Today’s Water Cooler: Cargill, Harris, Sanders, Gravel, Epstein fallout, Adolph Reed interview, AOC v. Pelosi, Amy McGrath v. Mitch McConnel, consumer price index, jobless claims, Bank of America, Tesla’s robot cars, Google eavesdropping, Twitter algos, Boeing 737, trees, suburbs, MMT, Oklahoma!
Friday, August 29, 2025
A Way Out from Rock Bottom: Economic Policies Can Reduce Deaths of Despair
Looking at how specific income-boosting policies reduce deaths.
It Is Time To Start Forgiving Student Loans – And Here Is What It Will Cost
A far-ranging plan for cleaning up the student loan mess.
Transfer (Mis)pricing, the Jewel in Every Multinational Enterprise’s Crown
Transfer pricing: How developing countries lose $3 billion every day through an accounting trick that allows corporations to avoid paying tax.
PG&E Neglected Maintenance for Years Despite Known Fire Risk; Judge Demands Prompt and Clear Answers to WSJ Expose
A Wall Street Journal expose of PG&E’s willful failure to maintain its transmission lines, directly tied to California’s most lethal fire, led a judge to demand answers.
2:00PM Water Cooler 7/10/2019
Today’s Water Cooler: Fundraising, BIden, Harris, Sanders, Steyer, Warren, Pelosi v AOC, Obama legacy, Trump emoluments case dismissed, business inflation expectations, Android apps, Amazon satellites, dependency on the automobile, PFAS everywhere, Grace Church, CBO endorses $15/hour minimum wage
Recycling Woes: Indonesia Sends Waste Shipment Back to Australia
Developing countries are refusing to accept shipments of waste for recycling; China’s new rules on scrap metal may disrupt the worldwide market for such recycling.
‘Completely Terrifying’: Study Warns Carbon-Saturated Oceans Headed Toward Tipping Point That Could Unleash Mass Extinction Event
Carbon levels could be approaching a threshold that could trigger ocean acidification similar to that which contributed to previous mass extinction events.
Martin Wolf v. Trumponomics Whiffs Due to Fealty to Orthodoxy
The Financial Times’ Martin Wolf has a go at Donald Trump, but manages to score an own goal as far as his profession is concerned.
Is Industrial Policy Finally Legitimate?
Awfully late in the game, industrial policy gets the recognition it deserves.
2:00PM Water Cooler 7/9/2019
Today’s Water Cooler: Trade and autos, Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, fundraising, Jeffrey Epstein, small business optimism, employment, Zoom security flaw, butterfly keyboard, Amazon stores voice, maggots, no insurance for coal, the Internet and ocean rise, Mad Magazine, old codgers, gender reveals
Liquidity Fears Hit Other UK “Equity Funds” as Investors Remain Trapped in Woodford Fund
Shares of one fund plunged 22% on Friday. Other funds under pressure, raising serious questions about just how liquid “equity funds” in the UK are.
