The Week that Was ...
Ending Sunday, April 20, 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of The Week that Was, my rundown of what happened last week, curated, in the loosest sense of the word, for your reading pleasure, or displeasure.
Last week there were deportations of people who help the U.S. and arrests of U.S. citizens for entering the country illegally. But don’t worry, New York State settled another of the sexual harassment lawsuits against Andrew Cuomo who also put out a housing plan written in part by ChatGPT. At least people are turning out for the Fighting Oligarchy tour. And we may not start World War III with Iran.
1. Photo of the Week: Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez Hugging His Mother After His Release by ICE
2. The Tariffs Aren’t Working Except to Sink the Dollar, and the Market for US Treasuries
3. Deportations!
4. And They’re Arresting and Detaining U.S. Citizens Born in the U.S.
5. New York State Settles with Another Woman in the Andrew Cuomo Harassment Case
6. Andrew Cuomo Uses AI of the Dumb Variety to Write a Housing Plan for New York City
7. The Anti-Oligarchy Tour Draws Massive Crowds and Smirks from the Neoliberal Press
8. Talks with Iran Are Progressing
9. High Speed Rail in the USA, uhh, Somewhat Faster Trains in the USA
10. Watch This: Vivek Chibber on Doomscroll
11. Bonus Video: The Rolling Stones Performing Dead Flowers in 1971
12. Happy Easter from William Blake
1. Photo of the Week: Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez Hugging His Mother After His Release by ICE
© Thomas Kennedy via AP
Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, 20, a U.S.-born U.S. citizen, hugs his mother in Tallahassee, Fla., after his April 17, 2025 release from jail where he was being held by federal immigration authorities.
U.S.-born American citizen under ICE hold in Florida is now released
2. The Tariffs Aren’t Working Except to Sink the Dollar, and the Market for US Treasuries
First of all, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is worried that “US credibility” could be threatened. I’m not sure how credible our establishment ever has been, except when acting in their self-interest, but the tariffs have had an effect on those who make a living on the myth of free trade.
“’Donald Trump’s trade war risks eroding the US’s credibility,’ Jamie Dimon warned, as the JPMorgan Chase chief executive urged Washington to ‘engage’ with Beijing.
“Dimon said that the US remained ‘a haven’ because of its prosperity, rule of law, and economic and military strength, but that America’s economic pre-eminence could come under threat from the president’s attempt to reshape global trade.”
“’A lot of this uncertainty is challenging that a little bit. So you’re going to be reading about this nonstop until hopefully these tariffs and trade wars settle down and go away so people can say, I can rely on America,’ Dimon said in an interview with the Financial Times.’
Trump trade war could challenge US credibility, says Jamie Dimon
The US dollar now looks vulnerable. Truth be told, persons working in high finance have wondered abstractly about the possibility of the dollar losing its preeminence as the world’s premiere reserve currency, but truth be told, there is no real alternative at this time. The renminbi from the PRC is subject to capital controls; the Euro, well, the European Central Bank has not desired that the Euro replace the dollar; and, BRICs, well, the total size of the BRICs’ economies makes a dollar replacement infeasible.
There is one threat to the dollar: Donald Trump.
“Stocks down, yields down, dollar up. A reliable relationship between America’s listed companies, government bonds and the value of the currency has held, in moments of panic, for most of modern financial history. Until now.
“The turmoil in financial markets over the past month, driven by an extraordinary rise in American tariffs, has been unsettlingly different. During the stockmarket slumps of 2008 and 2020, for instance, the dollar rose. When investors are fearful, they normally rush to the safety of American debt, bidding up the greenback in the process. This time round, investors are eschewing Treasuries. Yields on American ten-year government bonds, which rise when prices fall, have increased from 4.2% to as high as 4.5% over the past month. Meanwhile, the dollar has fallen by over 9% against a basket of other currencies since its peak in mid-January.
“The breakdown of the once-solid relationship reflects the impulsiveness of the current American government. President Donald Trump’s belligerent trade policy, his administration’s incompetent policymaking and some of his advisers’ suspicion about the dollar’s global role have shaken foreign investors. Since they hold some $32trn-worth of American stocks and bonds, their opinion matters. Overseas demand not only lifts American stockmarkets, it pushes down interest rates on the government’s vast debts, making them manageable—a feature of dollar dominance known as ‘exorbitant privilege’”.
How Trump might topple the dollar
As for US Treasuries, well, Goldman Sachs is worried, which probably means that there is something wrong.
“The decline in the world’s reserve asset during an episode of elevated volatility comes as investors are increasingly focused on the US’s growing debt burden and other countries are also increasing their borrowing.
“’Markets are dealing with a lot of competing factors right now — fairly significant drivers where it's hard to trade all of them at once,’ says William Marshall, head of US rates strategy in Goldman Sachs Research.” ….
“In addition to fiscal considerations, Marshall says, some market participants have voiced the concern that tensions surrounding tariffs might be causing investors to sell Treasuries. ‘This broad-based approach that we saw in terms of tariff policy introduced real concern that foreign investors might meaningfully pull back their support for Treasuries in aggregate,’ he says.
Why US Treasuries sold off when market volatility jumped
Well, let me say, the Trump tariffs did drive a short term increase in car buying.
“US auto sales surged last month as consumers frontloaded major purchases in an attempt to get ahead of President Donald Trump’s aggressive new trade levies.
“Retail sales jumped 1.4 per cent in March, the Census Bureau reported on Wednesday. The main driver of growth was a 5.7 per cent jump in seasonally adjusted auto sales, the biggest increase since January 2023.
US consumers rushed to buy cars ahead of Trump’s auto tariff
3. Deportations!
The one thing the Trump Administration does seem able to do is deport foreign university and graduate students.
“For hundreds of thousands of people every year who dream of studying or researching in the United States, a student visa is the golden ticket.
“Now, for hundreds of people already at US colleges and universities, it is turning into a one-way ticket back to their home countries as President Donald Trump’s administration continues an aggressive effort to revoke visas and push academics out of the country – whether voluntarily or in handcuffs.”
4. And They’re Arresting and Detaining U.S. Citizens Born in the U.S.
The push to deport has also ensnared US born citizens who did not commit a crime and were able to prove their citizenship.
“Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, 20, was in a car that was stopped just past the Georgia state line by the Florida Highway Patrol on Wednesday, said Thomas Kennedy, a spokesperson at the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
“Gomez and others in the car were arrested under a new Florida law, which is on hold, making it a crime for people who are in the country illegally to enter the state. ….
“The charge of illegal entry into Florida was dropped Thursday after his mother showed the judge his state identification card, birth certificate and Social Security card, said Kennedy, who attended the hearing.”
The only possible reason for the arrest of this American is because he is Hispanic and has skin darker than mine.
A US citizen was held for pickup by ICE even after proving he was born in the country
5. New York State Settles with Another Woman in the Andrew Cuomo Harassment Case
New York State has settled with Charlotte Bennett, another of the eleven women whom New York State Attorney general Letitia James concluded in her report had been sexually harassed by formerly disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
New York State taxpayers have spent about $18 million dollars on the three lawsuits against Cuomo.
Cuomo is a candidate for the nomination of the Democratic Party for mayor of New York, and he is currently in the lead.
NY settles sexual harassment lawsuit with former aide to Andrew Cuomo
6. Andrew Cuomo Uses AI of the Dumb Variety to Write a Housing Plan for New York City
Disgraced, or used to be disgraced, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has released a plan to deal with New York City’s housing crisis, and it was written in part by ChatGPT.
“The 29-page housing plan included incoherent babble and a ChatGPT-derived hyperlink to a news article, as was first reported by Hell Gate, a local news site.
“Among the virtually incomprehensible passages was this one:
“’Nevertheless, several candidates for mayor this year have either called directly for a rent increase or for other measures that would tilt the scale toward lower rent increases. This is a politically convenient posture, but to be in. Victory if landlords — small landlords in particular — are simply unable to maintain their buildings.’”
However, a spokesperson for the Cuomo’s campaign, Rich Azzopardi, denied that AI was involved, in language eerily reminiscent of Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
“’If it was written by ChatGPT, we wouldn’t have had the errors,’ Mr. Azzopardi said.”
Cuomo Announces New Housing Plan, With a Hint of ChatGPT
7. The Anti-Oligarchy Tour Draws Massive Crowds and Smirks from the Neoliberal Press
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio Ocasio-Cortez, New York-14, are leading the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, and drawing huge crowds of up to and over 26,000 in places such as Folsom, California, and massive enthusiasm.
In a sure sign that the tour is having an impact, it’s garnering snideness from the neoliberal press, above all from the top organ of neoliberalism, The Economist.
“SOME CALIFORNIANS spent much of the weekend stuck in traffic on the way to Coachella, a music festival in the desert. But near City Hall in downtown Los Angeles on April 12th, a very different kind of concert unfolded. Bernie Sanders, 83, a senator from Vermont and two-time Democratic presidential candidate, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 35, a congresswoman from New York, headlined a ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ rally, which seemed suspended somewhere between 1968 and 2025. A grey-haired Joan Baez told the crowd that she ‘ain’t gonna let those lousy billionaires turn me around’. Neil Young urged everyone to ‘take America back!’ ….”
Invoking the names of rock stars and folk singers, especially, Joan Baez, indicates a lack of engagement. Notably, The Economist didn’t actually quote anything that either Senator Sanders or Representative Ocasio-Cortez actually said. But the author of the article, nameless, as are all authors of Economist article, could not resist making some fatuous jabs:
“Since Mr Trump’s victory, Democrats have been grappling with what their party needs to change to woo back voters. The ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ rallies offer one path forward. ‘We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for us,’ said Ms Ocasio-Cortez. ‘That means…choosing and voting for Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class.’ Both she and Mr Sanders decry corporate money in politics, wealth inequality and the existence of billionaires, especially when they win the popular vote. A stage filled with influencers [emphasis added](this is LA, after all) was on hand to help turn Mr Sanders’s greatest hits into viral videos. ‘There are no ethical billionaires’ was written across one woman’s crop top [emphasis added]. ‘Eat the rich’ T-shirts were not in short supply.
Okay, thank you. But The Economist was not done yet. The writer of this piece had to employ a favorite tactic: random quotes from a tiny handful of people who agree, or seem to, with the author and his employer:
“’Meanwhile, several in the crowd said they were more concerned about making sure the government works than about sticking it to billionaires. Serina Milano and Sylvia Villa met on Bumble BFF, an app for making friends. The rally was their first time hanging out. ‘It’s great to see how many people are embarrassed of their Teslas,’ said Ms Milano. But she wasn’t sure that fighting oligarchy would resonate. Perhaps Mr Sanders wasn’t, either: his speech veered into reproductive rights, climate change and housing.
“He and Ms Ocasio-Cortez are not the only ones trying to push the Democratic Party towards their point of view. But while they have been saying the same thing for years, the centrists in the party have some new lines. Some Democratic mayors, governors and state lawmakers reckon that fixing problems that vex their constituents in places the party already governs may convince voters that they deserve power at national level, too. To this end, they are embracing the ‘abundance agenda’, which involves cutting regulation in order to build housing and infrastructure more easily in places such as New York and California.”
Okay, Economist, I live in New York City, and there is a ton of construction going on. Where? Right across the street. Around the corner. And everywhere in this city that my daily life takes me.
Berniechella: America’s left protests against Donald Trump
If you’re interested, you can sign up here:
8. Talks with Iran Are Progressing
This is good news. Although we’re still threatening war.
“A U.S. official confirmed that at a point during the negotiations in Rome, President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke face to face.
“Before they meet again in Oman on April 26, Araghchi said technical-level talks would be held in the coming days. That experts would be discussing details of a possible deal suggests movement in the talks and comes as Trump has pushed for a rapid agreement while threatening military action against Iran.
“The sides ‘made very good progress in our direct and indirect discussions,’ according to a senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private diplomatic meeting.
“In a post on X, Araghchi similarly said they made ‘progress on principles and objectives of a possible deal.’ He added, however, that ‘optimism may be warranted but only with a great deal of caution.’”
US and Iran say talks over Tehran’s nuclear program make progress and set plans for more
9. High Speed Rail in the USA, uhh, Somewhat Faster Trains in the USA
And that is certainly a low hurdle to jump over. Since our trains are a national embarrassment, and we’re not going to do anything about it.
But wait a second!
“A new report shows how Amtrak and commuter railroads can reduce ‘dead time’ and increase speeds for less than it would cost to build new high-speed rail lines.”
10. Watch This: Vivek Chibber on Doomscroll
This interview with Vivek Chibber contains a wealth of insight.
Vivek Chibber: How the Left Got Lost
11. Bonus Video: The Rolling Stones Performing Dead Flowers in 1971
Dead Flowers - From The Vault - The Marquee – Live In 1971
12. Happy Easter from William Blake
