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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11h

Another major transit story this year has been the steady rebound in LA Metro rail ridership since the opening of the first D-line extension Though still well below record highs, LA Metro moved 6.6M riders last month, up 12% from this time last year

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11h

Ridership on the Bay Area's Caltrain also continues rising in the wake of the route's electrification, with passenger counts up 31% since this time last year! Caltrain is now moving more people than it did in equivalent months pre-COVID, a massive rarity among US rail systems

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11h

The biggest US transit story of this year has been the massive growth of Seattle Link Light Rail ridership in the wake of the 1 & 2 lines connecting The Link moved more than 5M passengers last month, up 39% from last year, and it's now America's biggest light rail network!

a graph of seattle link light rail ridership

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11h

August US transit data is in today, & all of the largest US rail networks are growing! Cali leads the way, with ridership up 15% on BART, 14% on Muni, & 10% on LA Metro PATH (NY/NJ) & MBTA (Boston) also have strong growth at 8%, while MTS (San Diego, +1.7%) is the slowest🧵

a graph of year-on-year growth in ridership

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 13h

Musk advocating for Quebec separatism then following it up by saying Alberta & Saskatchewan should leave too gives away this is just about dissolving Canada for being lib, but I'm glad he's too dumb to realize it undermines separatists' chances by further associating them with right-wing Americanism

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sort of insane fact about how broken US urban planning is—America now spends more building *just the lights for roads and highways* than on all subways & ground mass transit combined Spending on roadway *pavement* is 18x transit spending

a graph of roadway and mass transit lights

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The US tech sector continues bleeding jobs in official data released today—overall, employment decreased by 17k last month and is down 69k over the last year That's nearly as bad as the worst of the 2024 tech-cession, and much worse than the 2022 boom or even pre-2020 norms

a graph of the year-on-year change in US tech employment

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

NEW US JOBS DATA: Non-farm Payrolls: +29k Unemployment Rate: 4.2% (+0.1%) Prime Age (25-54) Employment-Population Ratio: 80.7% (+0.3%) Average Hourly Earnings: +0.1%

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

American factory construction inched down to the lowest level since 2022 in official data released today as CHIPS Act projects finish and tariffs weigh on nearly all industries Total US factory construction is down 33% from its 2024 highs and 20% over the last year alone

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just last year data center construction was less than office construction, now it's larger than office construction ever has been

a graph comparing data center and office construction

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

US data center construction reached another new record high in official data released today, nearing a pace of $85B/yr (and this only includes data center facilities, not the expensive computers within) Spending is up 73% over the last year and 513% since ChatGPT's launch

a graph of data center construction rising from $10B in 2020 to $85B today

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

39 of the 50 largest metro areas now exceed their pre-COVID job levels Fastest: Austin (24.1%), Raleigh (19.7%), Dallas (13.9%), Nashville (13.2%), SLC (13.1%) Slowest: San Francisco (-3.7%), Portland (-2.5%), Boston (-2.3%), Milwaukee (-2.2%), Cleveland (-1.5%)

a map of the change in nonfarm payrolls since jan 2020 in the 50 largest metro areas by population

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Metro job data is in today, & 38 of the 50 largest metros have gained jobs over the last year Fastest: SLC (2.5%), Raleigh (2.2%), San Jose (1.6%), Charlotte (1.5%), Las Vegas (1.5%) Slowest: DC (-2%), Portland (1.5%), Indianapolis (-1.1%), Richmond (-.8%), Hampton Roads (-.6%)

a graph of change in nonfarm payrolls year on year by metro area

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

All 50 states and DC exceed their pre-COVID GDP, but some have grown more than others over the last 7 years Fastest: Idaho (31.9%), Texas (30.2%), Florida (29.5%), Utah (28.1%), Arizona (26.2%) Slowest: Wyoming (3.8%), DC (4.5%), Hawaii (5.4%), Alaska (6%), Pennsylvania (6.5%)

a graph of real gdp growth since Q3 2019

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

New GDP by State data is out today, and 44 states have seen their economies grow over the last year Fastest: New York (4.6%), Idaho (4.4%), California (3.6%), Florida (3%), Nebraska (2.7%) Slowest: DC (-2.1%), N. Dakota (-.8%), Maryland (-.6%), New Mexico (-.4%), Alaska (-.3%)

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Solar power also continues to skyrocket in Texas, with generation up 47% compared to last year Over the last twelve months, solar has made up 12.6% of Texas' electricity, a record high!

a graph of Texas monthly solar generation

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Solar power made up 11.3% of US electricity this July, up from 9.5% last year Over the last twelve months, solar has made up 9.5% of US electricity, another record high!

a graph of solar's share of US electricity

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Official monthly data is in, and US solar power generation hit a new record high, up 21% compared to this time last year!

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Reposted by Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

NEW from me: Over the last 4 years, America has lost more than 200k jobs in creative fields like publishing, film, TV, or graphic design. It's the worst stretch for arts jobs outside of recessions. How much is AI to blame? And can the arts' business model survive?🧵 www.apricitas.io/p/ai-and-the...

apricitas.io

AI and the Fall? of the Creative Class

America is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in Media, Film & the Arts. How Much is AI to Blame?

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Thanks for making it to the end of the thread! If you want to read more, here’s the full article where I give more detailed data on AI & arts job loss While you’re there, consider subscribing to my newsletter where I write all about econ! www.apricitas.io/p/ai-and-the...

apricitas.io

AI and the Fall? of the Creative Class

America is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in Media, Film & the Arts. How Much is AI to Blame?

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Overall, media has always been a small share of the economy—the effect of AI art will be primarily cultural & social rather than economic Still, current arts displacement is a microcosm of disruption already happening in larger sectors like tech, and maybe coming to more sectors soon

a graph of year-on-year change in US tech employment

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Still, it's extremely difficult to predict how tech will interact with arts businesses Take US novel sales, which had been declining for decades up to 2020. Would anyone have anticipated that short-form video apps like TikTok would reverse this trend and send book sales soaring?

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

But arts businesses in the AI era might end up looking like the unrecoverable devastation of writing businesses in the internet era Social media caused a total collapse of publishers' business models, leading to an 85% drop in news & book employment that shows no sign of abating

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Can the arts business model survive AI? Perhaps the best guide is to look at how the arts survived past tech revolutions Take music—internet piracy and then streaming killed the lucrative CD market, but musicians mostly saved their jobs by focusing much more on live concerts

a graph showing music as a % of consumer spending, with album sales rising through the 90s before crashing in the 2000s and being replaced with concert revenue

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Hollywood has suffered the most in the AI era—with the movie & TV industry losing more than 100k jobs, nearly one-third of the sector’s total employment, over the last four years. Total employment in video production is approaching the fthe lowest levels in 30 years

a graph of US movie & TV production employment

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Perhaps the best evidence for AI-driven arts job loss is that all digital arts industries are losing jobs while most live arts still chug along Sectors like graphic design, streaming, & movie recording have experienced historically unusual job loss since ChatGPT's launch

a graph showing job losses of between 20-5% in all digital arts and gains of 15% in most live arts

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

apricitas.io

AI and the Fall? of the Creative Class

America is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in Media, Film & the Arts. How Much is AI to Blame?

16683219

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

smh the consequences of AI-driven chip shortage are all around us

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm guessing those numbers are some combination of "bi guy who doesn't want to date men at all right now" or "bi guy who thinks other guys who say they're bi are secretly mostly straight and eventually will leave them for a woman." Internalized biphobia is more common than you'd think!

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I actually do love YouGov's modern attitude of "alright lads, time to poll last month's TikTok discourse" Anywho as a bi guy these are among the least surprising numbers ever, if anything I am surprised the willingness-to-date numbers are that high for bi & gay men.

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"humanity has underestimated the consequences of computerization" yeah man you're telling me!

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Finally got to see Ghost in the Shell at a real movie theatre, still the best movie about an AI safety incident ever made Incredibly prescient film about the world we're currently living in, one of those bits of 80s/90s scifi that only gets more relevant with age letterboxd.com/josephpolita...

letterboxd.com

A ★★★★ review of Ghost in the Shell (1995)

The best movie ever made about an AI safety incident. Truly, humanity *has* underestimated the consequences of computerization. An incredibly prescient film about the world we're currently living in. ...

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

“If you don’t rename the Kennedy Center after me I will close it forever” Again living in DC is experiencing the constant humiliation of “what if Robert Moses had the most gaudy taste possible and randomly got obsessed with musical theatre”

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
+
The Board of The Kennedy Center today agreed, almost unanimously, to close the Building for Safety reasons, and so that it can begin the process of Reconstruction. The closing will take place immediately, however, the Renovation and Reconstruction, which is a very large and complex job, cannot begin until such time as the D.C. Circuit rules on the Board's approved name.
If the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place. The attorneys from the DOJ will ask for an expedited appeal. In the meantime, 17 Million Dollars, raised by President Trump, has been put into The Kennedy Center account to keep it afloat. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President
DONALD J. TRUMP
234 ReTruths 767 Likes
9/15/26, 2:54 PM

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The Census Bureau's official quarterly financial data came out this week, and companies in the information technology sector broke another investment record amidst the AI boom Net holdings of property, plant, & equipment are up more than $350B over the last year alone

a graph of information tech sector net investment

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Unspeakably excited to finally have this book in my hands

A book called “is this it: the never ending rise and fall of the strokes (and rock n roll)

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

my pet theory here is that Trump got 9/11 and 1/6 confused. like he couldn’t remember which tragedy happened which date and so posted the Jan 6 message today

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

guy who was present for literally both American tragedies so bad they’re just named after the dates they happened mixing up which date is which

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

72 Hour Special Military Operation to DeIslamize Iran Update: Fuck

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

love that they polled a literal vibecheck lmfao

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"sources close to JD Vance say JD Vance's biggest weakness is that he actually works too hard and cares too much"

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