Tom Hirschfeld

@mattyglesias Yea the disparity is more of a measure of baumol effects disparities. Of course a haircut costs more than 6 dollars when you can make 200k/year managing a buckees

I don’t really believe in purchasing power parities.

@CartoonsHateHer I feel like a lot of this is just outgoing people chatting up strangers because that’s how you kill time but in modern society you’re supposed to not acknowledge anyone and stare at your phone in public

For a second I was like "wait, why does this never happen to me? That's weird" and then I realized I am outside the house by myself for a grand total of like 4 hours a year, almost all of it in transit.

@VersantC @yahustopgoy @justalexoki how do you not know?

@Tom_Hirschfeld @yahustopgoy @justalexoki how do you know?

i studied with a bunch of people like this. there's a very obvious reason nobody wants to hire them

@yahustopgoy @justalexoki its because he views success as academic style problem solving, not as "making money". Often times people with this orientation make it way harder to make money, hard pass

@justalexoki What's the reason? I see a lot of people saying "bad personality" but I find that hard to induce from a screenshot. And, given most of his applications are discarded before screening calls, I don't think most recruiters can claim that either.

@Gugabed @justalexoki The problem isn't the autism, the problem is that they'll fight against productivity and making money. If you're not making it easier to make money you're NGMI

I mean sure they're medium autistic assholes but you've gone from those guys being backbones of tech companies and engineering 50 years ago to getting hard gated by HR in favor of strivers who interview better. Most of the nice things in modern technology were developed by somebody like that

@lymanstoneky the down town also have a 40 floor commercial office building that was last occupied in 2008 and recently traded for 2.5m dollars I worked out of a coworking space downtown once, 300 seats, only me and one other person there.

TIL!! i will say, it was kind of bizarre how st louis has like this vast sprawling expanse of totally abandoned areas, and neighborhoods where every 3rd house is boarded up and also has legit Soviet Urbanism style block apartments stuffed all over the downtown area!

@MattBruenig @BigMeanInternet @DKThomp @jdcmedlock JK Rowling Who did she exploit to become a billionaire?

@BigMeanInternet @DKThomp @jdcmedlock Derek should throw out a billionaire that he thinks "earned" (or whatever word he prefers to connote entitlement) that amount of money and we can see if we can figure out how plausible that really is.

Obama was so real for this

@EmpowerEdDC @mattyglesias Do you teach students to proof read?

Respectfully, @mattyglesias, what we is the real work of school improvement. We've worked directly w/ more than 30 DCPS + public charters. Our school partners have seen an average increase of 17 % in retention in 2 yrs, along w/ improvements in school climate and student outcomes.

@RedactedDeGen @OnlyCFO cancel on first day just means you don't autorenew and your contract works as normal through the annual term, its absolutely the dominant strategy in vendor negotiations if they won't remove auto renew during negotiations

@Tom_Hirschfeld @OnlyCFO No one forced you to sign. If you make bad decisions that you feel 0 confidence in then sure go ahead

Me to non-critical vendors: “We are going to churn and just do some stuff internally with AI” Sales Rep: Would you stay if we gave you a 50% discount? Me: Hmm…Getting warmer… This is my new vendor renewal playbook…

@OnlyCFO @RedactedDeGen The trick is to cancel renewal on first day of the contract

@RedactedDeGen May such cases as well

@AJManaseer @pa_tall That’s why we make protected lanes like on Milwaukee

@pa_tall This is all argument for not biking on roadways in general. It is inherently unpredictable and dangerous to be on a bike when there are distracted drivers of cars, trucks, and buses all around

One thing I was shocked to learn about prominent bike lane advocacy groups is that they are against helmet mandates. Chicago, unlike most cities, doesn’t even require children to wear helmets. This is despite overwhelming evidence that helmets dramatically save lives and prevent serious injury. Why are they against helmet mandates? Because this lowers ridership. Which lowers funding and political support. Think about that. They are willing to let more people suffer from preventable death or traumatic injuries in order to maintain political influence. This is how you know the bike lane debate is not about public safety.

@typesfast @Seanfrank Cat/heli is the easiest way to turn dollars into smiles

@Seanfrank Cat skiing For ~$1500 you can ski fresh snow that no other people have laid their tracks on while avoiding all the lift lines and parking chaos of ski resorts.

Ways to use money to make your life easier: here is a list of things you can pay for to make your life A LITTLE more convenient (with prices) Laundry service- Fluff and fold. someone will come pick up your laundry, do it, and bring it back folded. Roughly $150 a week Meal service- Skip door dash and uber eats. Meal plan delivery. 10-12 meals, set to your macros. about $10 a meal, so $150-$180 all in At home haircut- hate waiting and scheduling? local barbers will come to you, cut your hair outside for $100 + tip. Weekly house cleaners- dont do bi weekly. who are you fooling? $200 bucks every week. Tesla- Car drives itself. I didnt realize how much anger I had in traffic. now I just chill and look outside. $500 bucks a month Quest blood tests- I dont want to die. Doctors do not care about a healthy 30 year old. Every quarter, I get a blood test. $300 a pop. MRI- Same as above. $2000 once a year to guarantee you dont have a brain tumor. Wholefoods delivery- Included in amazon prime. save yourself the trip to the grocery store and there is NO MARK UP (unlike instacart) Layflat airplane seats- Most domestic first class is trash. but if you have to fly cross country or intl, lay flat only. $2,500 minimum now, more like $4,000 Youtube premium- A no brainer for under $20 a month. No ads and more money in your fav creators pocket Mobile car wash- prob not really worth it. but for $200 bucks someone will come to your house and detail your car. --- all this stuff is extra. none of it will make you happier. but if you NEED more time and have extra money, good starting list

@JDKromkowski @dilanesper @mattyglesias How are examples from 150 years ago relevant here?

@Tom_Hirschfeld @dilanesper @mattyglesias How long did it take Chicago, Baltimore and SF to regroup after their fires and earthquakes?

I know this is in jest, but I really wish people not from LA shouldn't tell people in LA how to live. It's one of the worst urbanist tics. Let us have our own way of life and our own geography and if Matt thinks it is so terrible, he can just never visit here and we'll be happy.

@dilanesper @mattyglesias 2 huge neighborhoods were destroyed in fires 2 years ago and they’re both still nearly entirely empty lots This alone is worth state preemption

@mattyglesias We've been here since 1781 (before America even got here) and become one of the most successful and wealthiest places in the world, so I'd say we do just fine. :)

@atlanticesque losing sec 2 of the VRA could benefit dems if they have they have it in them to dump the 80 year olds in these districts

Even with retaliatory gerrymanders like Virginia’s, the gerrymandering wars will probably end up as a GOP victory on balance, with SCOTUS poised to gut section 2 of the VRA. But losing competitive seats is sad, and—at least in the short- and medium-term—quite grim for America.

@tobyhardtospell hes an omnicauser, not a fighter actual housing production change requires that someone in the tent get knifed. Unions, sierra club type anti growth groups, "affordable housing only" partisans. "We're going to make everyone happy AND build housing" is not a real position

I'm not supporting Becerra (at least now), but I feel like housing advocates are dooming too hard on him? His platform is reasonable, which I think also reflects how far we have moved the ball forward on this. xavierbecerra2026.com/priorities/hou…

@atlanticesque wealth transfer from funeral homes to strip clubs

Very rough policy idea: Taxing urban businesses in proportion to hours they’re closed. (Alternatively, tax breaks for those with longer opening hours.) Businesses opened and staffed long hours—especially 24/7—are a useful and valuable urban amenity. They should be incentivized.

@BarneyFlames the "waste" is a very very nice public school and clean + well maintained public areas maybe they could do it with less but basically everywhere else in the US does less with much more

willing to bet anyone who says shit like this has never looked into what the money is spent on, and will be shocked when the waste is revealed.

@theojaffee Income effect def contributes

I rabbitholed and found another source (vizhub.healthdata.org/subnational/usa) with more recent data (2019, not 2014). There are actually a surprising number of US counties with life expectancies above 85: Summit, CO (Breckenridge, Keystone): 92.25 Pitkin, CO (Aspen): 91.95 Eagle, CO (Vail, Beaver Creek): 89.04 San Miguel, CO (Telluride): 86.84 Teton, WY (Jackson, Grand Teton, Yellowstone): 85.64 Mono, CA (Mammoth Mountain): 85.49 Arlington, VA: 85.35 New York, NY (Manhattan): 85.3 Collier, FL (Naples, Marco Island): 85.3 Presidio, TX (Marfa, Big Bend Ranch): 85.25 Fairfax County, VA (Centreville, Reston, McLean): 85.18 Fairfax City, VA: 85.18 Marin, CA (San Rafael, Novato, Mill Valley): 85.15

TIL that Colorado ski counties have among the highest life expectancies of anywhere in the world, beating out places in Spain and Japan. Summit County, CO (home to Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, and Arapahoe Basin) has the very highest!

@conorsen Covid SV was way way way ahead on COVID

What’s the best US macro call that Silicon Valley elites have made over the past 10-15 years? Employment, inflation, housing, GDP growth, take your pick.