Today’s Water Cooler: Trade war and tariffs, Booker, Buttigeig and the local cops, Festival of Sanders, centrist Democrats and “electability,” manufacturing, construction, bonds, climate and financial risk, self-checkout and crapification
Monday, August 25, 2025
Consumers Are Changing But Perhaps Not How You Think
Deloitte report reveals that millennial consumers will not change the world, and that their consumption patterns reflect the pressures that burden the middle class.
St. Louis Fed Study Shows Rising Level of Financial Desperation Among the Poor, Hidden by Aggregates
A new St. Louis Fed analysis shows the wealth of areas in financial distress deteriorated from 2015 to 2018, reversing a pattern of gains that had started in 2010.
‘Gatekeeper Mentality’ of DCCC Blacklist Adding to Divisions Within Democratic Party
Backlash against policy of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to blacklist vendors who work with anyone—including primary challengers—who run against an incumbent Democrat.
Michael Klare: US Plans to Muscle Up for “Great Power” Conflict With China
The US military wants to be able to take on China. A little late for that.
War on Cash: UK Cash Deserts
Latest news in the War on Cash: the problem of cash deserts in the UK – areas abandoned by banks, for economic reasons, and that lack ATMs. These tend to be rural areas, or areas of economic deprivation.
Ecological Importance and Human Rights Be Damned, Trump Admin Says Fossil Fuel Pillaging in Arctic Refuge Coming Soon
Interior administration official promises to offer fossil fuel leases for sale in 2019 to allow drilling in previously pristine Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to commence.
The Intergenerational Effects of a Large Wealth Shock: Evidence from the US Civil War
The US Civil War did not do lasting damage to the economic position of wealthy slaveholding famiies.
Why Democratic Presidential Candidates May Have to Choose Between Teacher Pay Raises and Charter Schools
Florida becomes a charter school battleground as communities fight a state law that diverts some of the proceeds from bond offererings, even ones approved for public school teacher salaries, to charter schools.
2:00PM Water Cooler 5/31/2019
Today’s Water Cooler: Open Thread
Consumer Contracts Restatement Delayed: Consumers Win…For Now
Following pushback from Elizabeth Warren, state attorneys general, and both consumer advocates and business groups, consumer contracts restatement delayed – for now.
