Jackson Moore-Otto
@jmooreotto.bsky.social
Transpo policy @publicenterprise.bsky.social , also fighting for abundant housing + transit in MA. Anti-cynicism.
Very cool to have my research on progressive insurgent candidates cited in The Economist. TL;DR: there's more progressives who should enter Congress after the November elections than the last several www.economist.com/united-state...
How far left will Democrats go?
Its base is almost as mad at their leaders as they are at the president
economist.com
The Power Broker: this is an intricate portrayal of one man's mastery of power and bureaucracy reader: wow, sounds great TPB: he remade the cityscape in his image and forever affected the way we live reader: amazing, let's go TPB: ok, so the key thing to start with is, he was not circumcised
Going to Europe now I am like “Wow so many tower cranes for mid-sized construction,” “omg look at this garbage collection” and “Huh so these are the famed exterior blinds you can control from the inside.”
You often hear that if only CAHSR had let the French take over, it would be built by now. They're on the team now, but what did SNCF actually say back in 2010? We did a deep dive into the French HSR operator's original proposal to set the record straight. 🧵 calelectricrail.org/the-true-sto...
Convincing young people that America is poor & no one can afford anything & everyone is living paycheck to paycheck & their economic future is doomed ... IS NOT GOING TO LEAD TO MORE PROGRESSIVE POLICY. People who feel anxious & under threat do not respond with openness & generosity! Look it up!
American democratic socialists often explain their views by analogies to (1) FDR’s New Deal and (2) Scandinavia. @joshuamzeitz.bsky.social digs into both of those analogies here: www.thebulwark.com/p/the-dsa-an...
The DSA and the Real Lessons of Scandinavian ‘Socialism’
Today’s American socialists love to namedrop the Nordic model—but they don’t mention that it works because of capitalism and broad-based taxes.
thebulwark.com
On top of everything, this is why you study social science. Nations are in the circumstances they are in because of some combination of political institutions, physical capital, education (human capital), social norms and institutions (social capital), and natural resources.
Toby Buckle@polphilpod.bsky.social · 2w agoexplicit endorsement of white genetic superiority from musk
greenbrier (manufactures ~45% of the cargo railcars in the US) made $327.5M in profit on $2,991.2M in revenue selling railcars [~10%], and $160.6M in profit on $249.0M in revenue financing those railcars [~65%]. manufacturing is a low margin business!
Isaiah Bishop@isaiahbishop.bsky.social · 2w agoMost manufacturing outside of electronics and pharma makes like no gross margin. in textiles its 2%, food 5%, motor vehicles 5%. The idea that like the problem here is distribution of profits is pretty wild
Most manufacturing outside of electronics and pharma makes like no gross margin. in textiles its 2%, food 5%, motor vehicles 5%. The idea that like the problem here is distribution of profits is pretty wild
Patrick Fenelon@patrickfenelon.bsky.social · 2w agoThe answer to this is that we want labor to have a much higher percentage of profits than it currently gets.
The Boston Globe editorial board would do well to endorse candidates earlier in races. They’re dropping endorsements close to Election Day, as if a significant number of people haven’t already voted early and by mail by then. And leaving no time for candidates to get out mailers feat the endorsement
Have you seen any reporting on how solar power generation in the USA is 5 times higher than it was in 2020 in mainstream outlets? If not, why do you think this is not being widely covered the same way other large technological changes are?
Joey Politano🏳️🌈@josephpolitano.bsky.social · 2w agoOfficial monthly data is in today, and US solar power generation hit a new record high, up 20% compared to this time last year!
I'm voting for Burhan Azeem for State Senate, and if you're in Somerville, Medford, or parts of Cambridge and Winchester I think he's the best candidate I've had the opportunity to vote for on housing, transit, and AI.
Endorsing Burhan Azeem for State Senate
For the last twenty years I haven't paid much attention to my State Senate race: Pat Jehlen hasn't had a close race since she won the seat in 2005. I think she's done a lot of good work: while allocat...
jefftk.com
New AGF blog: Transit-Oriented Development is a surprisingly underrated way to end America’s housing problems Physically realistic capacity near rail alone is >30M homes. Financially plausible capacity is ~6M to 13M. TOD is not just a boutique or niche idea! open.substack.com/pub/abundanc...
Transit-Oriented Development is a surprisingly underrated path to ending America’s housing problems
America’s rail systems are still recovering from 2020, and robot cars are coming. Legalize apartments first.
open.substack.com
Perfect summation of the antiwoke worldview: trying to destroy democracy is bad, but not nearly as bad as sitting through an HR training
In my opinion Powder and Artillery are the most efficacious, Sure, and infallibly conciliatory Measures We can adopt. - John Adams (and also Volodymyr Zelenskyy, probably).
Nicholas Grossman@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · last mo.Ukraine and its supporters *are* figuring out how to negotiate with Russia. Russia started and perpetuates the war in pursuit of conquest, and rejects good faith diplomacy. Raising the cost for Russia might get them to negotiate. A 6th year of blaming Russian aggression on anyone but Russia won’t.
CARAVANSERAI VOLUME 2 ISSUE 11: What’s going to happen to MAHA? Our writers are skeptical it achieves anything positive—but its populism is here to stay. caravanseraiforum.substack.com/p/maha-movem...
Health is clearly having some kind of moment.
How will the MAHA movement—its leaders, its supporters, and their paranoia—shape US politics from here on out?
caravanseraiforum.substack.com
New report from @jmooreotto.bsky.social on using RRIF and TIFIA to provide a stable source of capital funding for rail electrification and automation projects! Shifting off discretionary grants is one step towards helping agencies build long-term capacity. publicenterprise.org/report/the-t...
The Transit Infrastructure Lottery
Read the full report here. Executive summary Federal transportation investment in the United States suffers from both a quantity problem and a quality problem. The quantity problem is much-d...
publicenterprise.org
I am looking for the nation's foremost modular housing respecters. We need someone to lead our modular consortium in the northeast, in collaboration with state housing finance agencies, to scale up modular across the region. If that's you or someone you know: publicenterprise.org/careers/depu...
Deputy Director, Offsite & Modular Housing
Deputy Director, Offsite & Modular Housing Job Type: Full-Time, RemoteDivision: HousingReports to: Director of Housing Compensation: $105-$120,000; commensurate with experience Description Th...
publicenterprise.org
@lanefab.com identifies three things needed to make this work: accommodative zoning, single-stair reform, and elevator cost reform. Great article!
Sightline Institute@sightline.org · 2mo ago🚨 Eye candy alert 🚨 How do we add more homes to our existing leafy, quiet, 50'-wide residential lots? @lanefab.com has a gorgeous idea.
I realize writers aren’t responsible for headlines, but describing California’s condo laws as “bureaucracy” is particularly wrong. Instead of civil servants protecting home buyer deposits and ensuring quality construction, we’ve outsourced the work to plaintiffs attorneys.
Ben Raderstorf@raders.bsky.social · 3mo agoIncredible how condo reform has gone mainstream. @buffywicks.bsky.social has done what once seemed impossible! www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
The goal here is to encourage agencies to pick the right projects and staff up and establish project pipelines on the basis of readily available federal loan capital, rather than discretionary grants. Upside? We end zero-sum competition between modes and even projects.
DOE-style loans to any transit projects meeting priority criteria, which follow best practices on procurement, and have a case for payback should be possible. Would take eminently doable changes to RRIF and TIFIA, existing federal credit programs + a DOE style capacity buildup in the federal gov.
My colleague @jmooreotto.bsky.social is in @ifp.bsky.social’s Transit Cost Playbook. He argues for replacing discretionary grant financing for transit projects with federal loans! The current regime shreds state planning capacity due to intermittent and capricious funding. ifp.org/loans-can-st...
Loans Can Stabilize Transit Funding | IFP
Consistent and predictable funding builds state capacity
ifp.org
Want better transit for less money? It's possible!! Read all about it ifp.org/transit-abun...
The Transit Abundance Playbook | Institute for Progress
ifp.org
A lot to like in this Transit Abundance Playbook. ifp.org/transit-abun...
The Transit Abundance Playbook | Institute for Progress
ifp.org
Great article from @jmooreotto.bsky.social on how to shore up transit funding: ifp.org/loans-can-st...
Loans Can Stabilize Transit Funding | IFP
Consistent and predictable funding builds state capacity
ifp.org
We love to see it! And read about it in the NYTimes: Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/u...
These Young Politicians Want to Fix America’s Housing Problems
nytimes.com
Here’s an idea for Zohran Mamdani to create more jobs in NYC: he could ask Julie Menin and City Council to relegalize the construction of new hotels, which Bill de Blasio banned citywide as a parting gift to the hotel workers union on his way out of office in 2021 www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/n...
Mamdani Is Under Pressure to Act Amid Slowing Job Growth in New York
nytimes.com
Some interesting bits of RRIF/TIFIA reform here, that would strengthen, streamline, and expand these high-potential programs (🧵) transportation.house.gov/news/documen...
Press Releases | Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
transportation.house.gov
