iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Row 35 here (apps.bea.gov/iTable/?reqi...) gets you the personal savings rate. ALFred has some vintage series, so this shows you current versus last series. But I woudn't read anything into it. The big annual release came out today. Big revisions are common. (alfred.stlouisfed.org/series?seid=...)

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The graph would look identical (tho show different numbers) if I did real per capita. It’s just instead using an index that grows with alcohol inflation and population growth.

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New annual PCE data today! Here's spending on alcohol for consumption at home (as opposed to a bar or something). It's adjusted for both inflation specific to alcohol and population growth. Easy to see the COVID jump.

Line go way way way way up, particularly during covid

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This is tobacco-specific PCE inflation line, which accounts for changes in tobacco taxes.

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New annual PCE data today! Here's spending on movie tickets, adjusted for inflation and population growth. Post-COVID, people just go to the movies way less.

flat from like 1971-2020, and now it's about half of what it was before.

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New PCE data today! Here's total household spending on tobacco in the US, adjusted for inflation and population growth in billions of 2025 dollars.

started going down in 1981. was a bit below 600 billion. now lowest on record, just around 100 billion.

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New annual PCE data are out today! The graph on the left shows total household spending on pets. The graph on the right shows spending on pets as a percent of total household spending (ofc people who have pets spend more than this & people w/out pets spend nothing). Notice the huge COVID bump!

total spending on pets is a bit below $200 bn per year, up from much lower levels in the past

spending on pets as a percent of total spending has grown from 0.2% to 0.9%.

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

lol since posting this, they changed the coding for america.gov to make it refuse to give one-word answers. my tax dollars at work.

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To be clear, I don’t think these make it more illegal, but it neuters some arguments. Going beyond foreign policy destroys an argument they made last year. And impounding to death destroys the argument that you were doing the same with less.

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I would say it's an escalation, despite being less money. It goes beyond foreign policy. They (incorrectly) argue they have special power over foreign policy spending because of the constitution. And then they're impounding some of these to death. Not "just" a 40% cut, but like 99 or 100% sometimes.

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

GAO, the agency tasked under the Impoundment Control Act with adjudicating impoundments, says as explicitly as possible the Donald Trump and Russ Vought’s pocket rescission is illegal. “The President may not force the expiration of budget authority Congress has already enacted and did not rescind.”

politico.com

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Article I stand up for itself challenge 2026 (impossible if you’re in Republican leadership apparently)

Erik Wasson
@elwasson
x.com
POWER OF PURSE: @LeaderJohnThune dodges on whether $1B in cuts implemented by OMB w/
• Congress Friday night is illegal. Says he expects litigation

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It’s like Cassidy voting for RFK Jr. He was crystal clear about what he was gonna do.

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I think something to consider here is that Collins voted to confirm Russ Vought as OMB Director despite the fact that he said a billion times that he thought Trump had a constitutional right to illegally impound funds, and now she’s doing shocked Pikachu reactions.

Sen. Susan Collins • fAl
劉
@SenatorCollins
X.com
Without warning or consultation, Congress just received an $810 million package of pocket rescissions from the Administration. This is the most recent attempt by this Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to undermine Congress's Constitutional power of the purse.
This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law.

Not only is the delay itself an impoundment that was not reported to Congress, but also it is a usurpation of Congress's appropriations powers.
OMB is an agency of the executive branch. It does not get to decide which programs are worth funding.
The independent Government Accountability Office has concluded that pocket rescissions are unlawful and not permitted by the Impoundment Control Act. Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.
I will work with my colleagues to address these illegal actions.

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Okay, I’ve decided the set is really awesome. And yeah, I am incredibly stoked for Star Trek. There are dozens of us who eagerly await its release!

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Building my deck rn! Set looks really cool? I went in blind tho, so I’m figuring it out as I go.

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I cannot believe they did this while I’m at the prerelease for the new Magic set

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For some of the accounts, it’s very clear they’re impounding them to death. Not just illegally cutting the programs, but illegally ending the activity altogether. Suffice it to say, the president is not legally allowed to simply not carry out laws he doesn’t support.

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Russ Vought just sent a rescissions request to Congress, signaling he intends to illegally impound funds. The $810 million highlighted in this “request” (but this is a pretext to just illegally impound the funds) is not the exhaustive list of many billions of dollars he’s impounding this year.

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That’s a difference between someone being culturally important and it being actually great

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is an absolutely insane list lol

Che Net Hork Cimes
The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21* Century
I WANT TO SEE IT
IVE SEEN
口
Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
2. The Wire (2002-2008)
Mad Men (2007-2015)
Succession (2018-2023)
5. Fleabag (2016-2019)
6. Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
7. Veep (2012-2019)
8.
30 Rock (2006-2013)
9. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2024)
10. Atlanta (2016-2022)
11. The Office (U.S.) (2005-2013)
12. Arrested Development (2003-2019)
13. Girls (2012-2017)
14. Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)
15. Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
16. The Office (U.K.) (2001-2003)
17. The Americans (2013-2018)
18. I May Destroy You (2020)
19. Chernobyl (2019)
20. The Crown (2016-2023)
21. The White Lotus (2021-present)
22. Lost (2004-2010)
23. The Comeback (2005-2026)
24. Deadwood (2004-2006)
25. The Leftovers (2014-2017)
26. Black Mirror (2011-present)
27. Better Call Saul (2015-2022)
28. Band of Brothers (2001)
29. Key & Peele (2012-2015)
30. Severance (2022-present)
31. Survivor (2000-present)
32. Andor (2022-2025)
33. Enlightened (2011-2013)
34. Schitt's Creek (2015-2020)
35. True Detective (Season 1) (2014)
36. The Pitt (2025-present)
37. Battlestar Galactica (2005-2009)
38. Homeland (2011-2020)
39. Watchmen (2019)
40. Adolescence (2025)
41. Louie (2010-2015)
42. Hacks (2021-2026)
43. Peaky Blinders (2013-2022)
44. Bolack Horseman (2014-2020)
45. Happy Valley (2014-2023)
46. Broad City (2014-2019)
47. Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)
48. House of Cards (2013-2018)
49. Normal People (2020)
50. Parks and Recreation (2009-2015)
Explore the list at nytimes.com/bestTV
L
口
口
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
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81.
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85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
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91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
The Good Place (2016-2020)
Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
Stranger Things (2016-2025)
The Bureau (2015-2020)
Insecure (2016-2021)
Nathan for You (2013-2017)
I Think You Should Leave (2019-present)
Chappelle's Show (2003-2006)
PEN15 (2019-2021)
Peep Show (2003-201…

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Are you doing the pre-release?

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Scott Perry voted to kicked tens of thousands of his own constituents off Medicaid. Of course his constituents don’t trust him on health care!

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Good!!! $42 trillion of program spending over that period, or $11 trillion of discretionary specifically if you want just that to be the base.

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

There are very few levers the president actually has, but of the few that exist Trump has pulled all the ones that directly harm people. Tariffs, Iran war, Medicaid and SNAP cuts — all things that make it harder for struggling families to get by. Higher prices, higher interest rates, less help.

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Rick Scott says he isn’t smart enough to do his job, and so instead is asking corporations to do the right thing on their own. Amazing stuff here.

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mostly current congressional concept, so take out what we'd consider cap adjustments if we currently had budget caps. and then i netted out chimp savings and also housing receipts, and i also took out money for the decennial census.

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It also has a lot of critical antipoverty efforts, like Section 8 housing assistance, WIC, and some of our child care grants. Critical part of the budget that has been monstrously shortchanged, particularly in the last few years.

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This part of the budget isn't sexy and doesn't have the same constituency as other parts, but it's crucial. It's our public drinking water, our safety inspections, our R&D. I always compare it to movie soundtracks. You tend not to notice it, but if it's really bad then everything breaks.

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Have been incredibly busy these past two months, but finally really turning my attention back to my upcoming appropriations paper. Some of the data are not 100% done yet, but I want to focus on how much domestic discretionary funding has been cut in the last few years. Posted only on Bluesky.

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If Republicans want help suspending the debt limit because they don’t have the votes to do it themselves, Democrats should come in and responsibly help them get rid of it forever.

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It’s time once and for all to defuse the nuclear bomb that Republicans keep threatening to drop on their own country unless they get enough of what they want.

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