Notices by Kyle Montanio (fantasticaleconomics@geekdom.social), page 3

@ekis

Surveys provide some evidence and can influence our judgment. It is certainly far less convincing than a full study but, given the recency of the election, we don't have the luxury of scientific studies.

That said, I agree there were likely more folks on the left who chose not to vote because of the Democrats' stance on Gaza. But we genuinely cannot know exactly how the magnitude of each compare. Both are probably sufficient to swing the election, imo.

@jackhutton

@jackhutton

I like the piece, but think it undercounts the importance of people's belief in Harrris' support for trans rights (which I see as directly in support of the main claim). A recent survey suggests this was the main reason swing voters didn't support Harris.

I can see arguments, like this article, that say the total impact from polarizing the base is more important, but see an equally strong reason to care mostly about those most likely to be swayed.

https://www.axios.com/2024/11/10/democrats-working-class-voters-trump

@kaia

No apologies needed for making a polite suggestion :)

That said, I don't think it's good advice, particularly not in our situation. Our kid will be lucky enough to have four loving grandparents, cutting them off from the great-grandparents wouldn't be a big loss.

More generally, I'm confident there is plenty of research showing that getting rid of toxic relationships - which this very much is for some - has a lot of value, and may outweigh potential benefits of grandparents.

@Patricia

Some are considering dropping men entirely. Which like, fair.

“Now that we don’t need a man for anything, and men continue to actively take our rights away, we’re just like, ‘OK, we’re just not going to deal with you.'”

The #4BMovement taking off in force in the US would send a powerful message, just saying. Worth looking into and how it's working in South Korea, at the very least, so I'm glad it's trending on The TikTok.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/4b-movement-south-korea-inspires-american-women-trump-reelection-rcna179143

#4B

@Patricia

My vocally Trump supporting grandparent-in-laws are, somehow, shocked my partner, my partner who's pregnant with our first child, is considering breaking contact with them over this.

I fully understand cutting off any who is increasing the, already substantial, risk women face from men by activity helping elect a rapist president.

I'm not sure the right really realizes how not-joking women are when talking about bear safety.

#4B

Now is a fine time to stop the infighting between everyone left of fascist.

Blaming leftists for not voting or centrists for downplaying Gaza, for example, both have some merit but miss the point entirely. It's not our preferences nor policy disagreements that are propelling US fascism - it's deep-seated racism and misogyny and hatred.

Figure out who the real enemies are, and act accordingly. We all lose if we cannot come together right now.

That's how I see it, at least.

#USPolitics

Shoutout to everyone incorporating #HarrisWalz signs into their halloween decorations.

Way to use All Hallows' Eve to prevent something truly scary.

#USPolitics

I know most on this list are already big fans of Kate Raworth and her Doughnut Economics model. For those who are less familiar, her TED Talk (which as I reflect on it is probably the link I share most on here) is a great starting point:

https://www.ted.com/talks/kate_raworth_a_healthy_economy_should_be_designed_to_thrive_not_grow?subtitle=en

@lyndamerry484 @Quantillion @breadandcircuses @gerrymcgovern @Tallish_Tom

@aral

Even pro-capitalist folks should be able to recognize that the free market doesn't work in all cases. For instance, when the only way to 'compete' is by screwing over your customers, maybe it's time to try a different system.

Insurance most obviously fits into this category, and I think public utilities are similar (like the UK's privatized sewage disaster).

@scottsantens

"Most people come out of prison with an extraordinary amount of debt, in addition to the ordinary costs of rent, food, clothing, things like that. If you’re unable to make those payments, you will be re-incarcerated, just for not having enough money.

We use this phrase all the time: ‘you are too poor to be free’. It’s the unfortunate truth, and it happens all the time. People go in and out of prison because of poverty, and they stay in poverty because of prison."

If one were to be a one-issue voter (not recommended, btw), #ClimateChange seems like the only that would make sense as the one-and-only thing to care about.

Nothing else compares to the scale and magnitude of suffering it will cause. No other issue has litteral world-ending consequences (except, possibly, a nuclear war).

When one candidate is still actively denying climate change and the other is pushing for progress to combat it, at least a little, the choice should be obvious.

#Politics

Trump's war on experts is clearly detrimental, and causing the most harm to those least able to bear it.

We see him politicizing the severe storms that we know are exacerbated by #ClimateChange while he continues to deny the existence of it. This is not the way to help the world, nor any specific group we care about (assuming we don't care about billionaires, which we shouldn't).

The best choice for the world is to #VoteBlue.

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/12/trump-hurricanes-climate-change-experts

How far off do you think we are from folks, especially politicians, on the right saying "now is not the time to talk about #ClimateChange," after major natural disasters?

I feel like that's the next step in their playbook once flat denial loses its effectiveness.

@phil_stevens

Truth. Both are delay tactics the fossil fuel industry is heavily using. Pretty amazing that such contradictory statements can be used to achieve the exact same goal - delay progress to increase profits (just as @_noelamac_ describes).

Too many people (most notably economists) fail to recognize the impacts of #economics on societal norms.

The #capitalism that touts self-interest is largely responsible for raising narcissists like Trump and Musk to pedestals that far outstrip any benefit to society they could possibly provide.

Almost every culture has had social norms, and often laws, to combat human tendencies toward greed. But the religion of capitalism has, unfortunately, transmuted a deadly sin into admirable virtue.

Once upon a time, I could not fathom how Hitler rose to power. I read the books. I watched the documentaries. But I couldn't understand how everyday people let such obvious evil flourish.

Intellectually knowing the reasons - such as stoking amorphous fears and scapegoating innocent others - wasn't enough.

Regretfully, I think I finally understand how such things come to pass. And it saddens me that we, apparently, need to learn this lesson first hand every few generations.

#MicroNonfiction

Sam Altman believes #AI is using a trivial amount of energy.

"The energy use of AI, I think relative to the value it's creating, is quite tiny today. I don't want to minimize it too much, because it's going to go up — like we will use gigawatts over time, out of, you know, terawatts on Earth."

I guess this depends on if the energy use of small countries is trivial and if you believe Earth can sustain producing terawatts of energy indefinitely.

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/24/sam-altman-openai-united-nations
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ai-boom-could-use-a-shocking-amount-of-electricity/

Means testing harms the mean household and is just plain mean, by design.

Study after study shows that providing social safety nets - benefits the vast majority of people support - is cheaper and more efficient when you get rid of the hurdles to prove you qualify.

Means testing punishes those most in need who are often least able to spend time and energy to complete the intentionally difficult process to access benefits, and results in higher costs.

https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2022/11/11/universal-benefits-cost-less-than-means-tested-benefits/

#UBI #BasicIncome

Another debunked idea still pushed in mainstream #economics is that capitalism leads to democracy - some even go as far to say capitalism is a necessary condition of democracy.

This is just cold-war era propaganda that still occasionally shows up in econ classrooms to this day. If anything, unfettered free-market capitalism almost necessarily devolves into oligarchy, rather than bolstering democracy, as the biggest companies in the world are showcasing well as we speak.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/23/amazon-tesla-meta-climate-change-democracy

This saddens me, on many levels. #AI companies are looking to profit from the loneliness epidemic - which #capitalism and tech companies played no small part in bringing about - through AI social media.

"While experts disagree on whether AI is a good cure for loneliness, people are already befriending bots — and investors see a business opportunity in the phenomenon."

It's awful that online spaces are so hostile that people are turning to automation to meet this need.

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/22/social-media-ai-bot-app-x