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Chance Phillips

@chancephillips.bsky.social

1.6K followers 450 following 890 posts

A student in the economics PhD program at UMass Amherst. Recreationally reading: Harry Jaffa’s Crisis of the House Divided Most bylines in @alreporter.com and @liberalcurrents.com Substack: someconvenienttree.com

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 23d

Thanks to @thebulwark.com for publishing my latest analysis of the leaked responses to a Project 2025 questionnaire for government jobseekers.

Contra Sam Haselby, Pat Buchanan is not a “marginal figure.” The folks running the government appear to be his acolytes.
www.thebulwark.com/p/the-trump-...

The Trump Admin Appointees Who Love Buchanan and Bukele

A leaked Project 2025 questionnaire database appears to reveal the books, thinkers, and dictators some Trump appointees most admire.

www.thebulwark.com

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 59m

The essay on the creation of new words was especially interesting, as someone for whom that topic (linguistics) is usually a bit dreary.
www.orwell.ru/library/arti...

George Orwell: New Words

New Words, the essay of George Orwell. First published: 1940 by/in --

www.orwell.ru

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 1h

I began reading one volume of a collection of his essays and other writings the other day, after only reading Homage to Catalonia and Animal Farm, and am quite impressed. Orwell can write!

I’m jotting down turns of phrase and sentences of note as I read.

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 23h

It was a bit in The Office, the most popular sitcom this century!
bsky.app/profile/chan...

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 1d

The lack of folks pointing out that Jay Jones’ initial comments (“put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time”) closely parallel a bit from The Office is odd in my opinion.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIoq...

Killing Bin Laden, Hitler, and Toby - The Office US

YouTube video by The Office

www.youtube.com

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 1d

(Obvious disclaimer: Politicians should not joke about killing their political opponents and commenting about the death of opponents’ children is even worse.)

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 1d

Killing Bin Laden, Hitler, and Toby - The Office US

YouTube video by The Office

www.youtube.com

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 2d

Lord, I see what you have done for others...

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 2d

Used bookstores in college towns are invariably better than used bookstores in cities without a large university.

Copies of Tacitus’ The Annals of Imperial Rome, James C. Scott’s The Moral Economy of the Peasant, Christopher Lasch’s The Revolt of the Elites, a collection of Machiavelli’s letters, Jack Knight’s Institutions and Social Conflict, Alistair Horne’s The Fall of Paris, P.N. Ure’s The Origin of Tyranny, Roger Price’s The French Second Republic: A Social History, a collection of George Orwell’s essays, Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, Michael Harrington’s The Twilight of Capitalism, and Ralph Roeder’s Juarez and His Mexico.

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 3d

New video from @jamellebouie.net on the Lincoln-Douglas debates 👀 (also a good reminder I really need to finish Crisis of the House Divided this month)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=44Q8...

Why the Lincoln-Douglas Debates Still Matter

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie

www.youtube.com

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 3d

(Sagely) Joan Robinson talked about this.

“Every demand depends upon every other price. If the mat makers are exceptionally heavy drinkers, the demand for liquor will be high on the days when they have been lucky.”

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 3d

My wholly uninformed opinion is that athletes for whom success was more natural are just less aware of how great coaching can help people succeed. Folks for whom their coaches were more important may be able to transfer those experiences to being good coaches/managers more easily.

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 3d

I'm not saying that Nixon was not actually president when the war began to end. I'm saying that it is a mistake to give a burglar any credit for ending their robbery.

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 3d

Like, if you repeatedly delay/sabotage peace talks, as Nixon did, while illegally expanding the scope of the war and turning it into even more of a quagmire, I don't think you should actually get any credit for overseeing that war's eventual end.
www.politico.com/magazine/sto...

When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election

It took decades to unravel Nixon’s sabotage of Vietnam peace talks. Now, the full story can be told.

www.politico.com

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 3d

I don't think Nixon should be praised for ending the Vietnam War either!
www.bbc.com/news/world-a...

Henry Kissinger's Cambodia legacy of bombs and chaos

Henry Kissinger died aged 100 this week. His policies caused widespread destruction in Cambodia.

www.bbc.com

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 4d

Well I can't argue with that.

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 4d

If there was a race of aliens of equal intelligence to humans, who wanted to eat humans but could trivially be prevented from doing so, would it be acceptable to eat them in turn?

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Reposted by Chance Phillips

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 6d

my life is that I record a podcast episode all about tariffs and leave the booth just to find out there are more tariffs

Beginning November 1st, 2025, all Medium and Heavy Duty Trucks coming into the United States from other Countries will be Tariffed at the Rate of 25%. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

The specific quote appears to be on pages 40 and 41 of the second volume, in the essay titled “The Philosophy of Prices”: archive.org/details/coll...

(The whole essay/collection is also a fun read of course.)

collected economic papers : joan robinson : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

An earlier (IIRC) version of the paper/argument that the quote is from can be found at the link below. But it's not quite as direct. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Some Reflections on the Philosophy of Prices

Click on the article title to read more.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

distribution of property, which is quite arbitrary from either an economic or an ethical point of view, and the manipulation of prices can be used as a corrective to the maldistribution of income.’’

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

Joan Robinson in a volume of her Collected Economic Papers series: “The case for pricing according to market demand is very much stronger in a socialist society than in a capitalist one, for in the capitalist society the distribution of purchasing power between families depends largely on the ...

Reposted by Chance Phillips

Alabama Political Reporter @alreporter.com · 9d

Rep. Chris Pringle said a group of deer hunters who use dogs threatened his property, leading him to vote against rules limiting dog-assisted hunting.

Lawmaker says group threatened to burn his home, land over dog deer hunting

Rep. Chris Pringle said a group of deer hunters who use dogs threatened his property, leading him to vote against rules limiting dog-assisted hunting.

www.alreporter.com

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks for clarifying!

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

Only one of the victims who was apparently shot by the police died. The other is currently in hospital.

Is there other reporting to the effect that another one of the people who was killed had their death also caused by the police?

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Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

The numbers end up being quite close if you’re looking at quarters, but it’s not *just* division/arithmetic, per my understanding.

(Apologies if I’m misinformed!)

Chance Phillips @chancephillips.bsky.social · 9d

www.dallasfed.org/research/bas...

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

As part of the nation's central bank, the Dallas Fed plays an important role in monetary policy, bank supervision and regulation, and the operation of a nationwide payments system.