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Jamie Merchant

@jamiemerchant.bsky.social
2.4K followers 597 following 342 posts

Rock over London, rock on Chicago WRITING check out my book: reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/endgame MUSIC youtube channel: youtube.com/@pathtopraxis?si=rzkAYW… bandcamp page (originals): jamiemerchant.bandcamp.com

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Reposted by Jamie Merchant
Jon Bois @jonbois.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
all the guys who made harambe jokes 10 years ago later experienced complete emotional breakdowns, became born-again evangelicals, and are now enthusiastic fans of the liberty biberty commercials
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
lol failcountry www.wsj.com/business/ame...
wsj.com
The ‘Colossal Headache’ of Building a Made-in-America Monopoly Game
Cracked trays, high costs and a dice dilemma bogged down a quest to produce a version of the classic game in the U.S.
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Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 25/09/2026
The three-page letter written by Sheri Mecklenburg, obtained Friday by the Tribune, accused Boutros’ office of placing her on leave and keeping her in the dark about its responses to the growing controversy, including an announcement that it was investigating all of her previous actions.
chicagotribune.com
‘Broadview Six’ prosecutor pens fiery resignation letter saying US attorney pushed for felony charges
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brad is wearing the cursed amulet @bradicality.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
oh no OH GOD
A nonplussed Pope Leo being presented a kind of wet green orb on a round tray but now the green orb has been replaced by The planet Hillary orb from the New York Times article that was weird
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
www.wsj.com/business/ene...
wsj.com
Oil Executives Say the Great Fuel Crisis Is Here
Trump officials say the oil-market disruption is temporary, but Chevron’s Mike Wirth and others warn global supplies are running low, with no respite in sight.
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
in a similar manner, i have agreed to stop my habit of snorting crushed Faberge eggs for reasons that have nothing to do with my looming bankruptcy
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Keifer @dannyvegito.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
[guy who can’t fully remember that Gramsci quote] it’s Monster Time
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
www.reuters.com/business/us-... "..outlays on factory projects dropped 0.8% in July and 21.7% on a year-over-year basis as the boost ​from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act fades....Investment in nonresidential structures contracted in the second quarter, logging its 10th straight ⁠quarterly decline."
reuters.com
US construction spending drops to nearly three-year low in July
U.S. construction spending unexpectedly fell in July, hitting the lowest level in nearly three years as higher mortgage rates weighed on single-family ​homebuilding.
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ILC Chicago @ilcofchi.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
It was amazing to see so many of you at the kick-off event of our first Independent Labor Club convention! Your solidarity and pizza purchases helped members from across the country gather to hammer out the vision, goals, and organizing practices of the ILC (more on that to come soon!) ❤️
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Economic thought @economicthought.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
New book: Inverted World: Fetish and Mystification in Marx’s Critique of Political Economy, by Clara Ramas San Miguel amzn.to/4sDR43S
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
simply can't stress enough how cooked these assholes are www.ft.com/content/e6f5... "Bond markets were in 'a doom loop...The conflict isn’t going away, yields have to price in more uncertainty, but governments still have a lot more borrowing to do . . . you aren’t getting any respite,” he added.'
ft.com
Global bond sell-off deepens amid inflation fears
UK borrowing costs rise to highest level since 2008 and Japanese yields hit peaks not seen since 1990s
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I'm sorry what
The visit by Taliban officials to the slutz cheese making plant in central Belarus
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
pretty funny youtu.be/LFnu0iYwDFc?...
youtu.be
How Meta's plan to restructure teams with AI imploded
YouTube video by Reuters
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 27/08/2026
NEW: Meltdowns, threats & FOP influence have marred the fight for civilian police accountability in Chicago. Some police district councilors question the future of the body they serve on as they battle CPD interests to get things done. The fault lines run deep. From @zoetakaki.bsky.social:
unraveledpress.com
Civilian oversight blues: inside Chicago’s ongoing police accountability meltdown
Chicago has a new community police oversight body that emerged in response to the historic 2020 protests. According to those elected to serve, however, it’s already full of cops.
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Robocop (1987) @robocop1987.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
What is this shit?
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
doom loop www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
bloomberg.com
US Debt Tops Historic $40 Trillion Mark
Get caught up.
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
They're so screwed lol www.marketwatch.com/livecoverage...
marketwatch.com
Dollar slides as Treasury increases bond buybacks
The broad-based ICE U.S. Dollar Index slid more than 80 basis points to 98.85 Wednesday, after currency markets were unsettled by developments in the U.S. bond market. [Typically, the DXY index moves ...
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
weeeeeee "The yield on the U.S. 30-year Treasury, known as the long bond, which is particularly sensitive to rising inflation, is up nearly 2 basis points to 5.234%, its highest level since June 2007." www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-30...
marketwatch.com
U.S. 30-year Treasury yield hits highest level since 2007 amid global bond selloff
Concerns about inflation and more debt supply is hitting the fixed income sector.
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
it's pretty cool that we just saw the largest shift in U.S. defense posture in decades declared via spiteful post.
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Van Jackson @vanjackson.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
As political repression worsens in the US, we’re all going to really rue the oligarchic fact that none of us owns any of these platforms where we share our knowledge and coordinate our voices
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Pavlos Roufos @proufos.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Incredible essay on Sudan in two parts at Equador magazine. www.equator.org/articles/kha...
equator.org
Khartoum After the Storm • EQUATOR
How Sudan’s revolutionary generation was dragged into total war
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FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
*TREASURY 30-YEAR BOND AUCTION DRAWS HIGHEST YIELD SINCE 2001
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dr. rich traditions, JD @helldude.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
world realizing in real time the american war machine is this unable to protect not only its allies but its own stuff like bases, has any idiot ever gambled so much and lost it for essentially no possible upside? at least he became an important historical figure in the end i guess
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
“But what kind of future are we really hurtling towards?…Musk and his brethren seem more like escapees from this universe than the Asimovian super-geniuses they imagine themselves to be. It is Dick’s far weirder sensibilities that offer the better guide to Silicon Valley today.” 💯💯💯
giftarticle.ft.com
Does Silicon Valley dream of Philip K Dick?
His 1960s science-fiction visions are a guide to our age of erratic billionaires, wild space fantasies and glitchy, invasive technology
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Ahhh, Oregon
yahoo.com
Salem Brought a Guillotine To Oppose New Data Center. Company Reps Left, Feeling “Unsafe”.
Salem's city council voted unanimously to pursue a data center moratorium after residents - and a guillotine - pushed back on a $5.1 billion AI facility.
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
we love stagflation don't we folks www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...
wsj.com
U.S. Lost 23,000 Jobs in July, While Unemployment Ticked Lower
Jobs and unemployment sent conflicting signals, but fewer people were actively looking for work. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%.
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Van Jackson @vanjackson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
“We’re living through an era in which three things are happening at once: Imperialist geopolitical practices are proliferating, the working class is becoming a lumpenproletariat, and the nation-state is losing legitimacy and coherence.” www.un-diplomatic.com/p/the-nation...
un-diplomatic.com
The Nation Needs You To Die
Why the expansion of surplus labor necessitates the renaissance of empire and the end of the nation-state.
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Chris S @chrissherman01.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Plus, I’m singing Last Caress
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Genki @djgenki.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Much of everything you see online in 2026 is engineered clickbait designed to sap your attention and rile your emotions until you live in a world of despair and confrontation. Most of the comments aren’t even real. Turn off the timeline and go pet your cat.
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
this is gonna be a sick event, come thru if you’re in or around Chi!
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ILC Chicago @ilcofchi.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Chicago is excited to be hosting the first national convention of the Independent Labor Club this August! That means we have less on the public calendar than some previous months, but there are still plenty of opportunities to make new friends, learn new things, and get involved! luma.com/ChicagoILC
August events flyer. Features four event descriptions with thumbnail images:
READING GROUP MEETING (thumbnail of gerd arntz illustration of people reading newspapers)
Sunday, August 2nd, 2pm
Revolution Taproom
Beach day (thumbnail of a beach overlooking the Chicago skyline)
August 16th, 2pm
Loyola Beach
This wreckage live show & ILC BENEFIT CONCERT (thumbnail of show poster with a raccoon and a black bird over a fiery background)
Friday, AUGUST 21st, 5:30pm
Elastic Arts
Can an electoral strategy succeed without working class power? What is
the alternative in this time of crisis? Join us for this urgent discussion
followed by a concert / party!
AUGUST MEMBER MEETING (thumbnail of ILC Chicago logo)
Sunday, August 30th, 2pm
Mouse Arts and Letters Club

BUILDING THE FOUNDATION OF WORKING CLASS INDEPENDENCE
THROUGH FRIENDSHIP, EDUCATION, MUTUAL AID, AND SOLIDARITY
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i was shouting BOO!-urns @supermathskid.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
That tweet about "this how the photos be lookin in headlines when a white man kills his entire family" and it's a photo of a white guy speed boating with his white wife and white daughter
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
damn it's almost like the people who were saying you can't just rewind capitalism 5-6 years ago were exactly right www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Almost $1 Billion Later, the US Still Can’t Make a Medical Glove
The failure of a program to produce 100% American nitrile gloves shows the difficulty of reviving US manufacturing
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
bloomberg has a fun article today arguing that the Cybertruck is the biggest flop in automotive history. it includes this glorious graph.
A graph showing how the edsel and Cybertruck both performed based on their sales target and actual year one and year two sales. The edsel was expected to sell 200k units in its first year. It sold slightly over 50k, and less than 50k the next year

The Cybertruck had a sales.target of 250k in its first year. They sold around 40k, the next year they sold about half as many.
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Van Jackson @vanjackson.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I don’t understand how so many motherfuckers are still analyzing foreign policy as if nothing much has changed except for US “reliability.” You stupid assholes—any government that produces official conspiracy theories based on nonsense and then directs repressive power accordingly is fucked 🚨🚨🚨
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Heatwave Magazine @htwvmag.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
"How to be Normal About Exercise," offers a way through the awkward swoletariat jokes by clarifying the relationships of physical activity and exercise, to capitalist social relations. Read it now on our website ahead of Issue 3 heatwavemag.info/magazine/iss...
heatwavemag.info
How to Be Normal About Exercise; or, Why Communists Need Exercise Science | Heatwave
There is no inherent link between exercising and fighting for a better world, nor is there one in rejecting it. There is only the reality that physical fitness constitutes one of many material constra...
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ILC Chicago @ilcofchi.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Read this excellent piece on exercise and Left culture and then sign up for our upcoming STRENGTH CLINIC! This will be a super chill, all-skill-levels welcome opportunity to learn some new skills and make some new friends ✨ luma.com/rhauwac2
luma.com
STRENGTH CLINIC · Luma
The Independent Labor Club of Chicago is holding a STRENGTH CLINIC! ‣ Safely learn lifting fundamentals ‣ Develop a solid foundation for growth ‣ All ages &…
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ILC Chicago @ilcofchi.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Yesterday's Resume Review Clinic at CPL's Chicago Works Job Fair went so well! Mutual aid activities like this are an important part of what we're building as the ILC. Check out our other events and ways to get involved here: ilclabor.com/chapters/ilc...
Photo of a large standing poster with Chicago Public Library branding that says "Resume Assistance Provided by Independent Labor Club" alongside a table with three ILC members, two smiling, and one talking to a person across the table about their resume.
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Best “remove glasses to look at something unbelievable” in cinema history.
static.klipy.com
Jurassic Park: Dr. Grant's Surprise
Alt: Jurassic Park: Dr. Grant's Surprise
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Ahh crap. This is a sad one. Brilliant actor, good bloke. 7news.com.au/entertainmen...
7news.com.au
Beloved actor and Jurassic Park star Sam Neill dies aged 78
Neill only recently revealed he was living cancer free with his family saying the loss was ‘sudden and unexpected’.
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
"The AI ​​economic-financial complex has become a tangled, impenetrable thicket...Yet, everywhere one looks, one sees dead ends and unpredictable variables which – however they play out – will have dire consequences for some, if not for everyone." newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
newleftreview.org
Frédéric Lordon, Awaiting the Crash? — Sidecar
On the AI bubbles.
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
vultures circling the corpse giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Investors sell longer-dated AI debt amid Big Tech borrowing spree
Waning demand highlights scepticism over sector’s long-term profitability
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ILC Chicago @ilcofchi.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Join us in Chicago next month for a live podcast recording of This Wreckage, with Sean KB in conversation with Jamie Merchant about WORKING CLASS INDEPENDENCE ahead of another grueling election cycle. Get your tickets here: luma.com/tc972eyv @thiswreckage.bsky.social @jamiemerchant.bsky.social
Image of an upside down raccoon and a screaming redwing blackbird over a backdrop of neon pink flames. Text reads: This Wreckage live podcast and Independent Labor Club benefit concert feat: DJ Bathwater, 20 Eyes, JOE&RUE, Shavon Reznikov. 18+, Tickets $15, BYOB, Pizza. Friday, Aug 21, Elastic Arts, Talking 5:30pm, Music 8:00pm.
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Verso Books @versobooks.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
The hosts of @thiswreckage.bsky.social, A.M. Gittlitz & Sean KB, visited our offices in New York City to make their way through the Verso Archive
versobooks.com
The Verso Archive featuring This Wreckage
The hosts of This Wreckage (A.M. Gittlitz & Sean KB) visit our offices in New York City to make their way through the Verso Archive, sharing memories of the Verso Loft and discussing some of the t...
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Cominsitu @cominsitu.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Can there be a negative dialectic of energy? How does the concept of energy relate to the history of capitalism? And what is nature anyways? Come find out! www.versobooks.com/products/334...
versobooks.com
Working Nature
Daniela Russ argues that the category of ‘energy’ is best understood not in terms of particular material things but as a social relation to nature forged over 200 years of capitalist industrialization...
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 07/07/2026
Today’s free newsletter has a very simple message: The AI industry can not (and will not) be bailed out - AI is not too big to fail, OpenAI is not AIG, this is not 2008, and all of this is nothing like the Dot Com Bubble. And when it fails, we must let AI burn. www.wheresyoured.at/let-ai-burn/
wheresyoured.at
Let AI Burn
If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, in...
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Jamie Merchant @jamiemerchant.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
hardest rt ever
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Jon Bois @jonbois.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
they just had a world cup yesterday. having all these world cups in a row cheapens the experience
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