Phineas Baxandall

Change in Data Sources Led to Lower Inflation Reading

Are we crossing the point where we no longer can trust federal economic data? Change in Data Sources Led to Lower Inflation Reading www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/b...

Washington Millionaires’ Tax, Expanded Working Families Tax Credit Make Tax Code Fairer The Washington legislature has approved a new

Following other successful initiatives in other states, the Washington state legislature has approved a new "millionaires' tax," a 9.9 percent tax on income over $1 million. Read more at: itep.org/washington-m...

Where does our broccolini come from? A powerful photo essay. davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2026/02/phot...

You don't think "Operation Epstein Fury" will work?

Trump’s Medicaid work mandates are meant to save money. But first states will have to spend millions. - The Boston Globe Across the nation, states face an immense task and high costs to prepare for the Jan. 1 kickoff of new Medicaid eligibility mandates.

“A huge amount of funding is going to go to vendors to construct these complicated red-tape systems that prevent people who need it from getting health care.” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/01/b...

Netflix Backs Out of Bid for Warner Bros., Paving Way for an Ellison Takeover

The richest man owns X.

The second and third richest men control Google.

The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post.

And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros.

See the problem here?

Opinion | This Is the Real Reason to Make Bus Rides Free

Nice piece on the benefits we don’t see: “This Is the Real Reason to Make Bus Rides Free “https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/opinion/free-bus-rides-mamdani.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Tesla Reported Zero Federal Income Tax on $5.7 Billion of U.S. Income in 2025 Tesla enjoyed almost $5.7 billion of U.S. income in 2025 but paid $0 in federal income tax. Over the past three years, the Elon Musk-led company reported $12.5 billion of U.S. income on which its curr...

Tesla enjoyed almost $5.7 billion of U.S. income in 2025 but paid $0 in federal income tax. Over the past three years, the Elon Musk-led company reported $12.5 billion of U.S. income on which its current federal tax was just $48 million.
Read more at: itep.org/tesla-report...

Absolutely no bailout for high tech when their bubble bursts.

MassBudget's statement and preliminary analysis of the Governor's budget proposal. massbudget.org/state-budget/ @massbudget.bsky.social

Please help us give a warm welcome to our newest staff member, Anthony Clough ! Anthony will be serving as a Policy Analyst, focusing on K-12 and higher education policy.

Read more about Anthony here: buff.ly/prKcjCT

NEW: @oxfaminternational.bsky.social's global inequality report🌏

Billionaire wealth⬆️3x faster in '25 than previous years

This year we dive deep on the link between economic & political inequality. Billionaires are 4000x more likely to hold office than you or me www.oxfamamerica.org/press/billio...

Living a moral life in an age of bullies requires collective action; it cannot be done alone. Each of us must organize and participate in a vast network of moral resistance. From this solidarity we will grow stronger. This is what our current moment requires.

Thanks to Sen. @JulianCyr.bsky.social for calling out the need for new housing revenue in #MA in a recent @CWBeacon.bsky.social article. Meeting our state's housing needs requires ongoing investment from new sources. Read MassBudget's report for further analysis: buff.ly/fcwyiKL

States Should Reduce or Eliminate Criminal Fines and Fees, Even Amid Challenging Fiscal Landscape Over the past three years, states and local governments across the country, with both Republican- and Democratic-held legislatures, have taken important steps in undoing harmful criminal legal...

Going into 2026, states face a difficult fiscal landscape, and some may be tempted to turn back to criminal fines and fees to raise revenue. This would be a mistake. www.cbpp.org/research/sta...

In Boston today by city hall at 2pm

Santa Fe links minimum wage to high cost of housing A new ordinance to take effect in 2027 will increase the city’s minimum wage from $15 an hour to $17.50 and tie future increases to rental costs.

Santa Fe in New Mexico enacts a new $17.50 minimum wage with future increases tied to the cost of rental housing in the city. www.krwg.org/regional/202...

Massachusetts has the lowest number of prisoners per capita of any state. Since 2014 the prison population has been shrinking faster than any other state. cdn.usafacts.org/chart/how_ma...

OF THE EMPIRE We will be known as a culture that feared death and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity for the few and cared little for the penury of the many. We will be known as a culture that taught and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke little if at all about the quality of life for people (other people), for dogs, for rivers. All the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a commodity. And they will say that this structure was held together politically, which it was, and they will say also that our politics was no more than an apparatus to accommodate the feelings of the heart, and that the heart, in those days, was small, and hard, and full of meanness.

Ever relevant, this poem by Mary Oliver, especially today.

Congestion pricing after one year: How life has changed. How life has changed in the New York area, according to data on traffic, transit and the responses of 600 readers.

Congestion pricing is looking like a clear success in NYC. Any bets on where’s next? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

BREAKING:

Here’s the 60 Minutes Segment Trump and CBS News Executives Don’t Want You to See

Video (no paywall): bit.ly/4qn6Jn5

www.cbpp.org/media/5-ways... 5 Ways the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Are Making Affordability Challenges Worse

Feminism Versus Trump and Epstein We already knew that Jeffrey Epstein had sexually assaulted and exploited dozens of girls and young women, that he had done so openly, that his dehumanization of the vulnerable had not prevented a who...

Latest piece by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social is excellent.
www.meditationsinanemergency.com/feminism-ver...

Opinion | Mitt Romney: Tax the Rich, Like Me

Former GOP U.S. Senator and state Governor Mitt Romney says it: "we have reached a point where any mix of solutions to our nation’s economic problems is going to involve the wealthiest Americans contributing more." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

New York’s wealthy warn of a tax exodus after Mamdani’s win – but the data says otherwise Research on millionaire migration reveals that social and professional ties matter far more than marginal tax rates.

New York’s wealthy warn of a tax exodus after Mamdani’s win – but the data says otherwise
theconversation.com/new-yorks-we...

substackcdn.com/image/fetch/...

Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal The Trump administration has argued that Fed board member Lisa Cook may have committed mortgage fraud by declaring more than one primary residence on her loans. We found Trump once did the very thing ...

Will the Justice Department prosecute? www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Friday Video: Exactly Why the Cybertruck Sucks — Streetsblog USA Unwind and let yourself hate on Elon Musk a little.

"Who exactly is buying these things?"
One detail: The exceptionally heavy weight qualifies the whole cost to be a tax write off.
Ten recalls in two years. Prices double promise. Range half.
Sales are flat lining and European safety rules are additional obstacle.
usa.streetsblog.org/2025/12/05/f...

Instead of tossing tax breaks to real estate developers, Boston Mayor Wu is investing in the residents, and it is paying off. Thanks @mayorwu.boston.gov!

The Economy After the September Jobs Report The September jobs report shows weak job growth, higher unemployment, and a cooling labor market driven mostly by healthcare gains.

The September jobs report is hardly encouraging if you consider that the large majority of paltry job creation has been coming from the same health care sector that is soon to run into the wood chipper of GOP Medicaid cuts cepr.net/publications... @deanbaker13.bsky.social