Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 14d

Boarding Amtrak, guy behind me in line griped about the lack of assigned seats. Told him I loved carrying a beverage from home, keeping my shoes on, sitting in a human-sized seat, and then somehow I'm still talking, something about "rolling through beautiful vistas" I'M SORRY MAN I JUST LOVE TRAINS

26 16 440

Reposted by Vanessa Williamson

Economic Speakers Bureau @econspeakers.bsky.social · 14d

The Trump administration's attacks on the Fed, economic data, and the media signal democratic erosion, which historically undermines economic growth and stability.

“Democracy is just good for the economy,” @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social told CNN's Matt Egan. www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/b...

1 1 4

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 15d

If business doesn't have the foresight to act, it can at least still *react* --- that is, it can be pressured by consumers and advocates to do things that are, in the end, in their own best economic interest.

Disney says 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' will return to ABC on Tuesday

ABC had pulled Kimmel's show after he made comments linking the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump's MAGA movement.

www.cnbc.com

1 2 7

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 15d

As I wrote a year and a half ago, a major problem is that the contemporary business lobby is very poorly organized when it comes to demanding anything other than tax breaks and deregulation.

I'll have a new piece coming out soon looking at why -- stay tuned!

Democracy is good for the economy. Can business defend it? | Brookings

Vanessa Williamson assesses the material consequences of democratic decline and the role of business in preserving U.S. democracy.

www.brookings.edu

1 3 10

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 15d

I'm quoted here on an issue I've been raising for years now: the dire economic implications of democratic decline.

Business has been painfully slow to recognize the risks --- so it is really, really good to see business reporters covering the story.

The US economy has a new problem: Democracy is under siege | CNN Business

Some political scientists see a pattern that suggests American democracy is being undermined in real time. The stakes are massive for the US economy and the business world.

www.cnn.com

6 46 130

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 18d

Are you a recent IRS civil servant? I would like to interview you!

Details below, including my contact info -- or reach out via Bsky!

Vanessa Williamson, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and at the Tax Policy Center, is leading a research project conducting confidential interviews with recent IRS civil servants. The purpose is to create a historical record of first-hand accounts of changes occurring at the Internal Revenue Service in 2025-2026, to gather insights into what impacts to expect from these changes in the next tax season and in years to come, and to preserve the institutional memory that will support federal tax administration in the future.

Recent IRS civil servants at all levels and in all areas of work are encouraged to participate.

If you are interested in participating in an interview or would like to learn more about the project, please contact Vanessa Williamson. (Email: vwilliamson@brookings.edu; Signal: VanessaWilliamson.50)

18 34

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 22d

"The goal of the federal surge seems to be not to make the capital safe but to let its residents know they should be afraid."

6 43 120

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 26d

See the cluster of dots on Mt Pleasant & Columbia Heights (and the total absence west of Rock Creek Park, DC's wealthiest area).

People have been seized on their way to church & after dropping their kids at school. Many dots represent road checkpoints targeting delivery workers and repairmen.

1 7

Reposted by Vanessa Williamson

Erin Sikorsky @erinsikorsky.bsky.social · 27d

No child should feel this way. I’m proud of my city and its families stepping up to protect one another.

“What if they come and take you too?” Kevin asked his mother while getting ready that morning, just before they headed down to the lobby. “Who will we stay with?”

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 27d

Some coverage of the federal takeover of DC would leave you thinking the main consequence is National Guardsmen laying mulch.

No. It is masked agents terrifying schoolchildren.

Please read this crucial article from @teoarmus.bsky.social on how DC communities are trying to protect families.

They watched ICE detain their dad. Now D.C. neighbors escort them to school.

Immigrant neighborhoods across the District have organized “walking school buses” to shuttle kids to classes during President Donald Trump’s federalization of D.C. police.

www.washingtonpost.com

3 7

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 27d

Even in DC, many people may not be seeing this because the activity is so localized.

Here is a map via the (absolutely essential) @51st.news : 51st.news/dc-police-wo...

Map of Washington DC marking verified videos of federal agent encounters.

1 4 8

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · 27d

Some coverage of the federal takeover of DC would leave you thinking the main consequence is National Guardsmen laying mulch.

No. It is masked agents terrifying schoolchildren.

Please read this crucial article from @teoarmus.bsky.social on how DC communities are trying to protect families.

They watched ICE detain their dad. Now D.C. neighbors escort them to school.

Immigrant neighborhoods across the District have organized “walking school buses” to shuttle kids to classes during President Donald Trump’s federalization of D.C. police.

www.washingtonpost.com

5 85 170

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 5

Interestingly, Andrew Carnegie was actually a big proponent of a sharply progressive inheritance tax!

1 3

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 5

Unlikely that much charity was driven by tax considerations. A small fed inc tax during the civil war, and then none until the 16th amendment. Rates were pretty negligible until WW1, which was the dawn of the charitable deduction. Inheritance/estate taxes existed earlier but rates were low.

1 4

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 5

Most Americans have lived their whole lives in the submerged state era, with anti-government rhetoric as the political norm. And now, govt is increasingly experienced through dysfunction and coercion.

The sheer imagination it will take to reconstruct the government is staggering.

5

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 5

I am thinking about this thanks to this great new article from Elizabeth Clemens, "Cold War Governance":

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

1 2

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 5

If or (dare to hope) when we rebuild our government, we will need to think about not just the social and economic goals we want to achieve, but what the structure of our new institutions conveys about what government is and should be.

1 6

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 30

I knew about these signs but this was my first time seeing one.

To be so afraid of the past that you demand a fairy tale is pathetic. For the state to do so is grim.

8

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

If you are interested in what is happening in Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant these days ‪@maustermuhle.bsky.social‬ ‬ at @51st.news has written the best article I've seen.

With cellphone cameras and tip lines, D.C. residents find small ways to fight ICE

How neighbors and school communities are organizing against the immigration crackdown.

51st.news

2 170 420

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

This is exactly it.

Phil Rocco @philiprocco.bsky.social · Aug 28

The debate over how to classify the present regime in the US matters primarily because of its practical upshot. If the disagreement is really about the authoritarian “box score” (rather than direction of change), then what really matters is identifying (thus to emulate) successful resistance. (1/3)

1 4

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

Unilateral tariffs, destruction of public data, cuts to science funding, collapsing tourism... I wrote up a brief compendium of (some of) the damage to business that has resulted from rising authoritarianism in the United States this year:

How has democratic erosion harmed businesses? | Brookings

Vanessa Williamson and Ellis Chen describe the economic consequences of recent democratic erosion on seven types of businesses.

www.brookings.edu

8 100 210

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 27

Yes. Here's someone from IRS-CI posted at a Metro stop.

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 25

IRS-CI is “the agency that took down Al Capone.” 2,000+ agents investigate major tax evasion, identity theft, cartels, bribery, money laundering. Identified $9 billion in fraud in 2024.

This? In addition to inestimable damage to our civic fabric, this resulted in 4 arrests for fare evasion. So, $9.

amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · Aug 22

Park police, MPD, HSI, and IRS CI stopping people exiting Rhode Island metro in DC.

1 4 20

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 25

IRS-CI is “the agency that took down Al Capone.” 2,000+ agents investigate major tax evasion, identity theft, cartels, bribery, money laundering. Identified $9 billion in fraud in 2024.

This? In addition to inestimable damage to our civic fabric, this resulted in 4 arrests for fare evasion. So, $9.

amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · Aug 22

Park police, MPD, HSI, and IRS CI stopping people exiting Rhode Island metro in DC.

3 27 46

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 25

So much gratitude for the Mt Pleasant neighbors who were present on every corner and in every park on our walk to school this morning, protecting our community and welcoming the kids back to school. ❤️

Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · Aug 24

Monday is the first day of school in DC, and Trump's law-enforcement takeover has parents and students worried.

They're changing their commutes and on the alert for ICE.

At one afterschool program, the mostly Latina staff are on edge after unmarked federal cars were outside the campus last week.

For some in D.C., first day of school to look different under Trump crackdown

As President Donald Trump sends more federal forces to D.C. to fight crime, some residents worry about the impact on students and staff as school resumes.

wapo.st

4 12

Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 22

Listen to the diversity of voices responding here.

This is the people of DC.

Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid @dcmigrantmutualaid.org · Aug 22

Agentes enmascarados de ICE están sembrando miedo e inseguridad en nuestras comunidades de Washington, D.C. Esta mañana, un agente de ICE apuntó con una pistola taser a un miembro comunitario que se horrorizó al ver cómo secuestraban agresivamente a un miembro de la comunidad. ¡Chinga la migra!

1

Reposted by Vanessa Williamson

Economic Speakers Bureau @econspeakers.bsky.social · Aug 22

The IRS was built to be a stable, independent institution. Instead, it's in chaos under Trump, with record leadership turnover, mass staff firings, and the departure of top civil servants who refused to hand private taxpayer data to DOGE.

New from @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social at @brookings.edu:

1 3 4