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herman mark schwartz

@thunen.bsky.social

periodic posting on political economy issues, mostly charts, some shirts, weekly kittens. Sic semper tyrannis. States vs Markets 5th edition now out: https://www.bloomsbury.com/9781350458369

2373 Posts912 Follower69 Folgt
herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · yesterday

The class war in one chart. Profit share of US GDP, 1970-2025. source: McKinsey note that McKinsey could have opted to use the 1970-1990 average instead of 1970-1999, which would have shown a near doubling rather than a 50% rise. this would line up better with the end of the Cold War...

Profit share of US GDP, 1975-2025, basically doubling from its average 1975-85 level to 2025
herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · yesterday

In Australia you can pay tuition or accept HESC, a permanent income tax surcharge of 1% for most degrees, but 2%, 3% for law business, MD, engineer. No top down control. Fairer (you make less (more) you pay less (more). Harder to game. Evidence that 🌮 policy is more anti-women than rational.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

Brooke Harrington@ebharrington.bsky.social · 2d ago

"don't make enough money" is a fig leaf All those degree programs--social work, art, etc.--have disproportionately female student bodies. This is designed to make it harder for women to attend college--college education being a key factor in women's autonomy from men & left-leaning voting pattern.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d ago

President Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v

George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸@gtconway.bsky.social · 2d ago

This is such complete and utter bullshit on the part of Thom Tillis and John Cornyn. Giving the Trump crime family immunity from tax audits remains as corrupt as anything we’ve ever seen in this country. Todd Blanche should be impeached, not confirmed.

Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · 2d ago

JUST IN: Tillis confirms he is on board with Cornyn to vote yes on Blanche for AG, after Blanche renounces Anti-Weaponization Fund in writing & asserts that the waiver of any past taxes due is limited to POTUS, Don Jr., Eric & Trump Org. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · 2d ago

Willing to bet there are more Guardians Of Pedophiles politicians at all levels indicted in the past decade for CSAM or actual abuse than trans athletes in all US public schools. By an order of magnitude.

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

The Campaign to Force Genital Exams on Girl Athletes Soon Washington State could require sex-verification tests for those playing sports in schools. Portrait of Andrea González-Ramírez By Andrea González-Ramírez, a senior writer for The Cut who covers systems of power.
Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · 3d ago

Abby was the one that broke open the Max Miller story (and shame on NYT for not acknowledging that). Here is her original story: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Assault, misogyny, verbal threats: Records detail new allegations against Rep. Max Miller

Police reports and filings in a bitter custody dispute raise new questions about the conduct of an Ohio Republican as he campaigns for a third term.

motherjones.com

Abby Vesoulis@abbyvesoulis.bsky.social · 3d ago

I first got 1000+ pages of court documents from Miller & Moreno's custody case. Anybody can request these from Cuyahoga County. I reviewed those by myself, one by one—no AI involved!—and the filings pointed to police reports. I then sought those out separately and spent days combing through them.

Tim Stephens@proftimstephens.bsky.social · 4d ago

“The disclosure marks the first time a bank has formally tied money-laundering concerns to Donald Trump’s family business.” File under ‘no surprise that the Trump family is involved in money laundering’ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Capital One says it closed Trump Organization’s accounts after anti-money-laundering review

Disclosure from 2021 investigation marks first time a bank has formally tied money-laundering concerns to Donald Trump

theguardian.com

herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · 4d ago

To fill in the missing details about these parasites: if you are vertically integrated insurer, pharmacy, PBM, and, lately clinics, you negotiate price to drug firm down but don’t pass savings to consumer, steer consumer to your pharmacy, et voila, extra profit. UVA folks: CVS, Aetna, Caremark

Delegate Katrina Callsen@katrinacallsen.com · 4d ago

Vertically integrated, anticompetitive PBMs that extract money from our healthcare system and raise our 💊prices are a problem…they need some accountability! Grateful for the focus and expertise of Governor @abigailspanberger.com and the bipartisan support of PBM reform this year and last.

Adam Serwer@adamserwer.bsky.social · 4d ago

It is funny that this person thinks “immigrants defended the union while native born whites sought to destroy it in the name of slavery” is an argument against immigrants being Americans. This is precisely the point, nothing about being born here makes you better bsky.app/profile/aphc...

Alexander Clarkson@aphclarkson.bsky.social · 4d ago

Another datapoint for the fascist radicalisation of institutional pillars of much of the American Right

herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · 4d ago

Honest Abe, as he was known. Did not have a crypto coin, have his charity indicted, have $400m emoluments.

Stephen West@stephenwest.bsky.social · last mo.

Abe Lincoln vs. the "heritage American" crowd, 1858: It doesn't matter where your ancestors were in 1776. Americans who read the Declaration and affirm its creed "have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote [it] ...and so they are."

We have besides these men—descended by blood from our ancestors—among us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men, they are men who have come from Europe—German, Irish, French and Scandinavian—men that have come from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us, but when they look through that old Declaration of Independence they find that those old men say that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” and then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration, (loud and long continued applause) and so they are.
Sarah Kendzior@sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 5d ago

We're near the ten-year anniversary of this interview, which was viewed as wildly controversial at the time. It led to hit pieces on me from liberal outlets like The New Republic as well as death threats. Now it's seen as conventional wisdom -- but it always was!

Sarah Kendzior making obvious points about authoritarian kleptocracy in the US under Trump on MSNBC in Nov 2016
herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · 5d ago

2025 tax bill cuts to ACA (obamacare) subsidies -> 2.6m people (so far!) dropping coverage as premiums went up 25-100%. but federal law requires hospitals to treat anyone coming to an emergency room regardless of insurance status. "solve for the equilibrium" as tyler cowen says. WSJ 31 July 2026

The Rising Number of Uninsured Patients Starts to Hit Hospitals Millions of Americans dropped Affordable Care Act plans after higher subsidies expired and now struggle to pay wall street journal 31 july 2026
Miranda Yaver@mirandayaver.bsky.social · last wk.

I have a piece coming out on the bad politics & bad policy of the Trump Administration doing this, but I also think this connects to my New Republic piece on Dems’ failure to take victory laps. Did seniors even know the Medicare Pt. D subsidy came out of the IRA? (No) newrepublic.com/article/2125...

Trump’s Budget Bill Has a New Trap for Democrats

Blue state leaders want to mitigate the harms of Trump’s budget bill. But will cleaning up another Republican mess only serve to let the GOP off the hook?

newrepublic.com

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · last wk.

BREAKING WSJ: The Trump admin plans to end a subsidy program that helped hold down premiums for Medicare drug plans — a move that could leave many seniors facing higher rates for their prescription coverage next year.

herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · last wk.

#theywantyoudead 146 www.wsj.com/health/healt... complex issue bc Medicare part D (drugs) is a complex program. but basically, premiums will go up or drug costs or both. once more, the problems of a partly private, partly public health care financing system. no price negotiations!

Exclusive | Trump Administration to End Medicare Drug Plan Subsidy

Program that held down premiums won’t be renewed for 2027, resulting in higher costs for some seniors.

wsj.com

herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · last wk.

If you’ve ever had to do a Gantt chart for an ERC or similar grant proposal and you wondered why it’s called a Gantt chart… here’s the answer: www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/07/erik... H/t @erikloomis.bsky.social

Erik Visits an American Grave, Part 2,197 - Lawyers, Guns & Money

This is the grave of Henry Gantt. Born in 1861 in Calvert County, Maryland into a slaving family, Gantt did not grow up with slaves, thanks to the Civil War ending the most evil of American institutio...

lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com

herman mark schwartz@thunen.bsky.social · last wk.

#empiresuicidewatch 135 #theywantyoudead 145 A rare overlap. Public health started in C19 in part over fears of insufficient and unhealthy male bodies for conscription. Even in WW2, US draft turned down 40% of bodies as unfit, illiterate, no teeth, mental, etc. Richest country in the world!

James Downie@jamescdownie.bsky.social · last wk.

"At a May lunch at the president’s golf course in northern Virginia, President Trump asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., why he wasn’t doing more to probe the alleged connection between vaccines and autism, according to people familiar with the matter."