Notices by Kyle Montanio (fantasticaleconomics@geekdom.social), page 2

In Kim Stanley Robinson's solarpunk-adjacent book "The Ministry for the Future," a major natural disaster in LA was a turning point for the world to take significant action against #ClimateChange.

Something about disaster striking the heart of Hollywood makes it real, and iconic, and shows it impacts even the most powerful.

I am truly saddened by the Palisades fires, and wish everyone affected the best for them and their loved ones.

I also hope we can use this as a wakeup call to take action.

Glad to see the billionaires agree...

"Never has it been easier to spread misinformation at scale — with less concern about media meaningfully policing it."

"Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are of one mind. The most powerful global information platforms should be governed by free speech — and the people — not by the platforms themselves.

Both concluded it's too hard, too inherently biased, and too restrictive to put limits on speech. It's also cheaper to stop trying..."

https://www.axios.com/2025/01/07/meta-x-misinformation-fact-checking-community-notes

Reasons to switch from GoodReads to The StoryGraph to track your reading journey:

1. Divest from the Amazon/Bezos monstrosity.
2. Support a Black-owned business.
3. Get better data about your reading (you can even rank books more precisely, like giving 4.25 stars!).
4. All your GoodRead info can be easily imported, so switching is painless.

Check it out for a better 2025! https://thestorygraph.com

#AmReading #Books #Reading

A common critique of communism, of socialism, of social saftey nets in general is a fear of disincentivize work, but what if that is exactly what we want?

We could design a society where we worked less, produced less, consumed less, which would be more sustainable with us living more satisfying lives.

#degrowth #economics

Some may disparage me for procrastinating when they hear I haven't bought a single Christmas gift yet. But it's not procrastination, it's anti-consumerism.

I'm proud to say this is the first Christmas where I've successfully bought nothing for everyone on my list.

My dog walks me by a mall most days, and the lines of cars and rushed, angry shoppers I see these days makes me appreciate this and experience glee to an almost indescribably high degree.

#degrowth

We need to reduce our energy use, not just support a transition to greenER power. The rise of renewables hasn't stopped us from setting this wirld-burning record.

"The world's appetite for coal is growing more slowly these days but still setting fresh records, new International Energy Agency data shows."

" It's the most CO2-emitting fuel. The chart above is one reason why Paris Agreement climate goals are fast slipping out of reach."

#ClimateChange #Degrowth

https://www.axios.com/2024/12/18/coal-use-keeps-setting-new-world-records

@pluralistic

Great piece, per usual.

"Project 2025 isn't just a guide to the masturbatory fantasies of the worst people in American politics–far more importantly, it is a detailed map of the fracture lines in the GOP coalition, the places where it is liable to split and shatter. This is an important point if you want to do more about Trumpism than run around feeling miserable and scared. If you want to fight, Project 2025 is a guide to the weak spots where an attack will do the most damage."

Anyone still saying Musk made a bad move in buying Twitter clearly aren't paying attention. The 'billions he lost' on it is chump change compared to the power it bought him.

Trump isn't even in the Whitehouse and Musk is dictatoring Congress.

https://www.axios.com/2024/12/19/behind-the-curtain-musks-america

#USPolitics

@Lazarou

When BigOil writes the laws, the only thing left to do is to break things.

As surveillance capitalism grows, our window for being able to break things may be narrowing. I hope folks choose to view this as a call to action rather than give up on our collective futures.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/26/anti-protest-laws-fossil-fuel-lobby

I just came across the FLICC taxonomy for identifying and countering the techniques of science denial. I knew most of these, but some were new to me.

I found the video useful (although 40 minutes long) and the reading easy to skim through. Definitely something I will be using in my classes in the future and think everyone should be aware of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gecDy9wDuCs&list=PL1xbdG-NAkB1fAyNAWErM4uEXyduldiew

https://crankyuncle.com/a-history-of-flicc-the-5-techniques-of-science-denial/

#teaching #TeachEcon @academicchatter

Found an interesting graph with absolutely no relation to current events on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Life_expectancy_vs_healthcare_spending.jpg

I forget who I learned this from, but it's pretty useful to add Reagan's face right around 1981 to help understand changes in US over time.

#economics #HealthCare

Great piece by JuliusGoat@mastodon.social:

"According to reports, UnitedHealthcare denied more health coverage than any other provider, which made it more profitable, which made it more competitive, which means that it's more and more likely that more and more people will be denied medical care by other providers, and more and more people will be financially ruined...

... profits are the point of our health care system, and this is not controversial or shocking..."

https://www.the-reframe.com/peaceful-solutions/

All this rage against for-profit health insurance is awesome. We clearly see the damages it causes - people literally die - in the name of profit.

But let's not let the anger stop there. The issue isn't in health insurance, it's all insurance.

The only way to "complete" in insurance is to be better than others at denying claims. Insurance can never be provided efficiently, much less equitably, by private industries.

#economics

Bad take Axios. Prosecuting Trump did not place presidents above the law, this is what the GOP has worked decades to achieve. That's the story.

"All the time and effort poured into prosecuting Donald Trump only ended up putting him — and every future president — further above the law."

"By far the most significant outcome from all of those charges was the Supreme Court's ruling that former presidents are immune from prosecution for their 'official acts.'"

https://www.axios.com/2024/11/26/trump-prosecution-supreme-court

#USPolitics

"Conservatives" the world over are... appalling. To reduce declining birthrates in Japan, Conservative Party leader Naoki Hyakuta proposed banning women getting married after 25 and forced hysterectomies at 30.

Not only is this talk horrific and sexist and unfortunately normalized on today's world (in no small part thanks to Trump), it also seems highly ineffective. Talk about not understanding incentives, even a little.

Or, maybe, the cruelty is the point.

https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/global-trends/japanese-lawmaker-naoki-hyakuta-is-facing-severe-backlash-on-his-remarks-on-women-remove-uterus-after-they-turn-30-heres-what-he-said-/articleshow/115250206.cms

#Politics

RFK Jr.: "Hold my raw milk."

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/386215/trump-rfk-jr-vaccines-health-measles-chart

What if we could reduce abortions and save the government millions, the GOP would love it right? Wrong.

"The Colorado Family Planning Initiative (CFPI) drove a 50 percent reduction in teen births and abortions, avoided nearly $70 million in public assistance costs, and empowered thousands of young women to make their own choices on when or whether to start a family."

This program was shut down by the state GOP. It's always been about controlling women.

https://cdphe.colorado.gov/fpp/about-us/colorados-success-long-acting-reversible-contraception-larc

#USPolitics

What could #degrowth actually look like?

For starters, imagine every golf course - those cesspools of pesticides that cater to the whims of the wealthy - into public parks with at least one disc golf course, food-bearing plants free for anyone to pick, the club house converted into pickleball courts, and native plants to support bees and birds and life.

Literally everyone, including our non-human brethren, will be made better off at the expense of lower GDP and, perhaps, a few wealthy folks.

I've been seeing a lot of conspiracy theories about how Trump stole the election here, and I know it's every more common on The TikTok.

This is where we should apply Occam's razor: when multiple explanations fit the evidence, err on the side of the simplest.

So, here's my counter:

#USPolitics

We are, hopefully, soon to be seeing an influx of new users as more folks realize X is the Nazi bar.

Please be kind to them, even though they are not perfect. They may not know all the best practices and, yes, most of us here agree they should have left sooner. Support their efforts to improve, as improving is all we can really do.

And consider following more new accounts, particularly of journalists and creatives whose livlihoods may depend on social media reach.

#TwitterMigration