Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Stephen Kirchner

Iikka Korhonen @iikkakorhonen.bsky.social · 3h

”..trade war is suddenly hotter than it’s been since Mr. Trump’s infamous Liberation Day announcement in April. Mr. Trump retreated from those border taxes after markets staged a meltdown, and investors have thought the worst was over. Maybe not.”
🇺🇸🇨🇳
www.wsj.com/opinion/trad...

Opinion | Trade Wars Aren’t Easy, China Edition

Beijing plays its rare-earth minerals card, Trump responds with a new tariff threat, and markets take a header.

www.wsj.com

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Stephen Kirchner @insteconomics.bsky.social · 1d

US Treasury intervenes in fx market to buy Argentine pesos and finalises a USD 20 billion currency swap facility after Argentina burned through its fx reserves www.ft.com/content/778e...

US Treasury intervenes in Argentina’s currency market

Scott Bessent announces $20bn ‘currency swap framework’ with the South American country’s central bank

www.ft.com

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Strategic Cities @strategic-cities.com · 3d

When the only young people at the public consultation are in the wall painting…

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 5d

“Catherine Rampell is joining The Bulwark, where she will write a weekly economics and policy-focused newsletter while contributing to the company’s podcasts and YouTube channels.

‘Catherine is one of the best…We’re beyond thrilled she’s decided to join us.’”

www.semafor.com/article/10/0...

Washington Post economics columnist moves to The Bulwark

Catherine Rampell will write a weekly economics and policy-focused newsletter for the anti-Trump media brand.

www.semafor.com

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 7d

more than a whiff of self-censorship in markets at the moment. No-one wants to call BS on, ya know, everything, for fear of angering the president

on.ft.com/4pRyTHp

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 7d

Happy to be celebrating the life and work of Professor Donald Shoup today at UCLA. In addition to transforming the way we think about parking, he was a great man and a generous mentor!

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Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 7d

this is Heritage's former DPRK guy

Bruce Klingner RTing post about Trump replacing Biden's photo on the Walk of Fame

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Sense Hofstede @sensehofstede.nl · 9d

China and Malaysia governments in talks for rare earths refinery project, sources say – Reuters: ‘Beijing is ready to swap its technology for access to Malaysia’s untapped rare earths reserves, seeking to limit competition from Australian rival Lynas Rare Earths’

Exclusive: China, Malaysia in talks for rare earths refinery project, sources say

China and Malaysia are in early talks for a project to process rare earths, with sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional likely to partner with a Chinese state-owned firm to build a refinery in the Southeast Asian nation, people familiar with the matter said.

www.reuters.com

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 9d

The director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute: "Their words should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that the civilian leadership intends to use the threat and actuality of violence to infringe on Americans’ constitutional rights."

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 9d

Kori Schake: “Yesterday morning, Trump and Hegseth behaved reprehensibly. Their speeches…were tantamount to incitement—a genuinely dangerous effort to suborn the military’s oath and condition them for using violence against their fellow Americans.” foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/01/t...

Trump’s Speech to Generals Was Incitement to Violence Against Americans

Military leaders’ quiet professionalism offers hope amid a maelstrom.

foreignpolicy.com

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 10d

I don't understand how you could make a whole movie like this without anybody involved even skimming a couple of wikipedia articles about how any of this stuff works.

David Teter @dtc94133.bsky.social · 10d

Well, I suppose it can't be any worse than Annie Jacobsen's POS book. At least they got the Black Book right.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpw...

A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE | Official Trailer | Netflix

YouTube video by Netflix

www.youtube.com

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Philip Stafford @staffordphilip.bsky.social · 10d

The nominations of EJ Antoni at BLS and Brian Quintenz at the CFTC are done
www.ft.com/content/6e0e...

Donald Trump pulls ally EJ Antoni’s nomination to lead statistics agency

White House also drops bid to name Brian Quintenz as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

www.ft.com

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Louis Mirante @louismirante.bsky.social · 10d

I have known about this plaque in Sacramento for nearly ten years, but every time I visit it I’m staggered in disbelief

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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 11d

Breaking WaPo:

Military leaders have raised serious concerns with the Trump admin's new defense strategy — exposing a divide between the Pentagon's political and uniformed leadership.
 The critiques from multiple top officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Military leaders voice concern over Hegseth’s new Pentagon strategy

Top military officials have voiced concern over the Trump administration’s forthcoming defense strategy, exposing a divide between the Pentagon’s political and uniformed leadership.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Pat Sobkowski @patsobkowski.com · 14d

There’s no way they’re going to prevent Trump from firing Lisa Cook.

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Howard Maclean @howardfmaclean.bsky.social · 15d

@jonobri.com hits the grey elephant in the new city debate - that the vast majority of regional towns and small cities are determined to avoid growing any larger than they currently are.

Jonathan O'Brien @jonobri.com · 15d

No, Australia does not need new cities.

My new essay sets the record straight: we have a lot of cities, but we aren’t using them as well as we could be. To make our cities more successful, we have to open up a lot more land for commercial uses to enable agglomeration.

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Andrew Donnellan @andrew.donnellan.id.au · 15d

As a proud Canberran, and being regional New South Welsh by birth, I agree with this.

It's taken a century to build Canberra - a city built to solve a specific problem, not for housing - into a real city. Let's not repeat that.

We need to interrogate the mindset of large towns versus small cities.

Jonathan O'Brien @jonobri.com · 15d

No, Australia does not need new cities.

My new essay sets the record straight: we have a lot of cities, but we aren’t using them as well as we could be. To make our cities more successful, we have to open up a lot more land for commercial uses to enable agglomeration.

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Stephen Kirchner @insteconomics.bsky.social · 16d

2026 is another "fire horse" year. Leo Lewis speculates on the implications for Japanese fertility: www.ft.com/content/ffa1...

There were big dips in births in the previous "fire horse" years of 1906 and 1966, but also some recuperation in the period immediately following.

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Stephen Kirchner @insteconomics.bsky.social · 15d

All star amicus brief in Trump v. Cook www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

www.supremecourt.gov

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Stephen Kirchner @insteconomics.bsky.social · 15d

All star amicus brief in Trump v. Cook www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25...

www.supremecourt.gov

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Stephen Kirchner @insteconomics.bsky.social · 16d

2026 is another "fire horse" year. Leo Lewis speculates on the implications for Japanese fertility: www.ft.com/content/ffa1...

There were big dips in births in the previous "fire horse" years of 1906 and 1966, but also some recuperation in the period immediately following.

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Reposted by Stephen Kirchner

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 16d

The nation’s largest business lobby is soliciting support from its members for a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its changes to the visa system for skilled foreign workers

US Chamber Tests Members’ Will to Fight Trump on H-1B Visas

The nation’s largest business lobby is soliciting support from its members for a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its changes to the visa system for skilled foreign workers, setting up a potentially rancorous battle between corporate America and the president.

bloom.bg

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Shannon Monaghan @shannonmonaghan.bsky.social · 16d

Great interview: "Taken together, the events of the last three and a half years demonstrate that this war was not precipitated by geopolitical wrangling between Russia and the West. Rather, it was driven by Russia’s ongoing goal to destroy Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence."

Maria Popova @popovaprof.bsky.social · 16d

My wide-ranging interview about the Russo-Ukrainian war for the Forum for Ukrainian Studies. One take-away: "The only reason there is an inkling of hope that the international world order will survive this enormous challenge is because Ukraine is resisting."
ukrainian-studies.ca/2025/09/23/i...

ukrainian-studies.ca

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Noah McKinnie Braun @noahmckbraun.bsky.social · 17d

I understand why students don’t love spending a semester drawing supply and demand curves, but this is why we make people students spend a semester drawing supply and demand curves

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 17d

Building more housing reduces housing costs and is good. But one reason this isn’t the basis for a massive political movement is that most people think building more housing actually raises prices. You might even say building more housing isn’t very Popular

• TAVERN
RESEARCH
24. Do you believe that increasing the number of homes in your community will lower prices or raise prices?

All

Gender
Party

Race/Ethnicity
Education
Male
Female
D
R
I
White

Hispanic Black Asian/Other

College
Non-college

n2121
n964
n1157
n682
n760
n679
n1437
n152
n364
n168
n659
n1462
Lower prices a lot
5%
6%
4%
5%
6%
5%
6%
4%
4%
6%
5%
6%
Lower prices slightly
19%
22%
17%
17%
20%
21%
20%
18%
13%
26%
24%
16%
Raise prices slightly
28%
33%
24%
31%
31%
22%
28%
27%
39%
22%
30%
27%
Raise prices a lot
16%
14%
17%
13%
15%
20%
14%
19%
17%
22%
14%
17%
Not sure
32%
25%
38%
34%
28%
32%
33%
33%
27%
24%
27%
35%
Total Lower prices
24%
28%
21%
22%
26%
26%
25%
21%
17%
32%
29%
22%
Total Raise prices
44%
47%
41%
414%
46%
42%
42%
45%
56%
45%
44%
44%
Net Total Lower prices
-20%
-20%
-19%
-22%
-20%
-16%
-17%
-24%
-39%
-13%
-15%
-22%

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Reposted by Stephen Kirchner

Stephen Kirchner @insteconomics.bsky.social · 18d

US Treasury Secretary Bessent considers "large and forceful" intervention options for Argentina that “may include, but are not limited to, swap lines, direct currency purchases and purchases of US dollar-denominated government debt from Treasury’s Exchange Stabilisation Fund.” on.ft.com/4nHVRz2

US offers financial lifeline to Argentina’s Javier Milei

Scott Bessent says ‘all options’ are on the table to support the country through period of market volatility

on.ft.com

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Stephen Kirchner @insteconomics.bsky.social · 18d

US Treasury Secretary Bessent considers "large and forceful" intervention options for Argentina that “may include, but are not limited to, swap lines, direct currency purchases and purchases of US dollar-denominated government debt from Treasury’s Exchange Stabilisation Fund.” on.ft.com/4nHVRz2

US offers financial lifeline to Argentina’s Javier Milei

Scott Bessent says ‘all options’ are on the table to support the country through period of market volatility

on.ft.com

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