Jack Mitcham, Ph.D.
@jackmitcham.bsky.social
👨💼 Risk analyst / Operations researcher
🚀 Sci-fi writer working to become a sci-fi *author*
📖 Writing a novel set on a tidally-locked iceball planet, where wealth inequality follows the temperature gradient
👱♂️ Dad to the sweetest boy in the world
🚀 Sci-fi writer working to become a sci-fi *author*
📖 Writing a novel set on a tidally-locked iceball planet, where wealth inequality follows the temperature gradient
👱♂️ Dad to the sweetest boy in the world
Social systems are way more complex than a building. It's been 1600 years since the fall of the western Roman empire, and it's still the subject of some debate.
November 12, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Social systems are way more complex than a building. It's been 1600 years since the fall of the western Roman empire, and it's still the subject of some debate.
That sounds to me like a distinction without a difference.
November 12, 2025 at 3:18 PM
That sounds to me like a distinction without a difference.
It would be less of an issue if he had said "males" as well. The combination of "females" and "men" is strange to me.
November 12, 2025 at 2:47 PM
It would be less of an issue if he had said "males" as well. The combination of "females" and "men" is strange to me.
Your neighbors: "A modest proposal, you say..."
November 11, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Your neighbors: "A modest proposal, you say..."
I assure you that 2021 prices are not a distant memory for anybody I speak to, and prices continue to rise. We exist in different social circles, and I believe you that yours doesn't care about prices. Mine does.
I have no clue when people stop being angry, but 4 years isn't enough.
I have no clue when people stop being angry, but 4 years isn't enough.
November 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
I assure you that 2021 prices are not a distant memory for anybody I speak to, and prices continue to rise. We exist in different social circles, and I believe you that yours doesn't care about prices. Mine does.
I have no clue when people stop being angry, but 4 years isn't enough.
I have no clue when people stop being angry, but 4 years isn't enough.
While "everything sucks now" isn't correct, "planned obsolencece" is a real thing.
November 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM
While "everything sucks now" isn't correct, "planned obsolencece" is a real thing.
When you do that, do you immediately start going back and adding the character earlier in the book so it's not random? Or do you just make a note and handle it in the second draft?
November 11, 2025 at 11:38 AM
When you do that, do you immediately start going back and adding the character earlier in the book so it's not random? Or do you just make a note and handle it in the second draft?
My federal contractor role got DOGE'd and unemployment benefits haven't gone up in like 15 years. I'm hoping to find something that pays at least half as much as I had been making, after 260 failed job applications.
But anecdotes don't really mean anything in either direction.
But anecdotes don't really mean anything in either direction.
November 10, 2025 at 7:12 PM
My federal contractor role got DOGE'd and unemployment benefits haven't gone up in like 15 years. I'm hoping to find something that pays at least half as much as I had been making, after 260 failed job applications.
But anecdotes don't really mean anything in either direction.
But anecdotes don't really mean anything in either direction.
To me, that graph reads "COVID f'd things up, and just as things were getting better, Trump f'd things up."
It does not read as "people are just falling for media propaganda."
Nor does it say "everything has been bad for 10-30 years straight" either.
It does not read as "people are just falling for media propaganda."
Nor does it say "everything has been bad for 10-30 years straight" either.
November 10, 2025 at 7:08 PM
To me, that graph reads "COVID f'd things up, and just as things were getting better, Trump f'd things up."
It does not read as "people are just falling for media propaganda."
Nor does it say "everything has been bad for 10-30 years straight" either.
It does not read as "people are just falling for media propaganda."
Nor does it say "everything has been bad for 10-30 years straight" either.
I get the joke, but that's kind of the point of whole life insurance.
November 10, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I get the joke, but that's kind of the point of whole life insurance.
What are the differences?
November 10, 2025 at 1:04 AM
What are the differences?
Isn't this already the house deal?
November 10, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Isn't this already the house deal?
The more common view I see is that the economy is kind of weird since COVID. Many are worse off, many are better off, and some of those worse off aren't who you'd expect.
November 9, 2025 at 6:17 PM
The more common view I see is that the economy is kind of weird since COVID. Many are worse off, many are better off, and some of those worse off aren't who you'd expect.
Is this where I get to employ a Stancilism and ask to see the data? Seems like you're cherry-picking extremists.
Or perhaps in your filter bubble, this appears to be the consensus view.
It's not a view I've seen expressed before outside of a few responses to you.
Or perhaps in your filter bubble, this appears to be the consensus view.
It's not a view I've seen expressed before outside of a few responses to you.
November 9, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Is this where I get to employ a Stancilism and ask to see the data? Seems like you're cherry-picking extremists.
Or perhaps in your filter bubble, this appears to be the consensus view.
It's not a view I've seen expressed before outside of a few responses to you.
Or perhaps in your filter bubble, this appears to be the consensus view.
It's not a view I've seen expressed before outside of a few responses to you.
This is also a good point. Framed differently, 0 people in the country by the exact basket of goods used in CPI calculations. Some people's typical individual baskets of goods saw way more or way less inflation than the headline CPI number.
November 9, 2025 at 2:38 PM
This is also a good point. Framed differently, 0 people in the country by the exact basket of goods used in CPI calculations. Some people's typical individual baskets of goods saw way more or way less inflation than the headline CPI number.
A wealthy person seeing a raise above inflation gets less utility than the poor person falling even further behind loses in utility.
The K-shaped economy is real. And medians can't detect it.
fortune.com/2025/11/07/w...
The K-shaped economy is real. And medians can't detect it.
fortune.com/2025/11/07/w...
Economists agree: You’re not crazy for feeling like the rich get richer, and the poor are doing worse. Welcome to the ‘K-shaped economy’ | Fortune
What was a niche argument about five years ago is suddenly everywhere you look, and it’s taking on the shape of a letter with two jagged edges.
fortune.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 AM
A wealthy person seeing a raise above inflation gets less utility than the poor person falling even further behind loses in utility.
The K-shaped economy is real. And medians can't detect it.
fortune.com/2025/11/07/w...
The K-shaped economy is real. And medians can't detect it.
fortune.com/2025/11/07/w...
I don't know of anyone who, when complaining about affordability, is talking about statistics. They're all talking about their own inability to purchase things.
If 55% see an increase in affordability due to salary increases, and 45% see a decrease, the economy has likely gotten worse.
If 55% see an increase in affordability due to salary increases, and 45% see a decrease, the economy has likely gotten worse.
November 9, 2025 at 11:48 AM
I don't know of anyone who, when complaining about affordability, is talking about statistics. They're all talking about their own inability to purchase things.
If 55% see an increase in affordability due to salary increases, and 45% see a decrease, the economy has likely gotten worse.
If 55% see an increase in affordability due to salary increases, and 45% see a decrease, the economy has likely gotten worse.
Know how an endeavor trying to make that happen might be described?
November 8, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Know how an endeavor trying to make that happen might be described?
"he said he'll reduce drug prices by 2000%, which experts say is not possible."
November 8, 2025 at 12:24 PM
"he said he'll reduce drug prices by 2000%, which experts say is not possible."
To be clear, they had to seat her weeks ago. It has nothing to do with votes.
November 7, 2025 at 9:40 PM
To be clear, they had to seat her weeks ago. It has nothing to do with votes.
The shutdown has nothing to do with the house not being in session, and the house not being in session has nothing to do with seating Grijalva.
November 7, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The shutdown has nothing to do with the house not being in session, and the house not being in session has nothing to do with seating Grijalva.
And from every airport as well.
November 7, 2025 at 7:31 PM
And from every airport as well.