iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Join me and @micahlasher.bsky.social on Tuesday at 4pm as we discuss the future of local policy and prosperity on his journey to Congress in 30 days open.substack.com/live-stream/...

open.substack.com

LIVE SOON: The Future of Public Policy and Prosperity, with Micah Lasher

Starting Oct 6 at 4:00 PM EDT

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Many budget cuts don't appear as a dramatic collapse. I see the small signs in delayed reports, emails to agencies that bounce, or stories of phone line that stops answering. By the time failure is visible, the savings are booked and the public is paying the price.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Only about one in four eligible households receives federal rental assistance. Unlike programs like SNAP federal housing aid does not automatically go to everyone who qualifies. Instead, strict federal budget limits mean the government only allocates enough money to serve a fraction of those in need

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I keep noticing that zoning debates turn to neighborhood character before anyone names the housing shortage. Limits on apartments protect existing homeowners from change while renters absorb the price of scarcity. Housing policy is often a decision about who gets to say no.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Capital gains are generally taxed when assets are sold, not while they rise in value. I have been thinking about how different that is from a paycheck, where taxes arrive before the money hits a checking account. Timing is policy. Deferral is a benefit for people who can wait.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. That did NOT mean the work ended. Vaccination, surveillance, and quick local response teams were doing their jobs very actively in the background. We don't think about the plumbing of our society until sewage bursts into the street.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I've sat through zoning hearings where a 60-unit proposal can becomes a referendum on parking, shadows, and neighborhood character. The people who need housing rarely have time to sit through 3 hours of testimony. The people who stay the whole time will not surprise you.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Maternal mortality has increased dramatically since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. We look at ectopic pregnancies, which stand nearly no chance of viable life, and how women in no-abortion states are seeing death rates rise. A real avoidable atrocity. americaninequality.substack.com/p/charts-tha...

americaninequality.substack.com

Charts that Explain the World No. 5

Prices soar across the economy, African nations agree to accept US immigrants, shifting midterm forecasts, and rising maternal deaths.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

When a billionaire buys a local newspaper, a hospital chain, or hundreds of homes, I like to see which newspapers call this an 'investment' and which ones talk about the possibility of closed newsrooms, raised rents, and jobs moving away.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

More than 40% of US renters spend over 30% of income on housing, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. Rents can rise overnight, but building homes takes years of approvals. Speed is a housing policy.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Every benefits form asks people with the least spare time to prove the most things. Americans waste 12B hours each year filling out forms, but low-income Americans are spending way more time on these than others. The eligibility rules punish a missed document more reliably than they catch fraud.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Automatic enrollment raised retirement-plan participation from 37% to 86% in a well-known study by Brigitte Madrian and Dennis Shea. The power of 'nudges' is well known and we could be doing far more to increase enrollment in good programs, but we don't always have the appetite.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Congress keeps funding the government through temporary continuing resolutions, sometimes only weeks at a time. That means hiring pauses, contracts get delayed, and agencies spend more time preparing for a shutdown than doing their actual work. Next possible shutdown is 12/11.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Great to see American Inequality highlighted in this post too

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

For the last month, we’ve been running a series called Charts that Explain the World. We’ve seen a tremendous amount of excitement and positive support about these weekly briefings! Let us know what you think americaninequality.substack.com/p/charts-tha...

americaninequality.substack.com

Charts that Explain the World No. 4

Explore our new series. This week, test scores drastic fall, the decline in safety for journalists, and the geography of authoritarian attitudes

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Runaway rental costs get all the headlines, but one of the biggest drivers of housing costs are now insurance premiums and property taxes. Core housing rent inflation rose 30% from 18-24, But insurance premiums rose 71% over that period, climbing more than 2x as fast. My latest:

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. Rent, food, and childcare did not pause for 17 years while Congress argued over whether workers deserved a raise. Policy INACTION is still a policy. It just seems like now we are rewarding those employers who keep pay low.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I'm excited to share that we're launching a new newsletter called Charts that Explain the World! We've become so tapped into the world of data & graphics we wanted to share our best insights about the charts/maps shaping the big conversations of today americaninequality.substack.com/p/charts-tha...

americaninequality.substack.com

Charts that Explain the World No. 1

China's Pressure on Taiwan, America's Deadly Roads, AI’s learning Trade-Off, and What We'd Sacrifice for a Longer Life

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Matthew Desmond has one of the clearest explanations about how homeowners get tax benefits for mortgage, while renters get higher monthly bills and the occasional lecture about skipping avocado toast. Federal housing policy has spent decades rewarding ownership after people can afford to buy.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

It seems like every week another government dataset disappears. I have all these sites I used to visit that are no longer updating or the link stops working. Data suppression isn't always dramatic or well known, but it makes a big difference.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

In 34 states, infant care costs more than in-state public college tuition. Parents are worried about saving for college, but the first 4 years of life (when earnings are often the lowest) are often the most expensive.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

1965: CEO pay is 20x average worker pay 1978: CEO pay is 30x average worker pay 2025: CEO pay is 281x average worker pay From 1978 to 2024, top CEO pay grew 1,094%, while typical worker pay grew just 26%

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The top 10% of Americans own roughly 87% of corporate stock. So when the stock market hits another record, the benefit is heavily concentrated before anyone starts celebrating the economy. The headline and the household experience are often miles apart.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

About 100 million Americans carry medical debt. A hospital bill can damage a credit score, raise the cost of a car loan, and make finding housing harder. Getting sick is still one of the fastest ways to become financially unstable.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

The U.S. Has more than 9 million lead service lines still delivering water to homes. The EPA estimates it would cost $45B to replace all of them. The pipes are concentrated in older and poorer communities. But replacement depends on local capacity and willingness to change, which we don't have.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Parking minimums can add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of building an apartment. Then cities act surprised when developers build luxury units that can absorb the cost. We made cheap housing illegal and called the result a market failure.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A household earning $50,000 makes about $4,167 a month before taxes. The median apartment in the US costs $1,900, or nearly half of that before groceries, childcare, or a car payment. Housing affordability gets abstract fast until you put it on a monthly budget.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

NEW ARTICLE! Extreme heat is overwhelming America's workers. Emergency department visits for extreme heat have increased 38% over the last 8 years and heat is now the deadliest weather event in the nation. americaninequality.substack.com/p/no-right-t...

americaninequality.substack.com

No Right to Shade: How Extreme Heat Falls on America's Workers

As states block cities from basic outdoor safety measures, workers are left to fend for themselves

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Homes today are on average 1,000 square feet larger than in 1973. Space per person has doubled. And yet affordability is the worst it's been in decades. Bigger homes. Fewer of them. Higher prices. Not the trade-off I think we want to make.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The U.S. spends more per student on education than almost any country. But spending varies by $10,000+ per pupil between rich and poor districts. Averages hide the reality of what is happening on the ground.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

The IRS audits poor Americans at higher rates than it audits millionaires. Basically because auditing a $400 refund is easier than auditing a $40 million return. The system rewards complexity and the protections of wealth.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The average home price in San Francisco is $1.2 million. The city has had a Democratic supermajority for 30 years. Housing policy has become less and less of a partisan problem and much more of local NIMBY voter problem.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The 400 wealthiest Americans added $1.3 trillion in wealth last year. Median worker wages rose 3.8%. Inflation ran 4.1%. So workers basically lost ground while the wealthiest were launched ahead.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

If you've ever wondered whether policymakers really listen to polls and if it can move the needle on big economic issues, look no further.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The average Boomer bought their first home at 30. The average Millennial bought theirs at 35. Gen Z is on pace for 38. The distance between the rungs on the ladder are getting longer.

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Reposted by Jeremy Ney

Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Birthdate and name matches are causing US Citizens to get arrested in error by ICE as they board airplanes. This is the same level of rigor they're bringing to claims of fraudulent voting, and is obvious as an error-prone method to anyone who has taken an introductory stats class.

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Reposted by Jeremy Ney

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · 11/08/2026

this is happening shortly. needing out on charts

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The U.S. Hasn't built enough homes in 15 straight years. We're now roughly 4 million units short. Zoning laws and NIMBYism have become an even more powerful force than the market demand for housing.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. In 2000. 26 years later, we're seeing outbreaks in 20 states. This is what defunding public health infrastructure looks like.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Boomers were 60% of Congress in 2013 while making up only 25% of the U.S. Population.Not a single senator today is younger than the average age of the state they represent.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Empty-nest baby boomers own 28% of large U.S. homes (three or more bedrooms), compared to just 14% for millennials with children. And we're building fewer homes per 100,000 than we did in 1975.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

@gelliottmorris.com and I will be discussing prices, polls, perception, and what Americans are getting both right and wrong about the economy. Join us on Tuesday at 4pm ET open.substack.com/live-stream/...

open.substack.com

LIVE SOON: Decoding Public Opinion Polling and the Economy, with G. Elliott Morris

Starting Aug 11 at 4:00 PM EDT

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I need your help! SXSW is going to have me come and speak if I can get enough votes for this topic about inequality and opportunity in America. Let's make it happen together! participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sx...

participate.sxsw.com

PanelPicker | SXSW Conference & Festivals

PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The average home in 1976, when the oldest Boomers were turning 30, cost $42,800. Adjusted for inflation, that's $242,000 today. The average home at the end of 2025 was $405,300.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

School funding tied to local property taxes was always going to produce this result. Richer zip code, better school. Poorer zip code, worse school.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The top 1% now holds more wealth than the entire middle class combined.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Never in the last 25 years has America had more billionaires. But as much as Dems are positioning themselves as champions of the working class, 64% of new billionaires come from states that are fully controlled by Dems. My latest analysis 💸 open.substack.com/pub/american...

open.substack.com

Why Blue States Can’t Stop Minting Billionaires

280,000 emails suggest that Democrats are in a war against billionaires, but 3 in 5 new billionaires come from Democrat-controlled states.

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Jeremy Ney @jeremybney.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Interviewed by the Washington Post this week about the Great Generational Wealth Transfer

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