The lead story in the Financial Times tonight is that Germany’s finance minister Olaf Scholz is pushing for an EU-wide deposit scheme…of sorts. Even though Scholz’s plan appears to be more modest than the headlines indicate, even a halting move towards EU-level fiscal commitments would be a significant departure from Germany’s traditional stance of barring […]
Saturday, February 7, 2026
2:00PM Water Cooler 11/5/2019
Today’s Water Cooler: China and EV batteries, Sanders, Steyer, Trump, Warren, AOC, impeachment, Warren’s #MedicareForAll plan, employment, services, international trade, luxury real estate, Bitcoin, California dams, Russian nuclear dumps, how many bathrooms does Jeff Bezos need?
CalPERS Follows Naked Capitalism Recommendation: Does 180 on Emerging Managers by Dumping Managers, Slashing Commitments, Defying Board-Authorized Plan Through 2020
CalPERS has belatedly followed our advice and is radically cutting back on its so-called emerging managers.
Manufacturing Fear and Loathing, Maximizing Corporate Profits! A Review of Matt Taibbi’s Hate Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another
Matt Taibbi’s must-read new book Hate Inc. describes how the media stokes fake conflicts to prevent consideration of real issues.
America Will Keep Losing Its Middle Class as Long as “The Free Market” Dominates the Economic Debate
How free market fundamentalism has undermined industrial policy and other pro-worker measures.
Uber Loses Another $1.2 Billion, Stock Dives Again
Uber manages to bleed even more cash.
2:00PM Water Cooler 11/4/2019
Today’s Water Cooler: Biden, Buttigieg, O’Rourke, Sanders, Trump, Warren, impeachment transcripts, TAP butchers defense of Warren’s #MedicareForAll plan, Wasserman-Schultz, factory orders, AirBnB, wildflower median strips, feral hogs, UAW and CTU, Derek Smalls
What’s Inside That Black Box: What Regulating Data Privacy and Policing Drunk Driving Have in Common
Two recent NYT stories – on data privacy and drunk driving – highlight the dangers of unquestioned reliance on omnipotent back boxes.
Monsanto Wins $7.7 Billion Lawsuit in Brazil – but Farmers’ Fight to Stop its ‘Amoral’ Royalty System Will Continue
Monsanto wins $7.7 billion Brazil lawsuit – thus preventing farmers from saving seeds for replanting if the seeds are harvested from Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready soybeans,.
Why Did Isaac Newton Lose His Shirt in Financial Speculation? Author Alex Pollock Explains.
Trying to predict the financial future is a fool’s errand, even for a genius.
Public Pension Funds Criticized for Profiting From Private Equity’s “Surprise Billing” Abuse
Surprise billing is such a widespread abuse that it is managing to bring private equity chicanery and public pension funds’ tacit support of it to long-overdue public attention.
Flip Flop: UK Halts Fracking in England, Effective Immediately, Over Earthquake Fears
UK halts all fracking in England with immediate effect. On its face, a big win, but will the Tories make the moratorium permanent?
