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Nick Messenger

@nickmessenger.bsky.social
99 followers 88 following 114 posts

PhD | Senior Economist at the Ohio River Valley Institute |Ohio State Agricultural Environmental & Development Economics |Studying regional and energy economics, AI growth, and industrial decarbonization. Views my own.

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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Loudoun County, Virginia is the richest county in the US just outside Washington, D.C. Data center advocates who say small rural towns can replicate its economic success and simultaneously give away special tax breaks to AI companies are dishonest. Here’s why: www.thepublicgood.net/p/dcs-riches...
thepublicgood.net
D.C.’s richest suburb has had a very different data center experience than rural America.
Rural communities don’t want to be “backwards and poor,” as the President said, but they also likely can’t be Loudoun County, Virginia.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Actually, a lazy, “one size fits all” data centers ban is a symptom of our inability to govern effectively on AI, energy, environmental, and antitrust issues. www.thepublicgood.net/p/just-banni...
thepublicgood.net
Just banning data centers is bad, actually.
Nuance is bad politics, but smart policy.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
My new piece distills some of the debate around the Warren-Moreno proposal to maintain social security benefits and lift the payroll tax cap on incomes over $184,500. The probable alternative—automatic 22% cuts—devastates Appalachians in particular. ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/the-warren-m...
ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org
The Warren-Moreno proposal prevents Social Security cuts that could cost elderly Appalachians over $4,000 per year. – Ohio River Valley Institute
Lifting the Social Security payroll tax cap would bring in over $3 trillion and keep the program solvent into the next generation.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I really don’t get the fuss over the reflecting pool and Abearham Lincoln Memorial??
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
The average American is exactly where they were economically at 11:59am on January 20, 2025 when Joe Biden was still the President. The only difference is that now there are more dead American soldiers and dead Iranians.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Last week’s higher-than-expected jobs report was fueled primarily by seasonal hiring in hospitality (summer travel + the U.S. is preparing to host the World Cup…) and local government hiring (seasonal park employees, etc). I’d still be skeptical declaring the economy is “strong”
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Bombing water and other civilian infrastructure in 100 degree heat is how you create the next generation of anti-American extremists, btw www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06...
nytimes.com
Iran War Live Updates: U.S.-Iran Strikes Risk Dangerous New Phase
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
I am often critical of JobsOhio and the corporate welfare model of economic development. But I also try to call balls and strikes & this approach could be a good step in a better direction for JobsOhio. Less smokestack chasing, more investment in our people. www.jobsohio.com/newsroom/new...
jobsohio.com
Gov. DeWine, Lt. Gov. Tressel, JobsOhio Announce $300M Experiential Learning Initiative to Address Talent Gaps and Bolster Career Awareness
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Buckeye Environmental Network @buckeyeenviro.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
“Freepoint’s Hebron plastic incinerator was an environmental health disaster that exemplified the reality of the so-called 'chemical recycling' industry,” BEN organizer Cat Adams said in a news release.
newarkadvocate.com
Freepoint Eco-Systems suspends recycling operations at Hebron plant
Freepoint Eco-Systems informed the Ohio EPA that it suspended recycling operations at its Hebron plant, which had been found noncompliant multiple times.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Despite Trump scaring paper oil prices down with vague “Iran deal” talk, there is a harsh physical reality coming as oil reserves hit bottom this summer. The price of gas has risen ~40% *with* the reserves during war. Each day the Strait of Hormuz remains closed makes the looming energy shock worse
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
If this is true, I’ve never been less proud to be an American. Targeting first responders with a second strike on a bridge is un-American. Becoming terrorists to fight terrorism is disgusting.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Following great work by @ohiocapitaljournal.com and Scioto Analysis, this week at ORVI I deep dive the economic report card after 15 years of JobsOhio. This is important as West Virginia legislators plan to copy the private economic development program. ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org/copying-and-...
ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org
Copying and pasting ‘JobsOhio’ is a bad idea for West Virginia. – Ohio River Valley Institute
JobsOhio, the state's economic development arm, hasn’t delivered a jobs boom. Copying the program won't help West Virginians, either.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
West Virginia legislators are misguided in their latest attempt to copy Ohio by privatizing the state’s economic development. I chronicle JobsOhio’s shortcomings in great detail in this week’s post. open.substack.com/pub/ohiorive...
open.substack.com
Copying and pasting ‘JobsOhio’ is a bad idea for West Virginia.
By Nick Messenger, Economist & Senior Researcher
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Trump really trying to speed run Bush’s second term.
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Jacobin @jacobinmag.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
It’s not enough just to oppose this war on Iran. We should demand major cuts to the US military budget, starting with cutting it in half.
jacobin.com
Cut the Military Budget in Half
It’s not enough just to oppose this war on Iran. We should demand major cuts to the US military budget, starting with cutting it in half.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
This week, I wrote about the mismatch between President Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” supply side rhetoric and the demand side energy realities. What is driving our utility bills higher? substack.com/profile/6007...
substack.com
Ohio River Valley Institute (@ohiorivervalleyinstitute)
How is it that America can be producing more energy than ever before, yet our utility bills continue to rise? And, more importantly, what is the likelihood that the Trump administration will be able t...
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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
On immigration: "I often am asked to speak as an economist. And what we should never lose sight of is that each of us is a moral being. And you, as I, have to decide how we feel about this form of rhetoric."
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
It’s going to be a tumultuous year. www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/b...
cnbc.com
Block shares soar 24% as company slashes workforce by nearly half
Block said Thursday it's laying off more than 4,000 employees, or about half of its headcount.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Truly the best graph on AI that I’ve seen.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
What shouldn’t be missed is that between the bragging and blaming, President Trump offered exactly zero new policy ideas in last night’s State of the Union. No concrete or realistic plans to help address the economic struggles normal Americans are feeling.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
I cross-referenced FracTracker’s US data center dataset with whether their state offers a sales tax exemption for data centers — $100s of millions in chips & cooling equipment. Tech companies chase these tax breaks. Revenue that could support schools, police, roads, & other services for residents.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
A quick summary of Friday’s jobs data, including some white collar AI and manufacturing industry trends I’m tracking. In short, it’s probably the worst year to be graduating with a college degree since 2009. DOGE deferred resignations also showing up publicgood.substack.com/p/jobs-round...
publicgood.substack.com
Jobs Roundup: January 2026
A quick overview of the newest U.S. jobs numbers and industry trends and AI.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
What a dumb op ed of made up facts.The kid “might have” had a gun! (he didn’t) The professor could be “protecting people in the classroom behind him” (it was an elevator). How did he get in the building?! (It’s public) Slop from The Dispatch to waste e-space on this www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...
dispatch.com
‘Clown’ OSU professor tackled is lucky he didn't tangle with guys I know | Opinion
John Fortney: Some of the guys I trained with would’ve made sure the hoodie-wearing cameraman tackled by an Ohio State professor didn’t get up.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Analysis has shown that leftover brine from oil and gas drilling, while cheaper than salt, often has high levels of radium and other heavy metals. Banning it from streets, where it seeps into ground water and local waterways, would protect millions of Ohioans abc6onyourside.com/news/local/o...
abc6onyourside.com
Ohio Democrats push to ban 'radioactive brine' as an ice remover for state roadways
Democratic state lawmakers are pushing to ban the use of oil and gas brine on Ohio roadways, warning that the common winter de-icing practice is "infecting" the
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Legislature: *cuts billions from public schools in their budget* Legislature: “property taxes are too high! Why are you guys cutting so much? The schools are not being responsible!”
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Jim Small @jimsmall.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
This professor, Luke Perez, used to teach at ASU. He was an instructor for the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, the "freedom school" that was launched with Koch money before the #azleg pumped millions into it. Background on that: azcir.org/news/2018/05...
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Looking forward to digging into this new book from chrisbriem.bsky.social about the future (or lack thereof) of steel in Pittsburgh. Seems to dovetail with much of my own work— smokestack chasing & corporate welfare rather than reckoning with deindustrialization head-on has put our region behind.
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Ohio Capital Journal @ohiocapitaljournal.com · 11/02/2026
U.S. job estimates for 2025 were revised down this week by more than a million jobs, to a level of low growth rarely seen outside of recessions. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/02/11/r...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
Jobs report shows a historic stall in hiring last year • Ohio Capital Journal
U.S. job estimates for 2025 were revised down this week by more than a million jobs, to a level of low growth rarely seen outside of recessions.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Ah yes, the Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at Ohio State…where you get violently assaulted for legally asking questions about former board chair Les Wexner’s known connections to Epstein in public spaces. My alma mater continues its streak of embarassments www.wosu.org/politics-gov...
wosu.org
Ohio State Chase Center professor placed on administrative leave after assaulting cameraman
The Ohio political blog, The Rooster, published video showing Chase Center Assistant Professor Luke Perez hitting a cameraman and then throwing him to the ground.
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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 11/02/2026
This is El Paso, where the airspace has been shut down without explanation for ten days btw
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Last week it broke that DHS bought $100M+ in El Paso warehouses. Today FAA grounded ALL flights for 10 days in El Paso for “security”. Last week the 5th circuit allowed indefinite detention in Texas. We may be about to see concentration camps & mass importing of detainees to El Paso.
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Columbus Underground @colsunderground.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
“Ohio has the sixth most data centers in the country according to industry tracker Data Center Map, and 102 more announced or in progress.” MORE: columbusunderground.com/new-regulati...
columbusunderground.com
New Regulations for Data Centers Introduced by Ohio Democrats - Columbus Underground
Ohio Senate Democrats have introduced a raft of legislation aimed at reining in data centers. The bills would eliminate tax breaks, require developers cover infrastructure costs and impose greater ove...
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
This week the personal & academic crossed paths. I wrote about the 350MW gas fired plant that Ohio *automatically* approved for a Meta AI data center in my hometown. The data center race is digitizing resource extraction and exploitation economics in American towns. open.substack.com/pub/publicgo...
open.substack.com
Digital extraction in my hometown.
The AI datacenter gold rush is digitizing resource extraction and exploitation economics in small communities like mine.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
We can’t even build enough new housing under $250k in America but sure, let’s go spend hundreds of billions to rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry for Exxon.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
I see the “Venezuelan oil can pay down the national debt!” narrative spreading. If US companies 2x Venezuelan oil output to 2M barrels/day x 365 = 730M barrels/yr Even $90/barrel = $65.7B per year. Even if US gov takes 20% $13B year < 0.04% of *current* $38T (& growing) debt. Net negative.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
The tariff revenue seems to play the same role in President Trump’s mental budgeting that selling my old computer plays in our household. I’ve mentally sold that computer a lot of times to justify paying for a lot of other fun gadgets. (It is still in my closet).
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
I love when Trump always brags that he has cut prescription drug prices by 200, 400 or 600%. By definition, a 100% price cut would be free.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
A new report conducted by consultants for the Ohio Chamber makes huge claims about data centers job creation. I dug in a bit and found that even their historical data for data centers employment seem to be estimated for some reason? I laid their numbers over BLS data. Their claim is 46% higher.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Holy class solidarity. 😒
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SteelWatch @steelwatch.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
The industry faces a critical choice: lock in coal for decades more, or pivot investment to clean alternatives like hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (H2-DRI), already proven and scaling globally ⚙️🌍 3/4
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Bad day to be Trump’s new head of the BLS.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Activities that teach kids morals, values, and faith aren’t bad. But disguising it as a “get out of school” opportunity that takes away science/math/language/history classroom time and indoctrinating kids with a perverted culture war version of Jesus’s teachings is *very* bad.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Where are residents of Gaza City supposed to “evacuate” to? Israel has conquered most of the strip and 40% of Gaza City. The violence should have ended months ago. Serious question: who will administer public services and food if Israel conquers the *entire* city?
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
This was so bizarre I had to dig into the data. Ended up writing about if $600B in 2 yrs is believable. Spoiler: it’s not. It would be over 300% of ALL major data center investments announced in the last 2 years. It’s an impressive number for an audience of 1 open.substack.com/pub/publicgo...
open.substack.com
Zuckerberg's hot mic and big data center commitment to Trump
The Meta CEO's off-the-cuff 2-year data center investment promise would be larger than Colorado's entire economy.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Ohioans have faced markedly higher bills, some above $400 a month, due to rate increases that took effect this summer.
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Jonathan Ladd @jonathanmladd.com · 26/08/2025
SCOTUS thought they could ride the tiger and get what they wanted ideologically. In exchange, they would give him everything he wanted except the Fed. Just leave the Fed alone and you can ignore all federal law. But it ended the same way it has for everyone who tried to ride the tiger since 2016.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
The institutions that stabilize the American economy are rapidly disintegrating. Politicians have been captured by corporate donors and corrupted and now those same donors want to capture economic policymakers. Democracy and stability is being eroded by a brutal form of capitalism before our eyes.
cnbc.com
Trump says he's removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook, cites mortgage fraud allegations
President Donald Trump's removal of a Federal Reserve governor could end up being challenged at the Supreme Court.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
“The legislature wants voters to compare to 2025: 'hey look, we are giving you more money than you got last year.' But what they are not saying is school districts would have received even more money if they had just funded the plan," Messenger said. www.statenews.org/government-p...
statenews.org
Report: Ohio House budget will cost Appalachian K-12 schools over half a billion dollars
The report took a look at the House-passed budget and its effect on schools in Ohio's Appalachian region.
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Nick Messenger @nickmessenger.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Real wage growth hasn’t kept pace with productivity. Simply put, workers aren’t fully sharing in the technological advancement (and generous tax treatment) that businesses have benefited from. www.epi.org/blog/how-sho...
epi.org
How should we assess and characterize worker wage growth in recent decades?
Our recently released State of Working America wages report includes new data on wages through 2024. Cumulative median wage growth was just 29% since 1979—or less than 0.6% per year on average. This w...
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Appalachian Voices @appvoices.org · 24/04/2025
Mine safety is under threat as 29 @msha.gov offices have their leases terminated and black lung screenings for miners are shut down by federal officials. Read more in this commentary from Appalachian Voices Coal Impacts Manager Willie Dodson. www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-e...
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