Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽

@chevan.info

💙 Only You Can Fix Capitalism and Democracy 🇺🇸 I'll Explain How: Macroeconomics 👉 Econ #MMT #Politics. Some Science, Tech and Media 🔗 My Links: https://linktr.ee/chevan_nanayakkara In 2025 bootstrapping @opportunityparty.info (would love a follow ✊)

1.2K followers800 following1.8K posts

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Knowing that we hate what happens to companies when they get acquired by PE firms is one things, understanding why it results in diminishing brands we enjoy is something else entirely. I try and break down the process.

chevan.infoWhy We Hate PEYour vet gets bought. A year later the prices are up, the staff you liked is gone, and the place just feels different. Here is what actually happened. The buyer borrowed the money to buy it, then handed that debt to the business itself, so the place now works mainly to pay off its own purchase price. Your retirement savings may have helped fund the deal. None of this is a law of nature. We used to have rules that made it hard to do, and over fifty years we took those rules away. That is what makes this a story about our democracy rather than a story about capitalism.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

The same federal government that says we can't afford healthcare just spent $8 trillion propping up stock prices. The asymmetric application of "how will we pay for it?" is the entire trick. How 50 years of "Socialism for the Wealthy" works

chevan.infoExplaining How America’s Fifty-Year-Old System of ‘Socialism for the Wealthy’ WorksA fifty-year pattern... the U.S. government uses its money-creation powers to inflate assets concentrated in the top 10%, then tells ordinary Americans the country can't afford housing, healthcare, or education. The mythology is selectively applied. This essay walks through exactly how the machinery works, who built it across a hundred-year convergence, and the four moves ordinary Americans can use to reengineer it for themselves.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Trump attacked Mayor Mamdani for taxing. "TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG." Here's what nobody says out loud: the U.S. government isn't funded by your taxes. It issues the dollar. Cities run on tax revenue. Washington never does. Trump knows. He's counting on you not to. A thread.

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Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

If Americans understood Congress can fund healthcare, housing, and UBA the same way it funds wars and tax cuts... most would demand it. That's why the mythology is maintained. Neo-feudalism runs on a lie about money. chevan.info/ubi-vs-uba/

chevan.infoUniversal Basic Income (UBI) isn’t the right solution, the U.S. needs Universal Basic Assets (UBA) - Chevan NanayakkaraUniversal Basic Income (UBI) has captured progressive imagination as the solution to poverty and inequality. But the policy has a fatal flaw: cash transfers into markets with inelastic demand get capt...
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Trump attacked Mayor Mamdani for taxing. "TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG." Here's what nobody says out loud: the U.S. government isn't funded by your taxes. It issues the dollar. Cities run on tax revenue. Washington never does. Trump knows. He's counting on you not to. A thread.

View full thread
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

"Let the states fund it" isn't an answer. It's the mechanism. The spending is the same size. It's just pointed at different people. Many conservatives cheer it on because they think he's cutting waste. He isn't.

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Trump attacked Mayor Mamdani for taxing. "TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG." Here's what nobody says out loud: the U.S. government isn't funded by your taxes. It issues the dollar. Cities run on tax revenue. Washington never does. Trump knows. He's counting on you not to. A thread.

View full thread
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Trump just signed the One Big Beautiful Bill. An appropriation roughly the scale of what Biden passed. The money was there. It always is. The question was never "can we afford it." It was always "who gets it."

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Biden appropriated for CHIPS, infrastructure, clean energy... investment in Americans. Trump appropriated for military escalation, ICE, surveillance, enrichment for his orbit. Same tool. Opposite purpose. chevan.info/biden-the-be...

chevan.infoThe Case for Biden: The Best Presidency for Ordinary Americans Since the 1970s - Chevan NanayakkaraHow do you measure a presidency? This essay proposes a standard built on stewardship: did the president use government to improve lives, govern in good faith, build institutional capacity rather than ...
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Trump attacked Mayor Mamdani for taxing. "TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG." Here's what nobody says out loud: the U.S. government isn't funded by your taxes. It issues the dollar. Cities run on tax revenue. Washington never does. Trump knows. He's counting on you not to. A thread.

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

The part Trump gets right: Mamdani has to tax to fund programs. NYC is a currency user. It runs on dollars it has to collect, borrow, or receive from the federal government. Cities and states have no other option.

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

The part he's lying about: the U.S. government is the currency sovereign. It issues the dollar. It doesn't need tax revenue. It just appropriates. That's how the system has worked since 1971. chevan.info/federal-taxe...

chevan.infoFederal Taxes Don’t Fund the Government: We’ve Known This Since 1946 - Chevan NanayakkaraIn January 1946, Federal Reserve Chairman Beardsley Ruml published an article explaining that the federal government doesn't need tax revenue to fund its spending. He was describing the actual mechani...
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

America is built on good faith: the commitment that when we disagree, we negotiate honestly. Everyone's interests deserve a seat at the table. Enthusastically abandoning those processes to support whatever the authoritarian wants is unamerican.

chevan.infoGood Faith as Democratic InfrastructureAmerican democracy runs on infrastructure most people have never been taught about. Not the Constitution or elections—something more fundamental: the commitment that when Americans disagree, they negotiate in good faith. Good faith means everyone's interests get a seat at the table. It means the process of working things out together is what makes the country work. Human rights and inclusivity aren't soft liberal values—they're the operating infrastructure that makes democratic governance possible. This essay examines what good faith governance actually is, the specific political strategies that broke it (the Southern Strategy, corporate economic mythology, Gingrich's obstruction playbook, Trump's authoritarian rhetoric, Bannon's reality-breaking), and why everyone should care about defending it. Key arguments: • Good faith is American infrastructure - It's not civility or "being nice." It's the mechanism that makes negotiation possible when interests conflict. • Breaking good faith breaks democracy - Each political strategy identified involves denying the legitimacy of some group of Americans as democratic participants. • This hurts everyone - When the system that protects everyone's interests breaks, nobody is protected. Not the people who broke it, not the people they claim to represent. • The middle class was manufactured through good faith governance - The GI Bill, progressive taxation, union protections, public universities, Social Security—deliberate policies that built broadly shared prosperity. • Fair competition requires active governance - Every period of American prosperity had government actively maintaining the playing field. When it stopped, wealth flowed upward. • You have language to call this out - The essay provides specific phrases for specific conversational situations. Bad faith is un-American. You can say that.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Criticism is easy. Outrage is exhausting. Apathy is the rational default. Building is the only thing that has ever worked when systems fail and people lose hope. New essay: Be a Builder

chevan.infoBe a Builder.American civic infrastructure has broken down, and the hopelessness spreading across the country is a predictable consequence of a fifty-year campaign to dismantle democratic power. This essay is about the antidote: being a builder. Not as motivational slogan, but as the only response that has ever actually worked when systems fail. What it takes to be the person who does repair work, what it costs, why it's hard, and why nobody else is coming to do it for us.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

In 2025, I felt like the country died. American hope was never just a feeling. It was infrastructure: systems that made participation meaningful. Those systems have broken. This is my attempt to understand how, and what rebuilding requires.

chevan.infoThe Broken Infrastructure of Hope: How Americans Lost Faith in Self-Governance, and How to Rebuild ItIn 2025, I felt like the country died. American hope was never just a feeling—it was infrastructure. Systems of governance that made participation meaningful. Systems of information that made informed participation possible. Those systems have broken down. This essay diagnoses how that happened, and what rebuilding requires.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Venezuela isn't a debate- it's a diagnosis. We can't afford cooperation with China but can afford military force? 50 years of monetary mythology created this: strategic weakness abroad, neo-feudalism at home.

chevan.infoVenezuela Is a Symptom. Neo-Feudalism Is the Disease.The U.S. military operation in Venezuela reveals a paradox: We claim we can't afford to compete with China through infrastructure investment and development partnerships. But we can afford military operations seizing foreign assets. This isn't really about foreign policy. It's a symptom diagnosing fifty years of systematically misapplying hard money mythology to a soft money economy. The result: strategic weakness forcing us to use military force where we lack capacity for partnership, and accelerating wealth concentration destroying the middle class. In this essay, I examine: - How monetary mythology created strategic weakness against China's patient investment - Who benefited from selective austerity (for you) and abundance (for them) - Why Venezuela shows us becoming an isolated empire abroad and neo-feudalism at home - What capacity stewardship means as concrete political action This analysis transcends traditional left-right politics. It speaks to fiscal responsibility advocates, limited government advocates, opportunity advocates, and American strength advocates alike—because it's grounded in economic reality rather than ideology. The choice being made right now determines whether we preserve democratic capitalism or accept neo-feudal decline.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

For 50 years, both political extremes have kept you passive. The far right blocks collective action. The far left blocks reform. Both serve oligarchy. Part 3 reveals what they hide: you can preserve American values through capacity stewardship.

chevan.infoDefending Democratic Capitalism Through Capacity StewardshipPart 3 of Defending Democratic Capitalism For fifty years, you've been trapped in a false choice. The far right tells you collective action is theft. The far left tells you reform is betrayal. Both keep you passive while oligarchy consolidates power. This essay reveals what both extremes hide: you can preserve American values and expand middle class power through capacity stewardship—making evidence-based decisions about what markets provide versus what requires public provision, demanding institutional quality that enables informed stewardship, and managing the economic transitions needed to make democratic capitalism work for everyone. The core reframe: Government doesn't need money like households. It creates money when it spends, constrained by productive capacity and real resources—not budgets. Once you understand this, the question changes from "can we afford it?" to "do we have the capacity to build it, and which mechanism (markets or public provision) best serves this need?" But capacity stewardship requires institutional infrastructure: active Congress producing reports, investigative journalism exposing capture, universities generating valid knowledge, and science operating with integrity. The fifty-year assault didn't just spread money mythology—it systematically destroyed the institutional capacity citizens need to steward democratically. The path forward starts with conversation, not protest. Explaining how money actually works. Building understanding of your role as a capacity steward. Demanding quality from both markets and government. Expanding middle class power. The American middle class was deliberately engineered by political leadership in the 20th century. That leadership is gone, compromised by oligarchs. The mechanisms remain. The work now falls to citizens. Nobody is coming to save us.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

The New Deal, Scandinavian social democracy, the GI Bill: democratic reform works. But far-left positions declaring all reform "collaboration" ensure nothing gets accomplished while concentrated wealth operates unopposed.

chevan.infoDefending Democratic Capitalism from the Extreme LeftYou've heard it: "Capitalism can't be reformed." It sounds principled. Who wants to collaborate with an exploitative system? Here's what's actually happening: that position is strategic paralysis. While you debate revolutionary purity, concentrated wealth consolidates control through the democratic institutions you've abandoned. In this essay, I expose how far-left arguments function: - The structural absolutism declaring all reform as futile or collaboration - How these positions share the same economic myths as the far-right - Why retreat from federal power serves concentrated wealth perfectly - How purity politics fragments coalitions while oligarchs consolidate unopposed - Response templates for building effective coalitions despite these arguments The evidence is clear: the New Deal, Scandinavian social democracy, and the GI Bill demonstrate democratic reform works. Denmark's stronger safety net enables 30% higher business formation than the U.S. Institutional quality matters more than ideological purity. This is Part 2 of a three-part series defending democratic capitalism from extremist attacks. Part 1 examined far-right libertarian positions. Part 3 will make the positive case for public money as democratic tool.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Taxation is theft" isn't philosophy. It's a corporate-funded weapon. Far-right rhetoric attacks democratic capitalism by declaring all collective action "violent coercion." Result: oligarchs operate without democratic accountability.

chevan.infoDefending Democratic Capitalism from the Extreme RightYou've heard it: "Taxation is theft." Maybe from a libertarian uncle, maybe from a podcast, maybe in online debates. It sounds principled. Who likes being forced to pay for things they don't support? Here's what's actually happening: that phrase is a weapon. A corporate-funded weapon designed to eliminate the only tool (democratic government) capable of constraining concentrated wealth. For fifty years, far-right rhetoric has been dismantling democratic capitalism. Every time someone says "taxation is theft," they're attacking the legitimacy of democratic collective action itself. When all collective action becomes "violence," oligarchs operate without democratic accountability. In this essay, I expose how these arguments actually work: The core philosophical contradiction that makes libertarian framework self-defeating The corporate funding behind these arguments (billions invested since the 1940s) Six rhetorical techniques designed to manipulate you into accepting oligarchy Five economic myths exploited to make collective action seem impossible Specific response templates for defending democratic capitalism in real conversations This is Part 1 of a three-part series. Part 2 examines far-left constraints on democratic capitalism. Part 3 makes the positive case for public money as the tool enabling broad prosperity.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

In 1946, NY Fed Chairman Beardsley Ruml said "taxes for revenue are obsolete." The federal government doesn't need tax revenue to spend. We spent 80 years forgetting what he told us. Time to remember.

chevan.infoFederal Taxes Don’t Fund the Government: We’ve Known This Since 1946In January 1946, Federal Reserve Chairman Beardsley Ruml published an article explaining that the federal government doesn't need tax revenue to fund its spending. He was describing the actual mechanics of sovereign currency systems after leaving the gold standard. We spent 80 years forgetting what he told us, and it's time to remember.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

How can we make economics a science? I developed a six-attribute framework and applied it to economics.The result: the discipline uses science without being a science: still teaching 16th-century concepts in the 21st century. Let's fix it.

chevan.infoHow to Make Economics a ScienceThis essay develops a framework for assessing whether economics qualifies as a genuine science. Drawing on Popper's falsificationism, Kuhn's paradigm theory, and Merton's norms of scientific communities, I identify six necessary attributes and apply them systematically to the discipline. The conclusion refines my earlier argument: economics as currently practiced is largely not a science, but it contains scientific elements and has the potential to become genuinely scientific. The critical failures include systematic refusal to abandon falsified theories, teaching operational falsehoods about monetary systems, and resolving disputes through institutional power rather than evidence. A companion piece to "Economics is not a Science" and draws on analysis from "Why Monetary Systems Matter" and "Why Economic Models Matter."

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽 reposted

The Steady State
@thesteadystate.org

Designating Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally gives significant military benefits. Doing so moments after dismissing Khashoggi’s murder—and attacking the journalist and network who asked about it—shows how far Trump is willing to go to elevate those U.S. intelligence has tied to murder.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "Tonight I'm pleased to announce that we're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally."

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

UBI fails because landlords just raise rent to capture it. We need Universal Basic Assets: provide housing, healthcare, education directly as public goods. You can't price-gouge what's free at the point of service. Let's use our understanding of monetary reality for solutions chevan.info/ubi-vs-uba/

chevan.infoUniversal Basic Income (UBI) isn’t the right solution, the U.S. needs Universal Basic Assets (UBA) - Chevan NanayakkaraUniversal Basic Income (UBI) has captured progressive imagination as the solution to poverty and inequality. But the policy has a fatal flaw: cash transfers into markets with inelastic demand get capt...

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽 reposted

Taniel
@taniel.bsky.social

Just now: The plaintiffs who were arguing that Utah GOP's congressional map is illegal won in court. The judge orders one of the two maps submitted by the plaintiffs ('map 1') be used. The ruling, if it stands, guarantees that Democrats will pick up a congressional seat in Utah next year.

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

America wastes time on capitalism vs socialism tropes while other countries build economies that work. The real divide is between those who understand fiat currency and those stuck in gold standard thinking.

chevan.infoBeyond Capitalism vs. SocialismFor seventy years, American political discourse has been trapped in a Cold War binary that no longer serves us. While we debate whether government or markets should control the economy, countries from Singapore to Sweden have built prosperous societies by ignoring this false choice entirely. This essay argues that the capitalism versus socialism framework obscures the real issue: most Americans fundamentally misunderstand how money works in the post-1971 fiat currency world. This misunderstanding - what I call macroeconomic illiteracy - has led us to accept artificial constraints on what's possible, resulting in forty years of wage stagnation, wealth concentration, and declining public goods. Drawing on my previous work on monetary systems, economic models, and hidden wealth transfers, I demonstrate why successful economies use markets for what they do well (discretionary goods) and non-market mechanisms for what they don't (survival needs like healthcare and housing). The path forward isn't choosing between markets and government but understanding our monetary reality well enough to use both effectively. As democratic institutions face unprecedented threats and economic anxiety fuels political extremism, breaking free from obsolete ideological constraints isn't just an economic necessity - it's essential for preserving democracy itself.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

A friend worried that fiat currency destroyed the economy. In this essay, I explain why they have it backward: we've been stuck in gold standard knowledge and thinking in a fiat currency economy. That's the reason why wages stagnate while costs soar.

chevan.infoWhy Monetary Systems MatterThis essay began as a response to a thoughtful Facebook comment expressing concerns shared by millions of Americans about inflation, government debt, and economic insecurity. The commenter blamed our problems on leaving the gold standard in 1971 and the government's ability to 'print money.' While their frustrations are entirely valid, their diagnosis misses the mark. This piece examines three fundamental misconceptions about money, debt, and government spending that have dominated American economic discourse for forty years: and explains why correcting these misconceptions is essential for building broadly shared prosperity.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

@umbrarchist.bsky.social Really have to thank you for sharing your ideas. I cite chevan.info/depreciation... often and use it as a centerpiece for showcasing long-term labor wealth-extraction when I try to educate people about macroeconomics and economic policy.

chevan.infoHow Corporate-Friendly Accounting Rules Create a $30 Trillion Transfer from Consumers into Wealthy Pockets - Chevan NanayakkaraThis essay reveals how accounting rules systematically block wealth-building for middle-class families while concentrating profits in wealthy pockets. When businesses depreciate equipment, they get ta...
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

The primary factor enabling AI psychosis is a mismatch between how easy AI systems appear to use and how difficult they are to use competently.

chevan.infoWhat is AI Psychosis? Why Using AI is very Different than a Google SearchThe primary factor enabling AI psychosis is a mismatch between how easy AI systems appear to use and how difficult they are to use competently. This creates a dangerous overconfidence gap where people believe they're operating sophisticated cognitive tools effectively while potentially degrading their own thinking capabilities.

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽 reposted

Mrs. Betty Bowers
@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social

DISNEY: "OK, we are putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. You can resubscribe now." ME: "I unsubscribed because you immorally bowed to fascism. I'm not going to resubscribe because you immorally bowed to finances."

Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

We already tried making humans into machines with SaaS workflows and ticket queues. Everyone lost. And now the real machines are here. AI can do a lot of things better than humans but here's what it can't do- and never will.

chevan.infoThe Irreducible Human Core: 8 Capabilities That Make You More Valuable Than AIWe already tried making humans into machines with SaaS workflows and ticket queues. Everyone lost. And now the real machines are here. AI can do a lot of things better than humans but here's what it can't do- and never will.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

A generative human is someone who uses AI to amplify their capacity to create original insights, novel solutions, and new value rather than just consuming AI's outputs.

chevan.infoThriving in the AI-Age: How to be a Generative Human using Generative AI as your Cognitive WorkbenchA generative human is someone who uses AI to amplify their capacity to create original insights, novel solutions, and new value rather than just consuming AI's outputs. Generative humans become more capable, more creative, and more valuable over time because each interaction with AI enhances their thinking abilities rather than replacing them.
Chevan Nanayakkara 🗽
@chevan.info

Since OpenAI's GPT-5 model started rolling out last week, people ask me the same thing: "How do I use AI better?" The answer is simpler than you think, but it requires a shift in how you approach the problem. Instead of focusing on techniques and pro

chevan.infoWant to Use AI Better? Identify Your Use Case FirstSince OpenAI's GPT-5 model started rolling out last week, people ask me the same thing: "How do I use AI better?" The answer is simpler than you think, but it requires a shift in how you approach the problem. Instead of focusing on techniques and prompts, you need to identify your use case first.