." Asylum seekers don't come from "insane asylums."
Obviously.
• "One thing I can tell you, the 2020 election was rigged." It wasn't. The courts agreed.
• "And a lotta people say when it's rigged you're allowed to do it again." A lot of people don't say this. The US Constitution doesn't, for sure.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:svawqo4jxobyyuqmixplvcux/bafkreicrg2pdihe5ntgygv6uxk37yldeygsbewwpbsjw7a7xwqjohmap6i@jpeg)
November 3, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Trump did on 60 Minutes what he does every time. He spews a blizzard of lies, exaggerations and assorted other falsehoods, and if (as usual) the reporter isn’t equipped or doesn’t bother to push back, he keeps going.
Here is a detailed list, via @mehdirhasan.bsky.social
zeteo.com/p/factchecki...
Here is a detailed list, via @mehdirhasan.bsky.social
zeteo.com/p/factchecki...
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
I have watched this work locally. When things are going terribly and the local GOP abandons their people and the local dems show up with food pantries and stuff to help anyone who needs it. It bleeds through the noise. Sometimes it radicalizes them into our cause.
But we get NO support down here.
But we get NO support down here.
It doesn’t matter what I think. Also, none of this would ever happen. But if I had a zillion dollars:
1. Run a “we do hard things” campaign across southern and rust belt states. Invest heavily in local, state and regional social infrastructure. Sponser later hours at a library, build a skate park…
1. Run a “we do hard things” campaign across southern and rust belt states. Invest heavily in local, state and regional social infrastructure. Sponser later hours at a library, build a skate park…
If I were to sum up my advice to the Democratic party leadership about how to defeat Trumpism, it would be to set aside policy for now and focus instead on articulating a vision of what American society should look like and what role the US should play in a rapidly changing world today.
November 3, 2025 at 1:49 AM
I have watched this work locally. When things are going terribly and the local GOP abandons their people and the local dems show up with food pantries and stuff to help anyone who needs it. It bleeds through the noise. Sometimes it radicalizes them into our cause.
But we get NO support down here.
But we get NO support down here.
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Under Trump, the draconian future of homelessness policy is coming into focus: mass internment. Utah is building a 16-acre site to detain up to 1,300 homeless people inside locked "accountability centers." This is profoundly alarming.
Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Under Trump, the draconian future of homelessness policy is coming into focus: mass internment. Utah is building a 16-acre site to detain up to 1,300 homeless people inside locked "accountability centers." This is profoundly alarming.
Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
I assumed this had to be AI.
It is not AI.
It's like concept design for Neil Patrick Harris at the end of Starship Troopers that Verhoeven rejected for being too on-the-nose.
It is not AI.
It's like concept design for Neil Patrick Harris at the end of Starship Troopers that Verhoeven rejected for being too on-the-nose.
October 28, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I assumed this had to be AI.
It is not AI.
It's like concept design for Neil Patrick Harris at the end of Starship Troopers that Verhoeven rejected for being too on-the-nose.
It is not AI.
It's like concept design for Neil Patrick Harris at the end of Starship Troopers that Verhoeven rejected for being too on-the-nose.
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
This is a real thing that a judge had to say to the Chief of US Customs and Border Protection.
"Kids dressed in halloween costumes walking to a parade" do not present an immediate threat to law enforcement officer and riot control measures may not be used, Ellis says.
October 28, 2025 at 3:20 PM
This is a real thing that a judge had to say to the Chief of US Customs and Border Protection.
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
This Day in Labor History: November 1, 1879. The Carlisle Indian School opened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This school, central to the genocidal project to end Native American culture in the late nineteenth century, was replicated across the nation. Work was central to the genocidal project!
November 1, 2025 at 1:25 PM
This Day in Labor History: November 1, 1879. The Carlisle Indian School opened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This school, central to the genocidal project to end Native American culture in the late nineteenth century, was replicated across the nation. Work was central to the genocidal project!
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
SCOOP: The Trump administration acknowledged they don’t know the identities of the people they’re killing; can’t meet the evidentiary burden to prosecute survivors; and consider those survivors to be “unprivileged belligerents." theintercept.com/2025/10/31/t...
Trump Administration Admits It Doesn’t Know Who Exactly It’s Killing in Boat Strikes
Officials acknowledged they don’t know the identities of the people they’re killing and can’t meet the evidentiary burden to prosecute survivors.
theintercept.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:08 PM
SCOOP: The Trump administration acknowledged they don’t know the identities of the people they’re killing; can’t meet the evidentiary burden to prosecute survivors; and consider those survivors to be “unprivileged belligerents." theintercept.com/2025/10/31/t...
Great conference with a lot of great ideas for infusing macroeconomics theory and practice with gender analysis. Check out the other two plenary sessions as well, featuring former Levy Scholars, research associates and attendees at our gender workshops over the years.
Levy Scholar Ajit Zacharias joined leading feminist economists on Day 2 of Gendering Macroeconomics during the 29th Annual FMM Research Conference—a milestone event advancing gender-aware approaches in heterodox economics.
Watch now: youtube.com/watch?v=9CCR...
Watch now: youtube.com/watch?v=9CCR...
29th FMM Conference: Gendering Macroeconomics Day 2
YouTube video by Hans-Böckler-Stiftung
youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Great conference with a lot of great ideas for infusing macroeconomics theory and practice with gender analysis. Check out the other two plenary sessions as well, featuring former Levy Scholars, research associates and attendees at our gender workshops over the years.
Reposted by Thomas Masterson
Yesterday, Institute President Pavlina Tcherneva (@ptcherneva.bsky.social) delivered the keynote at the CIRIEC International & Bordeaux GSEF 2025 conferences—highlighting global successes of the job guarantee and the social and solidarity economy movement.
www.levyinstitute.org/news_items/p...
www.levyinstitute.org/news_items/p...
President Pavlina R. Tcherneva Delivers Keynote at CIRIEC International and Bordeaux GSEF 2025 Conferences – Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
Institute President Pavlina R. Tcherneva delivered the joint keynote address at the CIRIEC International and Bordeaux GSEF 2025 conferences, bringing together leading voices from across the global soc...
www.levyinstitute.org
October 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Yesterday, Institute President Pavlina Tcherneva (@ptcherneva.bsky.social) delivered the keynote at the CIRIEC International & Bordeaux GSEF 2025 conferences—highlighting global successes of the job guarantee and the social and solidarity economy movement.
www.levyinstitute.org/news_items/p...
www.levyinstitute.org/news_items/p...