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Ben Keys

@benkeys.bsky.social
3.5K followers 582 following 85 posts

I’m not a player I just lurk a lot. Economist and Professor of Real Estate and Finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School

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Reposted by Ben Keys
Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 19h
Sen. John Kennedy made an ass of himself at the Jack Smith hearing. He asked Smith if he believed in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. He asked Smith about the disappearance of union boss Jimmy Hoffa in 1975. Smith remained polite while this asshat performed his reprehensible routine.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.
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Bradford Pearson @bradfordpearson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
phewww Trump at -29 in Pennsylvania, down from -19 just a month ago
inquirer.com
Pa. voters are more critical of Trump’s handling of the economy than they were a month ago
Most of Pennsylvania's likely voters disapprove of President Donald Trump's handling of gas prices. Will Republicans have to answer for that — and more — at the ballot box this fall?
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 22/09/2026
IT IS TIME. buff.ly/pykYN6f
buff.ly
It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers
For the seventeenth year: Welcome to autumn, fuckheads.
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David Wessel @davidmwessel.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
What if all reporters refused to show up for any Trump White House briefings and networks (including Fox) declined to air them to show solidarity with CNN, Politico, and MSNOW?
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
What? A sudden 30% decline in national housing prices would be a sign we're in like a serious depression. After the housing bubble burst in 2006/2007, national house prices fell "only" 27% peak to trough fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CSUSH...
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The Rude Pundit @rudepundit.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I feel like we are so used to living in a time of madness that we can't grasp just how insane the Kennedy Center dispute is. Trump took something that was running just fine and destroyed it because he couldn't put his name next to the murdered president whose memorial it is. That's completely nuts.
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Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Why I don't think "get a better risk map" solves climate issues in housing markets. We can't even figure out non insane ways to deal with houses that are literally currently falling into the sea.
npr.org
People's houses are collapsing into the ocean. FEMA gives them no other option
Waterfront homes are collapsing along the coast. Homeowners generally have plenty of warning before their house buckles. So why aren't most houses removed, or at least emptied, before they fall?
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Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
A few weekends ago I went to Miami and attended 9 open houses in extremely high-risk flood areas to see what agents are telling prospective buyers about them. Here is my journey
heated.world
The open houses at the edge of disaster
What are buyers being told about climate risk in Miami? I posed as one to find out.
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Dr. Jeff Masters @drjeffmasters.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
100 years ago: “The 1926 hurricane has become a benchmark in South Florida history, a dividing point in time, much like B.C. and A.D. It has achieved a mystique of almost biblical proportions — akin to Noah’s flood or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.” — Miami historian Arva Moore Parks.
yaleclimateconnections.org
A look back at the devastating Great Miami Hurricane, 100 years later » Yale Climate Connections
'Late that night, in absolute darkness, it hit, with the far shrieking screams, the queer rumbling of a vast and irresistible freight train,' Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote of the storm.
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Moira Birss @moira.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Listening to this with my insurance nerd hat on, and I gotta say: everybody living on the US west coast should consider getting flood insurance, given the El Niño-related flooding that’s likely coming. Flooding isn’t covered by standard insurance policies but most folks don’t know that!
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Climate.us @climate.us · 17/09/2026
Summer 2026 was the warmest on record for the contiguous U.S., according to NOAA, surpassing previous records set in 1936 and 2021. August also set a new temperature record, while drought expanded across much of the country. Visit Climate.us for more climate news, data, and trends.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In a normal, functioning democracy, this would end his presidency tonight.
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The Onion @theonion.com · 16/09/2026
Trump Says Recession Unfortunate But Necessary Step To Get To Depression theonion.com/trump-says-recession-u…
Trump Says Recession Unfortunate But Necessary Step To Get To Depression
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Mark Gongloff @markgongloff.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It’s actually an accomplishment to get this many things this fundamentally wrong in just one profoundly stupid paragraph
A Truth Social post from you know who:

Interest Rates in the United States should be 1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World — BY FAR. Our Country is BOOMING with new Investment! If we stopped Trading with every country that we have a Deficit with, which is most of them, we would make, at least, 1.5 Trillion Dollars a year. The word “Deficit” is nothing more than a fancy word for LOSS. We are “carrying” almost every country in the World, and that cannot go on any longer. LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST! President DONALD J. TRUMP
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 15/09/2026
The Kennedy Center was a beloved Washington institution, enjoyed by millions of people. It has been destroyed for no real reason. Just vanity, carelessness, indifference. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
Trump’s Kennedy Center Shakedown
The only appropriate response is to refuse to accede to his demands.
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Here's why you can blame the government for your high interest rates. They're running deficits at war and recession levels, even with unemployment low. All that government borrowing puts upward pressure on interest rates, making loans more expensive for the rest of us. youtu.be/DLsWHniyg0Q
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Something weirdly not noted in a lot of the coverage of the extortionate threats to murder the Kennedy Center unless it’s reimagined as a shrine to Trump: There was no dire fiscal crisis until Trump’s goombahs started mucking with it. Its finances were fine. projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/o...
projects.propublica.org
John F Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica
Since 2013, the IRS has released data culled from millions of nonprofit tax filings. Use this database to find organizations and see details like their executive compensation, revenue and expenses, as...
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NPR @npr.org · 15/09/2026
Some real estate agents and researchers say home buyers and sellers should not pay this out-of-pocket fee. n.pr/4rc0nbX
n.pr
Get ready for yet another cost when buying a home: Junk fees
Some real estate agents and researchers say home buyers and sellers should not pay this out-of-pocket fee.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 15/09/2026
Ossoff: "We are witnessing people drunk with power who are utterly reckless, utterly corrupt, and obviously believe that they live with impunity. They believe they're untouchable. They believe they're invincible. Let's prove them wrong."
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Mark Gongloff @markgongloff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The insurance industry is increasingly pushing homeowners into expensive, risky policies with light coverage and lighter regulation. Our $3 trillion climate-insurance hole just gets deeper Gift link to my @opinion.bloomberg.com column: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
We’re in a $3 Trillion Insurance Hole and Just Keep Digging
The first law of holes states that if you find yourself in one, stop digging. The US is in a $3 trillion home-insurance hole, but instead of putting down its shovels, it’s handing out shiny new ones t...
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 13/09/2026
Ossoff: "Then there's the ex-staffer posting swastikas and Klan regalia. And the neo-Nazi with a million followers who produces neo-Nazi propaganda at Collins's house ... a man who won't take responsibility for what happens under his own roof can't be trusted with our national affairs."
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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/09/2026
The US President's new proposal to tax international students has been approved by the White House for release this week. It's an unprecedented $100,000 tax on int'l grads who stay to work after graduation on Optional Practical Training (most grads do), a crucial bridge to remaining by any channel.
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
JUST IN: A federal judge concludes that DHS leaders arbitrarily decided to cut FEMA staff by 50% even though it damaged the agency's ability to fulfill its mission — and leaders hid their comms about it on auto-delete Signal chains. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
you can be arrested if you give water to people waiting on line to vote
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All In with Chris Hayes @allinwithchris.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
“He thinks voters are stupid. Republicans control the House. They control the Senate. They control the White House. If they wanted to spend a trillion dollars right now cutting checks, they could do it,” says Chris Hayes on Trump’s desperate and implausible $5,000 bribe to voters.
youtube.com
‘REEKS of desperation’: Trump’s $5,000 midterm ‘bribe’ gets exposed
YouTube video by MS NOW
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Robin Brooks @robin-j-brooks.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Today is a bad day for global bond markets. The problem with trying to artificially cap long-term yields - as with Treasury buybacks - is that yields jump if markets think buybacks are too small. This tells you underlying upward pressure is intense... robinjbrooks.substack.com/p/global-bon...
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
There have been so many impeachable offenses, but lying about how you were a hero on a day that 2,753 people died in NYC in the 9/11 disaster—when you were on the other side of town, safely calling local media to brag about how you now had the tallest downtown building—is such a despicable one
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Chris Kluwe @chriswarcraft.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Yeah for sure, the same guy who hid in a catering cart and left the rest of his cabinet to be missile bait was *totally* at Ground Zero
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Any news outlet that spent even one segment or one article on "Joe Biden is old" in 2024 should be going wall-to-wall with stories about the dementia-ravaged 80-year-old who keeps posting AI garbage and telling insanely obvious lies about himself. And yet
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Defector @defector.com · 05/09/2026
It should not be up to natural history museums to monetize their collections in order to justify their existence. defector.com/how-the-u-s-...
defector.com
How The U.S.'s Oldest Natural History Museum Might Meet Its End | Defector
In 1858, William Parker Foulke, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences—a group of naturalists committed to public education and outreach—was on vacation in the quiet Quaker community of…
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Jared Dubin @jadubin5.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
What Pablo Torre did was ridiculously impressive. Uncovered a conspiracy between rich guys, withstood a propaganda campaign by one of the richest guys in the world with a pretty good reputation, didn't buckle or panic, and just kept reporting. That's some Pulitzerin' right there.
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The Trump administration looks to give a swath of Yosemite Park to a developer. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Looks to Give a Swath of Yosemite Park to Developer
The proposed land swap would allow easy access to the crown jewel of the national park system. Democrats and former Park Service officials are incensed.
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Ken Tremendous @kentremendous.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
It actually and obviously has never been harder. This is the exact opposite of the truth. The grift has reached its terminus point.
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Mira Rojanasakul @rjnskl.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Come work with my team on the very best beat: the Economics of Climate Change!!! Excited to make many beautiful charts with whoever gets this gig :) job-boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorkti...
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The kids these days will hardly believe this, but a mere decade ago, we had a presidential election in which effectively the only issue on the table was the security of communications at the highest level of government.
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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
You can’t talk about debt without talking about how we got into a bad predicament, and there’s only one correct answer: tax cuts enacted this century
U.S. debt is on track to reach historic levels
Debt held by the public as a percentage of the gross domestic product, 1792-2055
- Historical - • Projected → Without Bush and Trump tax cuts
187.55%
180%
160
140
120|
100
80
99.38%
60
• 47.85%
40
20
0
1800|
1820 1840 1860|
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1900 1920 1940|
1960|
1980 2000 2020 2040|
Hover or click to see values.
• Notes:
Source: Authors' calculations using data from the Congressional Budget Office, the Joint Committee on Taxation, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve, the Yale Budget Lab, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. A full list of sources is available here.
Chart: Center for American Progress
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Steve Rattner @steverattner.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Trump predicted we'd make trillions off tariffs. Now we're losing billions as companies claim refunds for tariffs SCOTUS ruled illegal. American consumers, on the other hand, won't get any refunds for the higher prices they've paid for months. My @nytopinion.nytimes.com Chart:
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Steve Rattner @steverattner.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Bringing manufacturing jobs home was a core campaign promise for President Trump. Yet the data shows little progress toward that goal. Factory jobs peaked under Biden and have declined by over 60,00 since Trump's inauguration. Read more in my op-ed for @nytopinion.nytimes.com: nyti.ms/4xOJVR6
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The fundraising texts you delete are working on someone. It’s infuriating and heartbreaking. An 85yo in Ohio gave more than double the value of his home. A 91yo in an Indianapolis senior facility gave 25K times. The DCCC/DSCC don’t just tolerate the spammers who exploit seniors. They take part.
data4democracy.substack.com
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The midterms will be brutal for the GOP, and deservedly so. Democrats retaking the House is likely now and the Senate is even a possibility. The key issue for Democrats now is setting up expectations for aggressive oversight and reform when they retake Congress. Set the bar now and claim a mandate.
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Steve Bowen @stevebowen.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Damage assessments continue in Hawaii following the passage of Hurricane Lala. Much of the damage on Hawaii (island) is flood-related. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) take-up rate on the island is less than 5%, which sadly means that a large portion of incurred damage will be uninsured.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Elon Musk: SpaceX Will Launch People to Mars in 2024Elon Musk: Giant Rocket Could Take Us to Marks in Just 7 Years - and London in 29 MinutesCan Elon Musk Really Get Us to Mars Within 10 Years?Elon Musk Is Not a Lunatic
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This New York Times article, which ran a week before Christmas last year, didn’t get the attention it deserved. It detailed Trump and Epstein's predatory behavior toward women – “a game of ego and dominance” in which “female bodies were currency.” Here’s a gift link and a thread. 1/6🧵
nytimes.com
‘Don’s Best Friend’: How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women (Gift Article)
The president has tried to minimize their friendship, but documents and interviews reveal an intense and complicated relationship. Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were cur...
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Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
by way of idle wishful thinking - would be great if NYT hired a science writer/thinker for the op-ed page to tell us what’s happening and what’s at stake in the sciences, at a time when they are under attack in a way Galileo would recognize, while newspaper science journalism is facing extinction
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The Onion @theonion.com · 28/07/2026
Ken Burns Wants You To Watch America: Birth Of A Nation Watch now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cTi_vTwwmU…
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Trump admin has quietly drafted new rules governing the census expected to recategorize millions of immigrants (both unauthorized and legal) as not actually living here in the United States This would allow the GOP to steal congressional seats & redirect hundreds of billions of federal dollars
thebulwark.com
Inside Trump’s Stealth Trick to Rig the Census—and Congress
The administration’s latest power grab is disguised as boring technical guidance.
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The Hamilton Project @hamiltonproject.org · 20/07/2026
The cost of reinsurance for U.S. catastrophes such as wildfires is high and volatile, both of which are being amplified by climate change. Benjamin Collier, @benkeys.bsky.social, and Philip Mulder discuss how a federal reinsurance entity could lower costs and restore stability:
hamiltonproject.org
A proposal for a US federal property reinsurer - The Hamilton Project
This proposal outlines a federal reinsurance entity, US Re, to address rising premiums and volatility in the U.S. homeowners insurance market.
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Greg Shill @gregshill.com · 17/07/2026
Just as transit policy (still) needs to adjust to pre-pandemic commute patterns not coming back, housing policy should incorporate the fact that many older adults are not downsizing. Compared with transit, the solution here is straightforward: build more. www.wsj.com/economy/hous...
wsj.com
Boomers Were Supposed to Downsize. They Are Buying Bigger Homes Instead.
Wealthy, older Americans are ripping up the traditional script for aging: “We’ll downsize when they plant me 6 feet into the ground.”
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