1. The last in my series of THREADS on Inflation and the Economy (Part 4 of 4) poses a media-centered explanation for Americans’ negative impressions of the economy and concludes with an exposition of key concepts intended to help us understand the complexities of our economy. 2. One of the best graphs that explains so much of our discourse was put together by @mcopelov. He used the database Lexis/Uni to look up stories on different topics over a 3-year period. You can see the outsized extent of inflation coverage.

1. This third THREAD in my 4-part series on Inflation and the Economy analyzes the uniquely American conundrum of a gap between consumer sentiment and the macroeconomic indicators of our economy.

Here I’ll talk about the nature of the two political parties and COVID. 2. Parts 1 and 2 were fact-driven. Parts 3 and 4 will be more analytical (although of course any analysis requires facts).

Part 1 on the negatives is here:

Part 2 on the positives is here:

https://x.com/Historian_Steve/status/1823507621107958150

https://x.com/Historian_Steve/status/1823659753899491708

1/33. Part 2 of 4 of my series of THREADs on Inflation and the Economy discusses the positive characteristics Americans should consider when they evaluate the economy.

Part 1 on the negatives is here:

https://x.com/Historian_Steve/status/1823507621107958150

2/33. COVID brought about three rounds of fiscal stimulus. One came with the CARES Act of March 2020. The second was passed in December 2020 and the third was part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan in March 2021.

1/58. Part 1 of 4 in my series of THREADs on Inflation and the Economy explores the various reasons why Americans might view the economy negatively. 2/58. What is inflation? It is the loss of purchasing power observable in rising prices and paying more money for the same amount of goods. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates the inflation rate when it issues a monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) on a basket of goods.

1/ THREAD. How do we know the #CivilWar was caused by #slavery? Academic historians will know this but this is intended for others.

It's not enough just to say it. Let's get the evidence out there. 2/ Look at the facts and circumstances involving the explosive events of the 1850s and Lincoln's election in 1860.

1/99. THREAD. I got inspired. I wanted to elaborate on what I said here.

I try to follow this issue closely and have saved many resources and bits of evidence, which I present here.

https://twitter.com/Historian_Steve/status/1690026314395459585

2/99. My core claim is:

a) GOP voters are misinformed about the seriousness of human-caused climate change (AGW) because:
b) they take cues from GOP political & media elites who:
c) are beholden to a well financed campaign of denial & deception from fossil fuel corporations.

Some random, disconnected thoughts...are we at the beginning of a new financial crisis leading to a recession?

Well, we just don't know and so many economic predictions come from either blowhards or people who don't have any specialized predictive power. For example, how often have you heard predictions of an imminent recession only to see the BLS comes out with a report saying we added 500,000 jobs per month? It seems like a discourse dominated by Republicans who just *wanted* a recession so they could blame it on Biden.

On this #LaborDay2022 I have provided some graphs and images on labor history and labor unions.

If you're teaching modern U.S. history and cover the Gilded Age, and want evidence of a "new Gilded Age," you may also find these useful. Enjoy! As you might expect, union membership differs among states and regions in the U.S., and also private versus public sectors.

Someone recently asked, Dead or Allmans? A brief thread that is somewhat akin to who's your favorite sports team, so it can get emotionally charged, especially with Deadheads, but in the end, let's not take this too seriously.

I like both bands but I'll vouch for the Dead... This is a Wall of Sound show in England, Sept '74. So right before the classic show in Dijon, France and of course, before Winterland '74 that became part of the Grateful Dead movie and the Steal Your Face album.

A lot of dissertations and books I come across in the field of history seem to favor breadth over depth. It seems so ubiquitous that it could easily pass without comment. Here's what I mean. I will come across something and look at the citations... I see A LOT of secondary sources cited, which does take time and a certain amount of expertise and thinking to synthesize, but often feel unimpressed by the amount of primary sources cited. And since I've seen a lot of older works whose orientation is the opposite, I wonder...

Historians ask questions and construct narratives and arguments based on the responses to those questions. Let's ask a few.

1. In 2003, what percentage of the world's oil did Iraq contain?

2. In 2003, how many metric tons of GHG did Americans emit compared to rest of world? 3. Do you think the answer to question #2 has any relationship to the answer to question #1. If so, what is it?

Once you're aware of that relationship, how do you now think reasons for the United States's invasion of Iraq in 2003, as publicly stated by the Bush administration?

I gotta be 100% honest, I get annoyed when I'm challenged on climate. It's not that I think I'm above being challenged. It's that I think I've read a lot of the evidence, the evidence to me is very clear, and I can't understand why others don't feel the urgency I do. I do understand why people get apathetic or don't want to rock the boat but at the end of the day I don't find these arguments convincing. And it takes a long time to lay out all of the evidence. I'd really like to write a book some time on the history of climate change, and...

1/68. THREAD on the International Gold Standard (GS), Inflation, Finance, and International Trade.

Intended for non-experts. Relevant for our own time! Includes Graphs, links, and images! 2/68. Note: I have not published peer reviewed articles or books on this topic, so I won’t claim to be an expert. Still, I had to learn enough of the basics to write about the Bank War and want to share my enthusiasm and understanding with others.

1. THREAD. My thoughts on Jonathan Levy’s Ages of American Capitalism, with links and images! 2. I’m teaching Levy’s most recent book for one of my courses this semester. I was eager to read Chapter 4, “Capitalism and Democracy,” as it covers topics that are exciting and familiar to me.

1. THREAD. Why is anti-statist resistance to federal support for health insurance, vaccines, voting rights, environmentalism, women’s rights, and collective bargaining so prevalent in the American South?

As I argue here a major reason lies in the region’s history of slavery. 2. This thread was inspired by a response to @arielronid's excellent article in Slate. For years I had known about the slavery—limited government relationship but now I wanted specific, verifiable proof in the primary sources.
slate.com/news-and-polit…

just when I thought I was going to have a productive day of grading after two lackluster days, there's some Twitter stuff going on about political economy of slavery that maybe doesn't *demand* my attention, but sure is important, I think. The connection of slavery and limited government / anti-tax / anti-tariff / strict constructionism on the Constitution in the South is fairly well known among historians but I did want to provide some evidence in the form of quotes from William Freehling

1. THREAD: I am pleased to share my article on Nicholas Biddle, cotton, and slavery, published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History of Biography.

URL: muse.jhu.edu/article/793520 2. My thoughts here are organized into four larger themes:

1) the research
2) why I wrote this article
3) Some points about evidence and interpretation
4) the revisions

1. THREAD. If you teach early U.S. history you’ll soon be transitioning from the early republic to the antebellum era. Those of you who cover party politics might like this thread on the Bank War, the topic of my book. It has a different take compared to most authors. 2. A few years ago I submitted an article manuscript to a journal in my field. In one otherwise forgettable sentence I gave the conventional view as to why Nicholas Biddle, in January 1832, submitted an application to Congress for a renewal of the 2nd Bank’s 20-year charter.

1. THREAD. Sharon Ann Murphy is out with a new article in Enterprise and Society. Here are my impressions.

cambridge.org/core/journals/… 2. The topic of Murphy’s article is the Nesbitt Manufacturing Company, an iron factory near Spartanburg, South Carolina. She uses the business correspondence of Alabama investor, enslaver, and industrialist, Franklin Elmore, located in the Library of Congress.

#twitterstorians What are the best videos to show your students on the U.S. Constitution and why? Love to hear your input. @MichaelHattem @ProvAtlantic @sarageorgini @jmadelman and feel free to include others.

There isn't a day that goes by that I wonder to myself, where did we go wrong?

There are lots of valid responses. The 1980 election is one because we're still suffering the consequences.

But I can't shake the feeling that Bush v. Gore was where it all went wrong. Try to imagine a counterfactual where Bush doesn't become president. Do we have a 9/11? Maybe. Do we have a war in Iraq and torture? Probably not. Do we get Roberts and Alito. No. Do we get a housing/insurance bubble? Tough to say.