LA spent $200k to put a piece of metal on a pole at a bus stop.

Meanwhile, it only took our Houston chapter (@HoustonLibs) 6 months to work with the Houston Metro Authority to install benches at bus stops without them, at a cost of only $60/bench. @HoustonLibs We did this poll yesterday to test the waters, and help prove the point we're making here. While the La Sombrita fiasco is absolutely emblematic of nonprofit grifting, it's not inherently bad to have a nonprofit work with the government to provide a good or service.

Shill Bracket update:

The shill bracket championship matchup between @besttrousers and @JosephPolitano has (once again) experienced high levels of obvious botting.

We've decided that if people are determined to game the system, we'll at least make it for a good cause. The championship will be decided by a 24-hour charity drive run off. Linked below are two donation pages to @AgainstMalaria, one for Matt and one for Joey. Whichever has the higher donation amount 24 hours from now wins.

We are excited to announce the panels and speaker lineup for #NLASWest, our one-day policy conference in San Francisco next Friday, March 31st!

There are still tickets left - sign up here if you’d like to join us for this fantastic event: eventbrite.com/e/nlas-west-ti… To kick off the day, California Representative @ScottPetersSD will be joining us for a fireside chat about how government can promote bioscience innovation, with an eye on the role of technological innovation to combat China.
eventbrite.com/e/nlas-west-ti…

This twitter back and forth is a *perfect* distillation of how progressives alienate potential allies and lose elections Normie: "Maybe we should respond to the things voters very obviously care about, like inflation"

Prog activist: "You personally are problematic for pointing this out. What don't need to focus on inflation, we need more activist chum events hosted by me. So educate yourself."

The National Environmental Policy Act has come under fire for actually making it harder to do pro-environment projects.

Here's a thread of projects NEPA has delayed or killed, each one explicitly pro-environment (green energy, mass transit, env. rehabilitation/protection, etc). I should warn you ahead of time: this list is long, and you will hate NEPA deep in your soul by the end of it.

We have to be able to build things faster and more cheaply than this. It's a failure of policy that we can't. And the most progressive cities and states are often the worst offenders.

nytimes.com/2022/08/31/nyr… These responses are *infuriating*.

It's announced the project is going to be $2B over budget (so far) and another three years late (on an already VERY long timeline)… and nobody cares. Nobody's mad. This is normal, fine.

Our capacity to build in progressive areas is pathetic.

In light of the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, we have added a new statement to our "What We Believe" business card: the right to bodily autonomy. We have always believed this, but now want to make it explicit.

🧵 on this change and other updates we made We've changed "Deregulating barriers to housing and employment" to "Abundant housing and abundant jobs".

Especially with housing, we still believe that deregulating zoning is key. But the actual goal is abundant housing and good jobs for everyone, however we can get there.

Neoliberal Chapter Event Thread! The Second Annual Neoliberal Project Week of Action is July 10-16th and we've got a host of events around the world for y'all to enjoy. The following thread is just a sample of the programming we'll be putting on: Pre-WoA

1 - Washington DC - 29 June 6:30 pm @DCNewLiberals June Meetup RSVP Here: eventbrite.com/e/373020754117

When Botswana became independent, their GDP/per capita was only $90 per person (in 2020 USD). They had less than 15% of nearby South Africa's GDP per capita.

They've not only caught up, they now have a 32% higher GDP than South Africa. GDP per capita has grown 75x in 55 years. A fair criticism of Botswana-cheering is that they rely heavily on diamond exports (25% of GDP). This is true, but lots of African countries have natural resource wealth and almost none have handled it as well as Botswana.

There's an annoying trend where some freshmen-year-philosophy-101 level folks will look at this argument and say "Ackshually, this is just consequentialism. Ukraine stopping fighting would save the most lives".

It's incredibly wrong, and not even good consequentialism.

https://twitter.com/ne0liberal/status/1505721042454601729

First, it assumes there are only two countries in the world (Russia and Ukraine) and only one war that will ever be fought (this one).

But as these folks may or may not be aware, other countries like Moldova, Poland, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, etc, exist.

This dude @RichardHanania is just untroubled by the fact that his statements are completely indistinguishable from Russian propaganda, and is still selling himself as some sort of peace-lover.

It's laughable, and he deserves the scorn and shame.

https://twitter.com/RichardHanania/status/1505556806638088192

I make no claim as to whether he's just an idiot, a bad person, secretly paid by Russia, or what.

But what I do know is that his public persona is *the exact same* as someone who was being paid to cheerlead Russia's might + Russia's inevitable victory. The test above proves it!

2022 Neoliberal Shill Bracket - Round Two voting thread

(1) Niskanen employment fellow @besttrousers
vs
(9) BusinessInsider reporter @grace_panetta (5) Niskanen Welfare Policy director @hamandcheese
vs
(13) Anti-car law prof. @greg_shill

The 2022 Neoliberal Shill Bracket begins!

Round One Voting thread! Click through to each region's thread to vote. The Matt Yglesias region

https://twitter.com/ne0liberal/status/1504463435706343426

The @EverydayBastiat Region, Round One:

(1) LSE Professor and Econometrician @economeager
vs
(16) ASI Director of Operations @morgandelmeier (8) Slate econ writer @JHWeissmann
vs
(9) EIG Chief Economist @ModeledBehavior

The @scottlincicome Region, Round One:

(1) Founder of Works in Progress @s8mb
vs
(16) Niskanen comms @tahrajirari (8) Grow SF co-founder @sbuss
vs
(9) Occupational licensing reducer @senatorshoshana

The @Noahpinion Region, Round One:

(1) Tax policy Economist @wwwojtekk
vs
(16) Australian economist of labor/migration @gabster0191 (8) Philosophy of neoliberalism expert @kvallier
vs
(9) The man with every chart @RyanRadia

The @mattyglesias Region, Round One:

(1) Niskanen employment fellow @besttrousers
vs
(16) Tax Policy Center comms @jbuhl35 (8) @Taipei_Neolibs Chapter
vs
(9) BusinessInsider reporter @grace_panetta

Poster play ins bracket thread:

One poster from each foursome will make it to the final bracket. YIMBY Shill @upzone_CA vs future Senator @PatMannUSA

AND

Neoliberal Hawk @globalismstan vs alt-centrist @agraybee

.@ppi and @EricMLeeper have a great new report on the fundamental flaws with MMT.

These flaws are many - read the full report! - but the biggest is the lack of any real model or testable theory.

Thread:

progressivepolicy.org/pressrelease/p… This lack of a model may seem like a small point to non-economists, but it's absolutely crucial.

Economists don't use mathematical models just because. Economists build models using math because math gives their work clarity and consistency.

Some of Manchin's objections to the current BBB are correct. He's right that it's better to do fewer things, fully funded rather than all the things, funded for 1-3 years. Some of his objections are terrible - he's blocking useful climate policy, and appears worried about 'welfare queen' stuff where parents will use the Child Tax Credit to buy drugs.

Care about the Child Tax Credit?

Head over to SaveTheCTC.org and sign the petition to tell Congress that they need to extend or make permanent the expanded CTC! Unless Congress acts, December's round of expanded CTC payments will be the last round of checks.

Millions of children in the US could fall back into poverty.