Affordable homes, climate investments, and good jobs don't have to be pitted against each other. In fact, in NYC @mayor.nyc.gov has a a huge opportunity to advance all three together, and local examples to build off.
Me and @batul.bsky.social wrote how in @jacobinmagazin.bsky.social
Chris Van Hollen a real sleeper pick
I'm honored to earn the endorsement of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (@ifpte.bsky.social), a union of 90,000 members across North America and thousands of federal workers right here in New York City.
Solidarity!
"the country is safest its ever been right now" is interesting. Rs may do this big deportation campaign as propaganda then just take credit for already-existing economic/safety fundamentals
The people of Minnesota have executed one of the most impressive civil resistance campaigns I can remember:
- Organized a city wide general strike
- Maintained nonviolent discipline amidst violence
- Mobilized 10,000s in subzero temps to protest and watch ICE
- Flipped public opinion against ICE
We are proud to announce the launch of Forces of Production — a new monthly newsletter tracking the supply side of the US economy.
But first: do you know where the US economy actually is right now? Not how it feels, but what it actually does all day?
Most don't. And that's the problem.
I'm a union organizer, Assemblymember, and democratic socialist running for Congress in NY-07.
I came to politics through low-wage jobs and the labor movement. That’s the perspective I’ll bring to Washington to take on oligarchy, fascism, and war—and win for working people.
in MN: anything short of prosecution for murder is capitulation to authoritarianism.
in DC: anything short of denying every last vote for ICE funding is a violation of their oaths of office
Jacob Frey: "To ICE -- get the fuck out of Minneapolis"
Morning Spew for Night Owls—"You know who else had to be out in the cold celebrating Zohran Mamdani? Chuck Schumer! Kathy Hochul! Watch them bend to power—the socialists are ascendant!"
DACUS: No more the drudge and idler ten that toil where one
EVERY BEASTIE BOY: REPOSES
D: But a sharing of life's glories Bread & roses bread &
EBB: ROSES
D: Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life
EBB: CLOSES
D: Hearts starve as well as bodies bread & roses, bread &
EBB: ROSES
The key point on Abundance - the politically consequential opponents of building stuff are almost entirely on the right.
Today, @rohangrey.bsky.social kicks off a series on the law and political economy of cryptocurrency, by considering the Left's missed opportunities and explaining how it can reclaim control over the future of money.
@demsocialists.bsky.social are doing it
Cooperative Money? Lessons from a Classroom Currency Experiment Pull-Quote: “Part of how capitalism reproduces itself is by obscuring what money is, where it comes from, and how it works.” Commentary by Andrew J. Douglas When I teach a class on the philosophy of money, I like to think of it as a labor studies class. Money, it turns out, is always about labor. Money gets to the core of why we work, what jobs are available, and how societies compensate, account for, and mobilize labor power. Money is a notoriously abstract concept. It helps to come at it through an analysis of the work that we do. The class began with a set of questions about work on and around the Morehouse campus. What sort of work would we like to see done? Do we have the necessary labor power at hand? And if so, why are we not investing in the school and community that we want and need? Students were full of ideas about what could be done. They imagined more professors and academic support staff, better mental health services, expanded campus maintenance and beautification efforts. Many expressed an interest in community development projects, work that might reflect a stronger sense of institutional investment in and service to surrounding neighborhoods — community gardens, extension class offerings, reciprocal partnerships with local businesses. As for why these aspirations aren’t becoming reality, students were quick to proffer an answer. This work offers little opportunity for profit. What students thought we should be doing on and around campus is precisely the kind of work that is systematically prevented by a capitalist system designed to turn money into more money. For young, bright-eyed students, and really for anyone interested in building a more rational and sustainable world, this is of course a deeply frustrating reason for why we can’t have nice things.
Part of how capitalism reproduces itself is by obscuring what money is, where it comes from, and how it works. We are taught to think of money as a neutral medium of exchange. The conventional narrative holds that money emerges from barter and trade, that it is an expression of the value produced through private commercial activity, and that it accumulates in the hands of those who serve markets most efficiently and effectively. In this conventional origin story, governments emerge much later, as a kind of second-order operation. Their role is principally to protect private property and enforce market relations. The irony is that capitalism could not function without the state as a currency-issuing authority. Anthropologists have found scant evidence to support the barter origin story. Some form of organized currency creation has always preceded market exchange. In today’s capitalist societies, governments and licensed banks literally create money by keystroking it into existence. And contrary to the conventional narrative, they do so with little regard for accumulated funds on hand. As the famous economist John Maynard Keynes once put it, “anything we can actually do, we can afford.” His point was that money, as an institutional creature of law and politics, is a malleable tool that societies use to mobilize labor power. Our capacity to create money, to issue credit and put people to work, is limited only by the real resources — i.e., the labor power — that can be mobilized at any given time. We tend not to think of money in these terms because, in the United States especially, the power to create money has been largely captured by capitalist interests. Governments issue currency. They create money by spending it into existence. They also delegate money creation authority. And most of the money we deal with today comes to us in the form of bank credit. A series of fortuitous political compromises throughout American history have led to peculiar public-private…
Recently, my students and I rolled out a small-scale classroom currency. We called it the CREDO in an effort to foreground the role that credit and trust play in any monetary system. The design was simple. Students were required to pay a classroom tax in CREDOs. They had to work to earn CREDOs to satisfy the obligation. As a governing body and currency-issuing authority, the class collectively made decisions about what kind of work could be undertaken to earn CREDOs. One stipulation was that it had to be work that is systematically underfunded by capitalist finance. Students decided to invest in a series of nonprofits doing good community development work around campus, and they earned CREDOs for hourly labor at those nonprofits. Many did far more work than was necessary to pay the tax, which meant that CREDOs began to circulate in a kind of private sector economy. The experiment had tremendous pedagogical value. And it mobilized at least some community development labor that otherwise would have remained idle. The challenge moving forward will be to scale the project from a classroom currency to a broader community currency. What would it take to organize the campus and surrounding community, to create a governing authority that could design and issue a complementary currency? What sort of labor could be undertaken to acquire the currency? Why would anyone want to accept the currency, in payment either of wages or services? The economist Hyman Minsky once said that “anyone can create money, the problem is to get it accepted.” That is indeed the primary challenge. But there are possibilities. More professors at Morehouse could work the CREDO project into their classes. Local businesses could accept CREDOs for discounts on products and services. The school could accept CREDOs for discounts on tuition. The City of Atlanta could demonstrate its support for local HBCUs and surrounding communities by accepting CREDOs for city tax purposes. These are just some…
Thanks to my Morehouse Labor Studies comrades for gifting me a few pages in the November special issue of their journal on cooperatives and worker ownership. Glad to share a little write-up of the "CREDO Project," our fledgling campus and community currency initiative.
Cooperative money? What?
"Do you think taxes should be raised on billionaires?"
Democrats:
🟢 Yes: 95%
⚫️ No: 2%
Independents:
🟢 Yes: 75%
⚫️ No: 12%
Republicans:
🟢 Yes: 48%
⚫️ No: 32%
Read it here: usapolling.substack.com/p/americans-...
Vote blue? No, matter who!
What is Democratic Public Finance?
moneyontheleft.org/2025/11/01/d...
BREAKING: Starbucks workers have just authorized a massive strike.
Union Starbucks baristas voted to authorize the strike by 92%.
Now baristas in over 25 cities could launch an unfair labor practice strike on Thursday, November 13th.
curious if you think that DSA is this popular political vehicle in the US, or if you think there’s other options?
Governor Kathy Hochul is speaking on stage, but the crowd keeps interrupting to chant #TaxTheRich
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
Touches on smthg important—if we understand money is the legal tool for mobilizing our resources, DHS's $ is mobilizing American society to care for all its employees
Eg an ICE agent's Chipotle order is a command to occupied servants to cook a meal for the occupier's family
True of all federal $!
✨ New! ✨
"Democratic Public Finance: A Radical Vision for Mamdani’s New York City"
Grab your favorite beverage ☕ and settle in for a deep long-read.👩💻
the usual useful list:
go.bsky.app/2Fq4P6e
Tremendous thanks to Cory Doctorow for helping us get the word out about Blue Bonds, MotL's fiscal strategy for mobilizing sub-federal debt financing to defeat authoritarian sabotage & extortion.
pluralistic.net/2025/10/04/f...
