The pace of rebuilding after the Santa Cruz Mountains wildfire in 2000 bodes ill for the likely speed of Los Angeles reconstruction.
Sunday, September 14, 2025
The Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) Lacks Legal Structure and Promised Transparency
DOGE depends on Elon Musk’s charismatic authority. That’s a bad thing.
Health Care AI, Intended To Save Money, Turns Out To Require a Lot of Expensive Humans
Artificial intelligence systems require consistent monitoring and staffing to put in place and to keep them working well. In essence: You need people, and more machines, to make sure the new tools don’t mess up.
Weaponizing the US Dollar. Can It Work?
Michael Hudson refines and extends recent discussions on the future of the dollar, particularly under Trump, and finance-dominated capitalism
Meet the Cats Who Roam Rikers Island
Even cats in a prison setting find human servants!
2:00PM Water Cooler 1/10/2025
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; New Covid data, Covid and mortality; LA Fires: misinformation; SEIU joins AFL-CIO ~
“In 2025, States Will Flip the Script on Taxes to Make the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share”
State-level activists have been building coalitions to implement higher and more extensive taxes on the wealthy. What are their prospects?
Where is Guaidó 2.0?
While the old Guaidó lives it up in Florida, at somebody’s apparent expense, the new Guaidó, Edmundo González Urritia, appears to be going nowhere.
Polish Foreign Minister Worries that Musk Will Successfully Undermine Ruling Liberal Party in Upcoming Elections; Is Another Romania-Style Election Nullification Possible?
Will Musk’s taste for a US favorite, regime change, include 2025 Polish elections? If so, will the answer be Romania-style extreme measures?
UK Economy Falters as Pound Sterling Continues to Slide
Sustained neoliberalism is exacting a toll on the UK via currency wobbles and reluctance to raise rates in the face of budget pressures.
2:00PM Water Cooler 1/9/2025
By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Patient readers, I am now going to take a nap. Enjoy! Bird Song of the Day Brown Thrasher, Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Upper Talkington Trail, Billings, North Dakota, United States. * * * In Case You Might Miss… Trump’s pivotto the Northern Hemisphere. LA Palisades Fire: This is fine. […]
Beware the Faux Populism of Corporate Democrats
Why the working class needs to make a hostile takeover of the Democrats.
