Today’s Water Cooler: Man, I hate writing these summaries, and Google hates us, so they don’t help with hits anyhow. I should think of something else to do with this space that adds real value.
Saturday, September 20, 2025
Who’s Responsible? How the “Independent Contractor” Dodge Guts Employment Protections
On establishing legal responsibility for employment in the fissured workplace.
Coronavirus: Three Vignettes
Three coronavirus snippets from around the world.
MMT is a Political Problem: Part 1
How should MMT proponents advance their views?
Coronavirus Reveals the Cracks in Globalization
Coronavirus risks a series of shortages that can be mitigated only by bringing some production back home.
2:00PM Water Cooler 3/10/2020
By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Politics “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51 “They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery.” –Frank Herbert, Dune “They had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing.” –Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Key dates coming fast now, so I […]
Malnourished Insects: Higher CO2 Levels Make Plants Less Nutritious
How insects show the effects of nutrient dilution.
As Youth Suicides Climb, Anguished Parents Begin To Speak Out
It’s not just that suicides are rising among teens but that many well-adjusted-seeming kids are killing themselves.
Oil Price Crash: 50% Of U.S. Shale Could Go Bankrupt
Yesterday’s oil price downdraft, if not meaningfully reversed, will create a world of hurt among US producers, most of all shale gas players.
Marcie Frost Indictment: Overwhelming Majority of Investment Professionals Would Not Recommend Joining CalPERS
A survey of CalPERS’ investment professionals reveals that CalPERS is one big unhappy family. Not only that, it shows that they’ve become less happy in the last year, since Ben Meng became Chief Investment Officer. We’ve embedded the summary page of the survey, but this section shows that less than 1/4 of CalPERS’ investment professional […]
2:00PM Water Cooler 3/9/2020
“They had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing.” –Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
A Tale of Two Cities: How Hong Kong Has Controlled its Coronavirus Outbreak, While New York City Scrambles
Discussion with Dr. Sarah Borwein, a Canadian doctor practicing medicine in Hong Kong, on that city’s management of the coronavirus crisis.
