David Atkinson

603 posts

David Atkinson banner
David Atkinson

David Atkinson

@lamacroguy

Newly retired in LA, returning to engaging cultural, political and economic thought.

South Pasadena, CA Katılım Kasım 2022
1.3K Takip Edilen224 Takipçiler
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
According to the WSJ article, they were talking about a currency swap line. Given the intellectual level of discourse in public forums, I don't expect many to understand the nuances here. Essentially we hold their Dirham for an equivalent amount of USD, that they can use for temporary liquidity needs where they need USD, and then we swap back at some point in the future. The Durham is pegged to the dollar so there is little risk on loss on valuation.
English
2
1
5
766
Michael Tracey
Michael Tracey@mtracey·
Trump says he'll give some kind of financial bailout to the UAE, because he found it "shocking" they were hit so hard; he thought Iran would only try to strike Israel. (So in other words, there was instant escalation beyond what he anticipated, and now the US will foot the bill)
English
482
1K
4.3K
581.1K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
Alex, I loved your COVID work and still subscribe to your Substack, but this guy's take is nuts. Iran has no Navy or Air Force. They shot down 2 of our planes out of 13,000 sorties. They made enemies of their Gulf neighbors, who now know how quickly they will turn on them in any conflict. I could go on and on.
English
0
0
0
145
Alex Berenson
Alex Berenson@AlexBerenson·
This is exactly correct
Ilan Goldenberg@ilangoldenberg

I am thankful that we have a ceasefire.  It happened much faster than I expected and it was the right move.  But let’s be clear that this war ends (if the ceasefire holds) as a total strategic disaster. The scorecard  Nukes: Iran still has the HEU Proxies: no change or impact  Missile  and drones : Iran demonstrated its arsenal is sustainable and survivable under massive US and Israeli pressure.  Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s leverage to use it as a bargaining chip has dramatically increased. Regime: killed Khameini but his son is still in place and unless they collapse in the aftermath will probably be just as strong or stronger then when this started. US allies: totally screwed in the Gulf and horribly strained relations in Europe. Global economy: major damage.  Israel: will be even more globally isolated after this and no more secure.  Region: as unstable as ever requiring a greater US commitment. US capacity to be prepared for major contingencies in the IndoPacific set back for years. But at least we took out their navy and destroyed their useless Air Force 🤷‍♂️. An epic strategic disaster.

English
46
7
85
103.2K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
I generally like Bret, and regularly listen to DarkHorse, but this is just weird. He and Tucker are also on this kick that Trump is being manipulated and he doesn't really believe in what he is doing. Trump? Being bullied? Led by the nose to do something he disagrees with? OUR Trump? Seriously? And oh yeah, Epstein files too are in all this. What's really frustrating is the notion that the lack of ANY proof for any of this is really just proof that it is so deeply hidden that we can never see the whole conspiracy. Time for me to go outside and spend time in my garden and sunshine to remember reality.....
English
0
0
2
157
Colin Wright
Colin Wright@SwipeWright·
I think it is highly irresponsible of him to float wild conspiracies like this to the public on such a large platform when there is absolutely zero evidence for any of it. He has to know how it's going to be received by the crazies. I have personal hunches on many issues too. Yet I wouldn't dream of publicly airing them to millions of people unless I felt I had enough information to be confident in them being true or at least worth seriously considering. His approach just pollutes our discourse.
English
39
2
293
8K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@JDHaltigan I have been liking them lately -- one-sided sure, but I know the other side's arguments as well. There is a lot of lunacy out there these days.
English
0
0
0
72
J.D. Haltigan, PhD 🏒👨‍💻
J.D. Haltigan, PhD 🏒👨‍💻@JDHaltigan·
Shapiro has a lot of wisdom to impart. Very brilliant mind. But it is becoming harder & harder for me to get through his podcast.
English
7
0
17
4.6K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@LeorSapir That was fast. I wish we could have gotten the hormones in there as well, but whatever.
English
0
0
1
218
Leor Sapir
Leor Sapir@LeorSapir·
Trump has apparently corrected point #5
Leor Sapir tweet media
English
14
15
160
15.7K
Boris Spider
Boris Spider@BorisSpider14·
🚨🚨Breaking: Vanderbilt University Medical Center announces that it has hired a new head of its Transgender Medical Clinic and will re-open next week.
Boris Spider tweet media
English
6
2
24
1.7K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@megbasham I really wondered about the Hegseth nomination at first, but I also learned after a few decades in business to judge leaders by the success of the organization they lead. In that light, how do we compare Pete Hegseth to LLoyd Austin?
English
1
0
4
681
Jennifer Sey
Jennifer Sey@JenniferSey·
Once a gymnast, always a gymnast. Even at 50 something something.
Jennifer Sey tweet mediaJennifer Sey tweet media
English
37
18
885
10.9K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@mtracey I hope you are keeping all the receipts. This will make a great comedy documentary some day.
English
0
0
1
373
Michael Tracey
Michael Tracey@mtracey·
Putting this one in the cross-ideological audience-captured mass-hysterical algorithmic-retardation time capsule
English
69
31
497
37.2K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
In the recent Supreme Court arguments about boys in girls sports, a lawyer for the trans-identified plaintiff argued that because these boys use testosterone inhibitors and synthetic estrogen, they are even MORE disadvantaged than girls because these boys' muscles do not develop to support their male bone structure. Now, do this as a thought experiment. What if we were not talking about trans at all, but about a strange disease that suddenly started afflicting even a small number of young boys whose muscles are not developing enough to support their skeletal structure? We would be insistent on finding a cure and pushing for funding to help these poor boys who will otherwise have life-long medical problems. What an insane world we live in.
English
0
0
4
252
Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi@mtaibbi·
It was amazing to watch how quickly sportswriters transitioned from total condemnation of male juicers to limitless support of transgender athletes who competed after hormone therapy. washingtonpost.com/sports/interac…
Karen Orlando@KarenFOrlando

@mtaibbi Is this about Jerry Brewer? Because he did a major piece of anti woman and girl trans movement sports "reporting" while at WAPO!

English
40
145
1.4K
64.2K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@_CryMiaRiver I feel like we need to arrange for political asylum in the US for you and your family.
English
0
0
2
264
Mia Hughes
Mia Hughes@_CryMiaRiver·
@ohegarty How is this rage-bait? I’m being threatened with legal action for taking part in a debate at an Ontario university and saying that I do not believe in gender identities. I’m making my stance clear on my own public platform. Where’s the rage-bait in that?
English
14
15
437
4.7K
Orla Moylan Hegarty BMath, MASc
Orla Moylan Hegarty BMath, MASc@ohegarty·
Tell me you haven't been a working class woman with no other choice but to pretend without telling me you've never been a working class woman with no choice but to pretend. The privilege of women like Mia is infuriating. No politics to see, only rage bait and fake martyrdom.
Mia Hughes@_CryMiaRiver

@JasonLavigneAB Tie me to a stake and light the match and I STILL won’t pretend to believe in invisible gender spirits.

St. Vincent's-St. Stephen's-Peter's River, Newfoundland and Labrador 🇨🇦 English
51
1
18
7.2K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
I did an informal poll of parents here in southern California, and it seemed to be more of a shift -- certain pockets have seen it almost disappear while others are doubling down. And while this is anecdotal, what I have been told leads to a shift in the affected population -- groups of adolescent girls who got into this together via social contagion are coming out of it the same way, while young adult men -- 18-25 or so -- are falling more into it. It's very tragic and just adds to a spate of tragedies affecting young men these last few years.
English
2
0
15
2.2K
Mia Hughes
Mia Hughes@_CryMiaRiver·
Every teacher I have talked to in the last year has said the same thing: the trans fad is pretty much over. The next wave of kids are openly ridiculing the silliness of pronouns and all the gender identities.
Metaburbia@metaburbia

@_CryMiaRiver This is exactly what my wife, a teacher, has observed. Waves of fashionable conditions that peak and fade - ADHD, anorexia, pseud-Tourette, dyslexia: and trans until recently. The trans wave, she says, is fading & her students now far more likely to be gender critical

English
729
1.9K
18.1K
602.8K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
Ben Shapiro had a great analogy for this. Roughly speaking it went like this. "Imagine if you hire an accountant, who seems to be just fine for your business, but they claim that once a year or so, they get abducted by aliens and need a few days off for that" You can credibly tell yourself that as long as their accounting skills and work ethic remain strong, you have no need to think about the alien thing, BUT you are going to be really bothered that, even though it does not regularly affect the business, you are working with someone who has this one small area of life where they are absolutely batshit crazy. And this lowers the threshold for a time when you might want to change accountants to someone just as good, but without the crazy alien thing.
English
0
0
5
89
Leor Sapir
Leor Sapir@LeorSapir·
A very good point. What voters think about policy X is not the same as how highly they rank X in importance when voting. Trans issues typically rank low for most voters. With the exception of voters who care deeply and follow these issues closely, I suspect they are more likely to be interpreted as general credibility signals of a political party or candidate. (“If Kamala is for taxpayer funded surgeries for illegal immigrant inmates, why should I trust her judgment on anything?” Etc etc)
Andrew Rotherham@arotherham

There is a difference between people's views on an issue and whether or not they vote it in a particular election / environment or if it creates negative frame. Why this worked on Harris in 2024 but not Spanberger in 2025.

English
5
2
40
2.6K
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@PrishaMosley Happy birthday Prisha. Good to see you out there in podcastland these days.
English
1
0
1
51
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@sometherapist Great post Stephanie. I imagine a lot of folks -- parents especially -- have stories where they found themselves at all stages of this journey, and I imagine came to this conclusion.
English
0
0
1
28
David Atkinson
David Atkinson@lamacroguy·
@marcinthelab @benryanwriter He was pro-medicalization. Claimed it was settled science and ridiculed guests who questioned puberty blockers and cross sex hormones.
English
0
0
1
33
Benjamin Ryan
Benjamin Ryan@benryanwriter·
There is a kind of market correction currently underway with respects to the public's assessment of Jon Stewart as a reliable source of wisdom about economics in particular.
Jason Furman@jasonfurman

The single worst interview I've ever done was with Jon Stewart. I normally try to be calm and level-headed but I basically lost it with him. And worry that I lost viewers/listeners too, doing more to convince them that economists were obnoxious than that we had useful insights.

English
18
15
463
37.7K
Erin Friday, Esq.
Erin Friday, Esq.@ErinFriday75490·
The @FTC is going to get the @AmerAcadPeds. There is precedence for medical societies being found liable for their policies, especially when there is evidence that they knew their policy was not supported by science. Oh this is so delicious. I have so much more to share with the @FTC - such as the 150 letters parents wrote to the @AmerAcadPeds; or when they ignored not one, not two but three requests for a review of its policy that recommended chopping up children but its own members. I am giddy. Absolutely giddy. bloomberg.com/news/articles/….
English
56
231
984
32K

Keşfet

@megbasham @JDHaltigan @LeorSapir @BorisSpider14 @JenniferSey @mtracey @elonmusk @BarackObama