Mark Paul
@markpaulecon.bsky.social
Associate Prof, Public Policy, Rutgers PhD Econ, UMass Amherst
This Day in Labor History: June 15, 1990. 400 striking janitors organized with Service Employees International Union held a rally in Los Angeles. The LAPD proceeded to beat the shit out of them in front of office workers wondering what the hell was going on. Let's talk about Justice for Janitors!
It's a feature of many market solutions to social problems that they look much more attractive if you ignore the implementation details. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
Rutgers School of Engineering canceled a commencement speech by Rami Elghandour—an alum and executive producer of an Oscar-nominated film about Hind Rajab, a Palestinian child killed by Israel—because "some" students complained: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... His response (via X):
@us.theguardian.com has a new piece about our working class climate agenda. As the story makes clear, we believe that climate politics must directly address the cost-of-living crisis in order to win policies that are desperately needed in the US.
As household bills soar, is it time for a ‘working-class climate agenda’?
Proposal from group that worked with AOC and Bernie Sanders seeks to counter claim that climate policy is politically toxic
theguardian.com
“The beauty of a public good is that it should be so good that everybody uses it.” @mayor.nyc.gov podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
All In America with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani
Podcast Episode · Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast · April 25 · Bonus · 44m
podcasts.apple.com
Housing must be a top priority for policymakers & candidates. 1/3 of Americans rent. Increasingly these are families thought of in the traditional "middle" class. Yet housing policy is leaving them high & dry. Rent control may not be a silver bullet, but it's common sense & brings immediate benefits
every time i write about wage theft i do a double take because it's so crazy corporations steal more than $50 bn from workers' paychecks each year, illegally paying workers less than they earned for their labor that significantly exceeds the combined losses from larceny, burglary, & vehicle theft
Thrilled to see my home state of Massachusetts out front with an important ballot initiative to implement state wide rent control at CPI or 5%, whichever is LOWER. This is a common sense move that will protect renters, increase affordability, and have no impact on supply www.mass.gov/doc/25-21-an...
mass.gov
The Fight for $15 started way back in Nov 2012. Simply adjusting for inflation (not including producitivty gains), would bring that wage up to $21.19 today.
CBO does great work, but they do not have a crystal ball here. Also, this is largely a policy choice.
Bobby Kogan@bbkogan.bsky.social · 6mo agoCBO significantly raised its projections of the interest rate the government pays on its debt. This is a key driver of debt/gdp sustainability. It also means higher interest rates on credit card debt, auto loans, mortgages, etc. And it means higher prices, since business investments cost more.
"Four hours after his arrest, he was taken to a hospital emergency room in Edina with swelling and bruising around his right eye and bleeding. A CT scan revealed at least eight skull fractures and life-threatening hemorrhages in at least five areas of his brain..." apnews.com/article/immi...
ICE claim that a man shattered his skull running into wall triggers tension at a Minnesota hospital
Nurses in Minneapolis doubted federal immigration officers' claims about a Mexican immigrant's severe injuries.
apnews.com
Do not look away. It's time to organize. It's time to be furious. It's time to revolt.
Ben Zipperer@benzipperer.org · 6mo agoFederal agents shatter a grandmother's car window, tear her rotator cuff, and throw her to the ground. After they dump out her purse and discover her US passport, they drive off, leaving her with a concussion and bruised ribs
My new piece about Resistance 2.0 is up at @theguardian.com! Give it a read to understand why we should expect much more confrontation and disruption this time around. Thanks for the suggestions @victorerikray.bsky.social @sociologistray.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Resistance to Trump 2.0 is getting more confrontational | Dana R Fisher
In Trump’s first term, activists focused on lobbying and voting. Now tactics are shifting to nonviolent civil disobedience
theguardian.com
Chicago. Now. Ice out of everywhere. Snow and cold not slowing folks.
Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.
Central planners can certainly make this transition happen as smoothly as possible. And yes, bankers are central planners. But the idea that they’ll facilitate a transition, unless forced to, is delusional
NBER@nber.org · 7mo agoThere is no evidence that banks are actively assisting a green transition through their lending behavior, even in Denmark, the greenest country in the world, from Grace Weishi Gu, Galina Hale, Bhavyaa Sharma, and Jinhong Wu www.nber.org/papers/w34681
Teaching a new heterodox labor econ & policy course. Any suggestions and resources would be most appreciated.
Teaching a class this week on CBA and I have to say, this lovely symposium by @lpeblog.bsky.social is excellent. Particularly loved @marksilverman1.bsky.social's take. lpeproject.org/blog/the-val...
The “Value of a Statistical Life”: Reflections from the Pandemic
Economists who insist that the "value of a statistical life" can be determined solely by looking at the preferences of individual economic agents in a market overstate their case and miss crucial…
lpeproject.org
I’m honestly surprised by how resilient the economy has been these last few months. Any good pieces trying to tease out how much of that is driven by AI hype/investment?
Couldn't imagine a better team to work with!
Ruthy Gourevitch@ruthygourevitch.bsky.social · 11mo ago‼️ Join my team ‼️ @cplusc.bsky.social is hiring a Housing Policy Manager to help advance progressive housing and climate solutions alongside some of the best tenant unions, labor unions, policymakers, and researchers in the field. Apply here by Oct 5! climateandcommunity.org/careers/
NEWS --> An internal Homeland Security memo suggests Trump's use of military for domestic enforcement is about to get worse. It details top-level talks between Defense Department and DHS on what this should look like. Experts say it's alarming. We obtained the memo: newrepublic.com/article/1987...
Trump’s Domestic Use of Military Set to Get Worse, Leaked Memo Shows
A Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by TNR signals top-level discussions about a potential escalation of the Pentagon’s domestic anti-immigration role, and lays out new details.
newrepublic.com
Today, @nealemahoney.bsky.social has a guest piece up on @jaredb-econ.bsky.social substack. It has some good insights on the affordability crisis. But then it notes "Q: how does rent control fit it here? A: it needs to be tightly targeted or it can discourage new construction". NUANCE plz.
a man with pink hair is standing in front of a refrigerator with the words so frustrating written on it .
ALT: a man with pink hair is standing in front of a refrigerator with the words so frustrating written on it .
media.tenor.com
"Unless Israel is stopped, Gaza will be bombed and starved until the entire population is either dead or shipped off somewhere. Then the West Bank will receive the same treatment." prospect.org/world/2025-0...
Israel’s Endgame Is Obliterating Palestine
Gaza is being deliberately starved. The West Bank is next.
prospect.org
I wrote a thing on why economists are slowly starting to rethink their wrongheaded knee-jerk hatred of rent control. www.policylink.org/resources/pu...
Economists Are Rethinking Rent Control | PolicyLink
policylink.org
