My most trollish opinion is that Sylvester McMonkey McBean is the hero of The Sneetches: he's a mechanical genius/entrepreneur who provides a service that works flawlessly and does exactly what he says it will, and also he solves racism.
It's meant to be a joke :) Because I frequently spar with David Who Viscerally Hates FPTP and David Who Loves Michael Pettis So Much I Think He Has His Name Tattooed On His Back.
I actually find your comments more entertaining & fun than many other folks here, apparently
You can get a room in a shared house or apartment for $1200-$1300 max (still too much, let's build more housing.) But this is literally what everyone working on the hill, think tanks, or non profits do post undergrad in DC.
And before you make up some scenario trying to disprove me here, just ask yourself: am I living in DC in my mid 20s right now? Do I have the credibility to make this statement?
My parents don't help me with rent. I also am able to save and invest some money. Life is good. Don't drop misguided hot takes about something you likely have no understanding of!
Glad to hear you are making it work and saving. Make sure you are putting something away for retirement if you can. Compounding on investments is very important.
In 2009 i moved out from parents and made the equivalent of USD $24000 in 2025 money a year - rented a crappy single room in share house i'd never live in now but was fine for a 20 year old in suburbs of city of 1.2 million - no help from my parents besides getting one dinner a night at their place and a dozen eggs from their chickens per week (i raised those damn chickens and shovelled their shite for 15 years OK) - I saved equivalent of $14000 USD that year$1000 USD in todays money that year.
I just think it's a little gauche given how open Matt has been with how much money this substack makes and what an important role this is to its continued functioning and growth (maybe I'm overestimating how much work you do). I'm glad you're happy with your salary.
That's not something I would have thought of. How would that work and what would that be for? I know you said fairness, but there are views so extreme that I don't thinking hearing them out is really a fairness issue. That said, there might be views that are a little extreme and controversial and maybe walling those off serves some purpose?
Fwiw - I think in terms of moderation we tend to have more behavioral problems. It's either, people losing their cool and getting very personal, or people spamming crazed schizo thoughts or walls of text.
Thankfully, all of the above are relatively rare here.
I know this job is meant for recent grads, but this could be a good job for a librarian or experienced library science student. Many of the skills are the same as in librarianship. The pay is only slightly lower than the salary of Librarian I position with a couple of years experience at public libraries in the DC area, and many people might take the cut because librarians are BURNT OUT. And they are already very used to dealing with politics.
Great job great company great people great list of alumni from this position, apply!
>Moderate community comment sections
I would simply ban everyone currently experiencing Davidness. Many such cases. Boom, soooooo many of our problems solved in one fell swoop.
(Just kidding, I love you all Davids. Well, some of you are OK, I guess. Some of you)
I cannot keep track of the Johns, either.
For gods sake, can’t people simply use their own names.
[Cinema Sins voice] That's Davidist!
Dr. Seuss (sorry! sharty is #cancelled!) solved this many decades ago.
Which Dave shall have the honor of adopting the greatest name in children's literature, Oliver Boliver Butt?
This comment is misinformed and borderline offensive.
Obviously the greatest name in children's literature is Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea.
(We will also accept Sylvester McMonkey McBean.)
My most trollish opinion is that Sylvester McMonkey McBean is the hero of The Sneetches: he's a mechanical genius/entrepreneur who provides a service that works flawlessly and does exactly what he says it will, and also he solves racism.
This is top-tier main-character-on-twitter content.
These sorts of personal attacks suck.
It's meant to be a joke :) Because I frequently spar with David Who Viscerally Hates FPTP and David Who Loves Michael Pettis So Much I Think He Has His Name Tattooed On His Back.
I actually find your comments more entertaining & fun than many other folks here, apparently
i’ve been sneered at enough that I likely misunderstood you
I vote we RIF 50% of the Davids. Non-vets/shortest tenure go first.
Very sad to see Ben Krauss go! He's been great!
Thanks! Still here for a few more months :)
Good overlap with NBA playoffs!
Small sample size, but so far Ben's been my favourite Editorial Assistant as well. I hope the next one is also even-keeled.
55k for in person DC full time? Yeesh.
If he was targeting anyone other than 23 year-old Ivy graduates, I would agree with you
23 year old ivy graduates whose parents can pay their rent; with a salary that low he's guaranteeing that's all he'll get
LOL, chill on this.
You can get a room in a shared house or apartment for $1200-$1300 max (still too much, let's build more housing.) But this is literally what everyone working on the hill, think tanks, or non profits do post undergrad in DC.
And before you make up some scenario trying to disprove me here, just ask yourself: am I living in DC in my mid 20s right now? Do I have the credibility to make this statement?
My parents don't help me with rent. I also am able to save and invest some money. Life is good. Don't drop misguided hot takes about something you likely have no understanding of!
Glad to hear you are making it work and saving. Make sure you are putting something away for retirement if you can. Compounding on investments is very important.
Or you can spend five-ish years of your early twenties making peanuts so you can frame some extra pieces of paper on your wall!
(I jest... mostly)
In 2009 i moved out from parents and made the equivalent of USD $24000 in 2025 money a year - rented a crappy single room in share house i'd never live in now but was fine for a 20 year old in suburbs of city of 1.2 million - no help from my parents besides getting one dinner a night at their place and a dozen eggs from their chickens per week (i raised those damn chickens and shovelled their shite for 15 years OK) - I saved equivalent of $14000 USD that year$1000 USD in todays money that year.
I just think it's a little gauche given how open Matt has been with how much money this substack makes and what an important role this is to its continued functioning and growth (maybe I'm overestimating how much work you do). I'm glad you're happy with your salary.
If people don't think that this is a good salary, they don't need to apply for the position. It's not like Matt has monopsony power.
Where did I say he did?
There’s a legitimate point about how a role like this excludes, say, anyone who starts a family at a young age, something something fertility crisis.
But as others have said, it’s entirely suitable for a young person willing to live with roommates even if they don’t have family money.
No, you can have wonk party house with other young upwardly mobile wonks.
> Moderate community comment sections
In the interest of fairness and hearing everyone out, said moderator should also create some extremist community comment sections.
That's not something I would have thought of. How would that work and what would that be for? I know you said fairness, but there are views so extreme that I don't thinking hearing them out is really a fairness issue. That said, there might be views that are a little extreme and controversial and maybe walling those off serves some purpose?
Fwiw - I think in terms of moderation we tend to have more behavioral problems. It's either, people losing their cool and getting very personal, or people spamming crazed schizo thoughts or walls of text.
Thankfully, all of the above are relatively rare here.
I know it doesn’t work this way, but I’d nominate John from Florida 😂
GDP per capita of UK is less than this entry level job - Britain very poor country.
I wonder what you say of the 4/5ths of the world's countries that are richer than Britain! Very, very, very, very, very poor?
I know this job is meant for recent grads, but this could be a good job for a librarian or experienced library science student. Many of the skills are the same as in librarianship. The pay is only slightly lower than the salary of Librarian I position with a couple of years experience at public libraries in the DC area, and many people might take the cut because librarians are BURNT OUT. And they are already very used to dealing with politics.
“ $55,000 annual salary”
$55,000 in 2005 is $92,026.80 today in case your thoughts on salary are a little behind the times. Or maybe journalism is a lot worse than I thought.