Gbenga Ajilore
@gbenga_ajilore
Economist. Sports/Movie nerd. Half-marathoner. Bassoonist (as heard on NPR & POLITICO). Personal account. Views & opinions my own; RT=/=endorsement. (he/him)
We do know what works & the new Exec Order not just allowing but incentivizing communities to actively harm people ISN’T IT! Helping people pay rent & giving them access to support services ends homelessness. We must protect people and join the fight against this inhumanity.
We all want to live in communities where all our neighbors have a safe place to call home and are treated with dignity. But yesterday, Pres. Trump issued an executive order that will worsen #homelessness and punish people simply for being poor and unhoused. This is wrong.
Thinking of trans folks and other marginalized communities who keep being thrown under the bus.
Too many Democrats are deeply in denial about how badly we need to move back to the political center.
14 Republican senators urge White House to release delayed NIH funds - POLITICO share.google/lFiHdiPwKGGwQ1…
A very underrated detail in all this is they didn’t even give Tim Scott a hard hat
IM SCREAMING
I just completed an activity with Runkeeper runkeeper.com/cardio/d63a3e8…
Feeling summer. "Grease" - Frankie Valli #QuarantineHobby
Any positive agenda beyond that--even restoring enhanced premium tax credits--will require revenue beyond Biden proposals. And the baseline deficit with OBBBA/tariffs is still too high. Important to remember: reversing the tariffs alone is a big working/middle class tax cut.
We ask how do we win X person's vote, but never ask the follow up - who should we throw under the bus to get that vote? (i.e. 'the Sistah Souljah moment') This piece makes a lot of good points but is silent on race which drives a lot of our politics. I open.substack.com/pub/colrebuild…
I just completed an activity with Runkeeper runkeeper.com/cardio/2a9e378…
The strong 2Q growth in business equipment production is almost entirely a base effect driven by monthly Sept & Oct declines, and that decline was concentrated in transit equipment. Why did production of transit equipment so sharply decline over those 2 months? The Boeing strike.
Thanks to @POTUS’s pro-growth, America First agenda, we’re seeing a CapEx Comeback. Business equipment production jumped 11% annualized in Q2 after a huge 23% gain in Q1 — the strongest back-to-back growth since 1997. CapEx is up 16.6% in the first half of 2025, signaling a…
We laugh, but with the Republicans kicking people off Medicaid and making the ACA more expensive, more people are going to be making decisions like this to keep their health coverage.
Venus Williams after becoming the oldest WTA match winner since 2004: “I had to come back for the insurance, because they informed me this year that I’m on cobra. So it’s like, I got to get my benefits on” 😭😭😭😭
Congrats to Queensnake on their 36th victory Tue night at @IrishChannelPub in #ChinatownDC with @WorstTriviaHost! triviakings.com/results/scores…
So many people see this and get hyped But it really is only a play for HNW folks $500k capital gains exclusion already exists
🇺🇸 Trump says he is considering eliminating the capital gains tax on houses. 👀
The combo of the tariffs and One Big Beautiful Bill extends the (high) deficit we had last year with the 2017 Trump tax cuts for individuals in place. The difference, though, is that the tariffs and cuts to programs make the U.S. fiscal system less progressive.
We've brought in nearly $100B in tariff revenue so far and are on track for $300B this year. That's almost 1% of GDP. June delivered a budget surplus with higher revenue and lower spending. This is how we clean up the fiscal mess we inherited.
The Trump Administration fiscal policy is essentially locking in our recent high levels of deficits (6-7% of GDP) while making the fiscal system less progressive.
Bessent is correct that the tariffs are a key part of the Trump Administration’s larger fiscal policy including tax cuts tilted to wealthy and cutting programs for most vulnerable. The end result is a major upward redistribution of wealthy:
BESSENT: TARIFF REVENUE IS 'BIG NUMBER,' COULD BE 1% OF GDP
The city of Los Angeles is suing AirBnB for price gouging during the wildfires earlier this year. Learn why this matters and how you can prepare.
Since when is $500K "middle class?" realclearmarkets.com/articles/2025/…
So the way to safeguard Fed independence is for…..the independent Fed chair to resign and let the President appoint someone who has vowed not to be independent? That doesn’t even make sense in academic terms.