The link that has been the most popular so far is Matt Taibbi's interview, followed by morels and then Berenson's piece on climate-change virtue signalling.
The Leo Leopold interview by @Matt Taibbi was fascinating. Seems that with respect to his book addressing the populism issues, Leopold cut his teeth on the layoffs of union workers at Oberlin during COVID. Here's some added background of the story... Oberlin had been sued for libel by a Gibsons Bakery that the institution and its students smeared as racist for not allowing student shoplifting to occur. That suit went from 2017 to 2022 as it wound its way through the courts. Oberlin might have been casting about for $36 million in savings to cover their loss in the suit as appeals courts refused to save them from themselves. Very possibly union food service workers bore the cost of Oberlin's expectation that Gibsons Bakery should have been more tolerant of shoplifting, as well as their subsequent and persistent efforts to put that family bakery out of business.
Similarly the costs of insane corporate administrative policies are being borne by the more productive workers. In addition to entertainment and related industries we see it in in manufacturing, transportation, distribution and healthcare, as the effort to fund top heavy administration and save money at the production end leads to punishment of laid off workers, misery for the remaining workers, and overall unsafe conditions.
Yeah, I had read about Gibson's in a Free Press article about it, and a number of people commented on Taibbi's interview because that wasn't fully explained. It's an insane story.
Related note: It seems like there's a concerted effort underway to rid America of small businesses, which are still the country's largest employer. For how much longer, I wonder.
That Gibsons story was absolutely incredible. Lit me up when I first heard it.
The whole country is being taken apart, with anyone who doesn't want to rely on government for everything being targeted first. The interesting exception is that the fanciest, most well funded universities are now being wrecked ahead of all the community colleges and trade schools. Various members of the 'upper class' seem to be peeing in their own gardens. What's up with that???
If any of these stories moved you to subscribe to the Substacks above, I'd love to hear which one and why!
The link that has been the most popular so far is Matt Taibbi's interview, followed by morels and then Berenson's piece on climate-change virtue signalling.
Quite a dig of articles shared here!!
The Leo Leopold interview by @Matt Taibbi was fascinating. Seems that with respect to his book addressing the populism issues, Leopold cut his teeth on the layoffs of union workers at Oberlin during COVID. Here's some added background of the story... Oberlin had been sued for libel by a Gibsons Bakery that the institution and its students smeared as racist for not allowing student shoplifting to occur. That suit went from 2017 to 2022 as it wound its way through the courts. Oberlin might have been casting about for $36 million in savings to cover their loss in the suit as appeals courts refused to save them from themselves. Very possibly union food service workers bore the cost of Oberlin's expectation that Gibsons Bakery should have been more tolerant of shoplifting, as well as their subsequent and persistent efforts to put that family bakery out of business.
Similarly the costs of insane corporate administrative policies are being borne by the more productive workers. In addition to entertainment and related industries we see it in in manufacturing, transportation, distribution and healthcare, as the effort to fund top heavy administration and save money at the production end leads to punishment of laid off workers, misery for the remaining workers, and overall unsafe conditions.
Yeah, I had read about Gibson's in a Free Press article about it, and a number of people commented on Taibbi's interview because that wasn't fully explained. It's an insane story.
Related note: It seems like there's a concerted effort underway to rid America of small businesses, which are still the country's largest employer. For how much longer, I wonder.
Thanks for your comment, as always!
That Gibsons story was absolutely incredible. Lit me up when I first heard it.
The whole country is being taken apart, with anyone who doesn't want to rely on government for everything being targeted first. The interesting exception is that the fanciest, most well funded universities are now being wrecked ahead of all the community colleges and trade schools. Various members of the 'upper class' seem to be peeing in their own gardens. What's up with that???
It is curious... I vacillate between a fear of Evil Genius and Evil Stupid, but I usually land on Evil Stupid.
We read a lot of the same people :)
That does seem to be the case!
You’re welcome. Agreed: That passage did it for me as well.