Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Topsoil Degradation, Soil Erosion, and Soil Governance (Global or Otherwise)

How long will it take for the world to run out of topsoil? What will it take to avoid it?

Links 9/13/2020

How Charles Koch Is Buying Credibility With Academic Investments

Koch influence in the academic sphere is far ranging. Koch money funds individual courses, professorships, fellowships, and even energy research and policy programs. These are significant investments in the “intellectual raw materials” of free-market advocacy.

Climate Crisis and Population Growth Will Displace 1 Billion over Next 30 Years

Think tank says climate crisis and population growith will lead at least 1 billion to migrate in countries with least ecological resilence.

Links 9/12/2020

Wolf Richter: Unemployment Crisis Going in Wrong Direction: Week 25 of U.S. Labor Market Collapse

Unemployment claims continue to increase, with nearly 20% collecting unemployment insurance. even according to the stringent claims criteria.

2:00PM Water Cooler 9/11/2020

~ Paul Krugman loses his mind (or Lambert does) ~

More than 500,000 People in Oregon Flee Wildfires

West coast wildfire crisis extends beyond California to include parts of Oregon and Washington states, caused by rare windstorms..

Links 9/11/2020

America’s Dire Inequality Demands a New Conceptual Framework. This Economist Has One.

Lance Taylor explains that wage repression — far more than monopoly power, offshoring or technological change — is driving rising inequality.

CalPERS Cooks Its Books: Grossly Understated Investment Consultant Meketa’s Expenses in Annual Financials; Made a Criminal False Account by Burying the Cost

CalPERS violates accounting rules by hiding outside consulting costs in internal investment overheads. None of the possible reasons are good.

CalPERS’ Bad Numbers: CEO Marcie Frost’s Multi-Hundred Thousand /Year Advisor Randle Communications Missing from Board Reports

A remarkable series of accidents led to the CalPERS board not being told how much CEO Marcie Frost’s advisor Randle Communications costs.

Sediment, Big Spring Run, and River Restoration to Pre-Colonial Times

A geological paradigm shift?

2:00PM Water Cooler 9/10/2020

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Links 9/10/2020