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Jonathan Church, CFA

@jondavidchurch.bsky.social

1.5K followers 2.3K following 350 posts

Economist & author. Cancer survivor (so far). Senior editor at merionwest.com. Enjoy philosophy, literature, & history. Critic of capitalism. Pro-union. People over profits. It should have been Bernie.

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Nov 11

1/I would add that, if you know anything about Curtis Yarvin, who is one of JD Vance's favorite philosophers & argues that the U.S. needs to replace democracy with monarchy & is or has been financially backed by Peter Thiel, it is not a stretch to see that Musk's game was never about defending

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · Nov 11

"Free speech" to Musk crowd always meant "I can say whatever I want, you must listen, and you can't say anything negative back to me."

That's been obvious for a while. Some people genuinely missed that, but many saw it and pretended not to, because they dislike the people they're trying to shut up.

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Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

Sally Jenkins @sallyjenx.bsky.social · 17d

I love that Robert Redford did not want a public funeral, a theater of applause and tribute. Just another sign that he was a great man.

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · 19d

Charisma has always struck me as a red flag in a person. It is almost like a personality flaw that I am inclined to distrust.

Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · 28d

www.axios.com/2025/09/08/a...

Americans give capitalism its lowest ever rating in new Gallup survey

A slim majority of Americans rate capitalism positively.

www.axios.com

Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · 29d

"Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist."

Kenneth Boulding

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Sep 1

www.youtube.com/shorts/OOypC...

David Foster Wallace on Importance of Quiet

YouTube video by Daily Philosopher

www.youtube.com

Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Sep 1

Now Ophelia
She's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her death
Is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness

Bob Dylan, Desolation Row

Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Aug 28

"The web of our lives is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together; our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues."

Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Aug 28

istudentpro.com/scientists-h...

Scientists have been studying remote work for four years and have reached a very clear conclusion: “Working from home makes us happier.” - iStudiez Pro

Scientists have been studying remote work for four years and have reached a very clear conclusion: “Working from home makes us happier.”

istudentpro.com

Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Aug 15

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."

Hannah Arendt

Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · Aug 12

Depressing thing about the whole "debate me bro" phenomena is its basically the opposite of a Socratic argument. Everyone comes in convinced they have the truth in hand and the goal is to retrench the doxa of the already convinced as firmly as possible.

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Aug 3

I appreciate it, and thank you for being open-minded enough to read/listen. I strive to be open-minded but it is certainly hard to do, and I venture to say it is hard for most people, especially on social media. This is one of several reasons I don't spend much time on social media.

Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · Aug 1

The radical belief that it’s okay for a website to prioritize quality over size, maybe even good.

Justin Ling @justinling.ca · Aug 1

The premise of this article — that Bluesky needs hypergrowth — is exactly the problem.

The idea that internet companies should grow infinitely and monopolize their space, fattened on VC cash driven by optimistic valuations, is exactly what ruined the internet. www.piratewires.com/p/bluesky-is...

Bluesky Is Trapped in a Doom Loop

once hailed as the future of decentralized ("nontoxic") social media, bluesky is shedding users and realizing

www.piratewires.com

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Aug 1

I'm too much of an economist to repudiate markets entirely, but I also don't think markets per se are at the core of capitalism. But that's another conversation. Fwiw, I write more extensively about why I don't like capitalism here: www.merionwest.com/the-end-of-c...

The End of Capitalism

“For Herbert Marcuse, German philosopher and notorious member of the Frankfurt School, Marx did us a service in trying to expose capitalism as a historically-contingent mode of production based on rei...

www.merionwest.com

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Aug 1

Yeah, it was only a 2000-word piece and so I had to simplify. The theory assumes perfect competition, etc. But the basic idea that markets can still work well even with redistribution is consistent with the theory and, I believe, the real world. Thanks for the note. Appreciate it.

Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Aug 1

Fwiw, I revised my critique of AOC in that earlier piece: medium.com/arc-digital/...

Was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Right about the “Scarcity Mindset”?

In an earlier article, I suggested AOC misconstrued “scarcity.” She might have been right.

medium.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

The Freethinker @thefreethinkermag.bsky.social · Jul 24

'That is what the philosopher is: a mourner, a societal scapegoat, and an ‘enemy’ of human progress. Now the question is: What keeps her going?'

freethinker.co.uk/2025/07/the-...

The consolation of the philosopher - The Freethinker

Philosophy is, fundamentally, born of curiosity. Curiosity is an instinct found in every human child. We have all…

freethinker.co.uk

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Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · Jul 20

Good morning! I'm in Uganda to visit family and friends.

But depending on your perspective, don't worry or I'm sorry: I'll be back by the end of the month.

See you soon, NYC.

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Jul 9

voegelinview.com/artificial-i...

Artificial Intelligence Cannot Replace the Soul of Writing - VoegelinView

A few years ago, I was employed as a U.S. economist on the Economics team at Bloomberg LP. One morning, in a team chat on the IB messaging app that connects Bloomberg terminal subscribers, our chief U...

voegelinview.com

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Jul 5

"In a one-sentence summary, this bill takes away health care from middle-class and poor people, and uses the money to pay for tax cuts mostly for rich people."

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/o...

Opinion | Trump May Get His ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ but the G.O.P. Will Pay a Price

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

The Freethinker @thefreethinkermag.bsky.social · Jul 4

4 July thoughts on the state of secularism and democracy in America today, and a look back at previous articles and interviews about America.

freethinker.co.uk/2025/07/the-...

The Fourth of July and the Battle for America's Soul - The Freethinker

Happy Independence Day, America.

freethinker.co.uk

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Jun 25

"The simplest way to understand democratic socialism, from an academic standpoint, is as an ideology rooted in its opposition to capitalism and wanting to shift power to workers from corporations."

Sounds good to me.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/u...

Zohran Mamdani Says He’s a Democratic Socialist. What Does That Mean?

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · Jun 25

Way too many people talk about a billionaire creating a thousand jobs and not about a thousand workers creating one billionaire.

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Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · Jun 19

Today we honor Juneteenth, a reminder that freedom was fought for, not given. We must honor the past by continuing to fight every day for justice, truth, and equality.

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Jonathan Church, CFA @jondavidchurch.bsky.social · Jun 13

Greed is not good.

Reposted by Jonathan Church, CFA

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · Jun 4

For years we've heard from the right about "welfare queens" and other so-called "freeloaders" pulling one over on the government.

But actually, it's the wealthy who are the real freeloaders — pulling one over on us all by skirting their taxes.

Where is the outrage over that?

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