Today’s Water Cooler: G20, tariffs and automobile supply chains, Iowa no longer first in 2020, suburban Democrats, Twitter pundits, GDP, trade, manufacturing, corporate profits, new home sales, the Fed, climate policy, “the People,” loud restaurants, the headphone jack mourned
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Corporate PACs Plot Counterstrategy to Thwart Campaign Finance Reform
The National Association of Business Political Action Committees (NABPAC), which lobbies on behalf of PACs, believes the problem with America’s system of campaign finance is there’s not enough money in politics.
Don Quijones: Wall Street Mega-Landlord Blackstone Turns Screw on Spanish Government & Property Market
Blackstone is a major operator in the Spanish property market. This post discusses the Spanish government’s plans to enact modest protections for tenants by reforming rent laws. Will the government respond to tenant needs, or give way to the private equity firm’s implicit threat to reduce its Spanish property investments? Alas, it looks likely that the government will fail to deliver on its reform pledge.
How Economists Impede Addressing Climate Change
Earth to economists: you are a big part of the climate change problem.
Brexit Is an Issue Too Deep To Go Away: It Will Be the Theme of English Politics for Decades to Come
Musings about what Brexit will mean to the British people.
2:00PM Water Cooler 11/27/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: Espy v. Hyde-Smith, Pelosi, voting, AOC, consumer confidence, housing, FAA and drones, robot trucks, GM, UAW, scooters, EV charging, farm belt moves north, insect extinction, medieval smiths, the Enlightenment, social networks and the seven deadly sins
Moscow & NATO Playing a ‘Dangerous Tit-For-Tat Game’ in the Ukraine
The Ukraine-Russia row heats up again.
Overshadowed By Opioids, Meth Is Back And Hospitalizations Surge
An update on the meth epidemic.
You May Not Actually Own Your Bitcoin: Legal Expert
Yet another reason to be leery of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
White House Doubles Down On Coal Despite New Climate Report
Yet more official climate change denialism…
2:00PM Water Cooler 11/26/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: China trade, Tesla in China, aluminum, Sanders 2020, Beto 2020, Trump 2020, HAVA, legitimacy, national activity index, manufacturing, the environment, “Pistachio Wars”, white privilege, burgers
Post Office Privatization Thrust Awaits (Stalled) Publication of Trump Task Force Report
The Post Office, its Universal Service Obligation, privatization efforts, how (and possibly why) those efforts are stalled.
Leftist “Useful Idiots” Continue Their War on Wages via Mass Immigration (Australia)
“Fake left” plays directly into the hands of the capitalist elites that they supposedly oppose.
