Google launching a datacenter into space next week nytimes.com/2026/09/24/techn…

☢️ HUGE NUCLEAR POWER REVERSAL ☢️ Taiwan approved a preliminary plan to restart an idled atomic power plant, marking a reversal of the ruling party’s anti-nuclear stance. It closed its last reactor last year The earliest the plant may resume is 2028 bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

JUST IN: First-time homebuyers could get as much as $50,000 for a down payment on a house, under a draft bill to be introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley and cosponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, per Axios

CBO examines the distribution of income—and of the means-tested transfers and federal taxes that affect it—from 1979 to 2023. cbo.gov/publication/62761

I hope WH doesnt listen 2 Big Oil who claim diesel export ban wont work Big Oil doesnt need 2 charge sky-high diesel prices 4 Iowa farmers + truckers just filling up They shld cut price 4 US diesel&get the $$ frm other countries IF U CAN EMBARGO CHIPS U CAN EMBARGO DIESEL

Alaska's lone U.S. House member @Rep_Peltola was asked by an AK state legislator about her stance on the Jones Act yesterday. Peltola admitted the law creates challenges for Alaska but she still supports it "because I support union workers." (16% of AK workers are union members)

“Withdrawals from investment accounts as a share of total spending almost doubled from 3.5 percent in April 2019 to 6.8 percent by April 2026.” The wealth effect is real. Source: jpmorganchase.com/institute/…

I want to briefly explain why I joined Abhijit Banerjee, Peter Diamond, Esther Duflo, Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz in signing the letter on the California billionaire tax: ft.com/content/94ec0fee-53ab… In principle, I am not convinced that permanent wealth taxes would be necessary if the tax-transfer system were designed optimally. But the US tax system is very far from optimal, and has been for decades. As I have documented in my research (for example, here: mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/…), labor income is taxed much more heavily than capital income. This asymmetry creates two distinct problems. First, it makes the tax system highly regressive at the top. The very rich, who receive much of their income from capital or can use accounting tricks to reclassify their income as capital income, pay remarkably little in taxes. For example, a business owner who runs their own company should receive a significant part of their income as labor earnings for their work as CEO. Instead, they can take their compensation in stock and borrow against those holdings to finance whatever consumption they desire, minimizing their tax obligations. Even their heirs may avoid paying these taxes. Second, the asymmetry distorts automation decisions: it effectively subsidizes machinery and AI relative to hiring workers (for example, here: brookings.edu/articles/does-…). These distortions have allowed a small number of people to amass vast fortunes without paying their fair share of taxes, and have fueled excessive automation. The resulting inequality is a problem in its own right. It is all the more dangerous today because our institutions have become fragile, allowing the very wealthy to exert growing control over the political process. A temporary wealth tax can therefore be justified on three grounds: (1) it partially reverses the effects of more than two decades of tax avoidance by the very wealthy; (2) it acts as a brake on their growing dominance over the political process; and (3) it may pave the way for more comprehensive tax reform at the federal level. The California billionaire tax is not perfect. For example, a federal tax would lessen risks related to capital flight, and removing the rigid earmarking of the revenues for specific purposes would enable the proceeds to reduce the national debt. Nevertheless, with few other options on the table, I believe the California proposal deserves support.