Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · 5d

My first column for The Guardian: On Trump's attempt to take over the Fed. He's taking a page out of Nixon's playbook: www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Trump looks to Nixon’s playbook - good for him, bad for the economy?

History suggests that bullying the Fed for political gain can have serious consequences for the rest of us

www.theguardian.com

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · 7d

My first column for the FT: Trump pushes Mexico back to the future: www.ft.com/content/2f9d...

Going back to the 1970s won’t save Mexico

Embracing protectionism to prevent Chinese dumping and appease Trump will fail — just like import substitution did

www.ft.com

Reposted by Eduardo Porter

John Hanger @jrfhanger.bsky.social · 28d

"China is turning the ‘emerging market energy leapfrog’ from concept to reality."

50% of China's 242 GW of solar exports went to emerging nations in 2024!

~63% of emerging economies had higher solar share than US in 2023.

~25% had higher economy-wide electrification than US in 2023.
#energysky

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Sep 5

Big finding:the claim that moving families to better neighborhoods improves children’s prospects is wrong.

Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · Sep 5

Opinion, James Heckman |
ZIP Code Is Destiny? Turns Out That’s Bunk www.wsj.com/opinion/zip-...

Opinion | ZIP Code Is Destiny? Turns Out That’s Bunk

The neighborhood where a child grows up matters much less to his success than what his parents do.

www.wsj.com

Reposted by Eduardo Porter

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · Sep 3

The Trumpist majority on SCOTUS, like Trump himself, is spending down a trust fund they did not create, apparently believing it refills automatically. But it doesn’t. The whole system depends on other key institutions treating their rulings as legitimate.

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · Sep 3

It seems like federal district courts are in full revolt against SCOTUS. I've never seen such direct scathing criticism of SCOTUS like this from the bench over their shadow docket rulings quietly overturning precedent without explanation.

From the Harvard decision today.

A screenshot of page 28 of a legal document discussing the difficulty lower courts face when interpreting unclear or rapidly evolving guidance from the Supreme Court.

The following phrases and sentences are highlighted in yellow:

* "That said, the Supreme Court’s recent emergency docket rulings regarding grant terminations have not been models of clarity, and have left many issues unresolved."
* "California was a four-paragraph per curiam decision issued in the context of a stay application."
* "The outcome, which no party had requested, was, thus, inconsistent with the views of eight justices"
* "the issues are complex and evolving."
* "this Court, not the district courts or courts of appeals, will often still be the ultimate decisionmaker as to the interim legal status of major new federal statutes and executive actions."
* "...it is unhelpful and unnecessary to criticize district courts for “defy[ing]” the Supreme Court when they are working to find the right answer in a rapidly evolving doctrinal landscape, where they must grapple with both existing precedent and interim guidance from the Supreme Court that appears to set that precedent aside without much explanation or consensus."

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · Sep 3

It seems like federal district courts are in full revolt against SCOTUS. I've never seen such direct scathing criticism of SCOTUS like this from the bench over their shadow docket rulings quietly overturning precedent without explanation.

From the Harvard decision today.

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James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · Aug 29

After she caved and voted to confirm Hegseth, RFK, Gabbard, Bondi, the lot of them.

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · Aug 29

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is not seeking reelection in 2026: www.cnn.com/2025/08/29/p...

Iowa swung hard to the right starting in 2016, but the 3 special elections that have happened in Iowa so far in 2025 have swung toward Dems by 22, 24, & 26 percentage points. Two seats have flipped blue.

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Reposted by Eduardo Porter

Helaine Olen @helaineolen.bsky.social · Aug 24

There’s a sucker born every minute… and some of them come highly credentialed.

Hamilton Nolan @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social · Aug 24

The University of Chicago “lost tens of millions investing in crypto around 2021” Hahahahahahaha

UChicago Lost Money on Crypto, Then Froze Research When Federal Funding Was Cut

While Stanford responded to the federal funding research freeze by halting administrative hiring and protecting research, the University of Chicago panicked. On January 28, hours after the Trump admi...

stanfordreview.org

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Reposted by Eduardo Porter

Bill McBride @calculatedrisk.bsky.social · Aug 18

LA Ports: Imports Up, Exports Down in July www.calculatedriskblog.com/2025/08/la-p...

This is the 8th consecutive month with exports down YoY.

LA Ports: Imports Up, Exports Down in July

Container traffic gives us an idea about the volume of goods being exported and imported - and usually some hints about the trade report si...

www.calculatedriskblog.com

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Reposted by Eduardo Porter

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · Aug 18

Seems problematic.

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Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · Aug 18

It’s wild that the most unrealistic part of Terminator 2 is now the idea of a tech founder being told their creation will enslave humanity and they decide to destroy their product & company.

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jul 30

Time to re-up this: Trump wants to punish Brazil because Brazil did a better job than the U.S. to protect its democracy. wapo.st/3U5JMXB

Opinion | Brazil sidelined Bolsonaro. What can America do about Trump?

Brazil’s unique institutions helped it weather an authoritarian challenge to its democracy. But the U.S. has other resources to bolster its resilience.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Eduardo Porter

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · Jul 29

Yes, this IS absolute madness.

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Anna Schapiro @annaschapiro.bsky.social · Jul 24

"this deal is unlikely to end the attacks. The federal government, and this administration, is simply too powerful and too arbitrary to be credibly bargained with."

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

Opinion | Columbia’s Administrators Are Fooling Themselves

www.nytimes.com

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Washington Post Opinions @postopinions.bsky.social · Jul 21

With Japan in the 1980s and China today, we keep overreacting — and paying the price, @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social writes. wapo.st/4nRC69f

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Washington Post Opinions @postopinions.bsky.social · Jul 18

The rise of China does bring about important new challenges for American policy, @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social writes.

"But the popular interpretation of the China shock is guiding the United States down a self-defeating path." wapo.st/4nRC69f

Opinion | America’s misguided trade panic long predates Trump

With Japan in the 1980s and China today, we keep overreacting — and paying the price.

wapo.st

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jul 18

Remember the 1980s, when the big threat came from Japan? Americans have frowned on trade ever since. My column today: wapo.st/4lJ83iA

Opinion | America’s misguided trade panic long predates Trump

With Japan in the 1980s and China today, we keep overreacting — and paying the price.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Eduardo Porter

Maxwell Frost @maxwellfrost.bsky.social · Jul 12

I just left the Everglades Immigrant Interment Camp. No, I’m not using their ridiculous name. It was a very tough to witness humans in those cages. Every Floridian should be ashamed that our taxpayer money is being used for this.

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jul 11

Back in 2017, when Trump failed to dismantle Obamacare, it looked like Americans would finally get what citizens of every other affluent nation have: universal healthcare coverage. But no, the GOP finally succeeded in tearing the promise down. wapo.st/46C37XP

Opinion | The GOP scores a win in its long war on government health care

Why did the attacks finally succeed this time, when they failed so many times before?

wapo.st

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jul 1

The United States’ massive military capabilities have proven unable to ensure peace or stability. So what’s the case for massive NATO rearmament? wapo.st/3I9xNpe

Opinion | The high costs of Trump’s ‘peace through strength’

Is military dominance really the key to global security?

wapo.st

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jun 24

Trump might convince his MAGA base that he is WINNING! his war against immigrants. But he is a businessman above all — one who has been known to illegally employ immigrant workers. He has no interest in getting them out of the workforce. His immigration raids are a performance. wapo.st/3G4AesC

Opinion | The profound hypocrisy underlying America’s immigration policy

Behind the raids and rhetoric, Trump protects the immigrant workforce he vilifies.

wapo.st

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jun 17

The Trump administration calls this waste & fraud. But foreign aid has contributed to major successes in alleviating misery around the world. This is what we stand to lose 👇 wapo.st/4naGi3u

Opinion | The retreat from aid is a costly mistake

Foreign aid was helping the world’s poorest escape misery.

wapo.st

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Reposted by Eduardo Porter

UNFPA @unfpa.org · Jun 13

📉 Birth rates are falling yet governments aren't listening to what people need in order to create the families they want.

Let the @washingtonpost.com ‬explain some of the reasons why fewer people are having children: unf.pa/bbp

✍ @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social

#TheRealFertilityCrisis

Opinion | Why solving the baby bust is so difficult

No motherhood medal or baby bonus will fix what economic modernization (and closed borders) broke.

unf.pa

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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jun 12

Who is Trump governing for? His econ platform (BBB+Tariffs) would cut the income of the poorest households by over 6 percent. All but the top 20 percent of households lose out. Turns out MAGA refers to a pretty narrow slice of America

Ernie Tedeschi @ernietedeschi.bsky.social · Jun 12

New analysis from @budgetlab.bsky.social: if you combine the distributional impact of tariffs so far with CBO's new OBBBA distribution, the bottom 80% of households see a decline in income, and the 9th decile is close to neutral. Only the top 10% see a clear net benefit.
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Eduardo Porter @eduardoelreportero.bsky.social · Jun 12

So end the Trump administration’s workplace raids. Like all workplace raids before.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · Jun 12

Trump just admitted that his mass deportations are bad for farmers and the economy, and crucially, also admitted that workers who are getting deported are "almost impossible to replace." That's a massive repudiation of MAGA ideology:

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