Today’s Water Cooler: Open thread.
Recent Items
Saturday, February 7, 2026
2:00PM Water Cooler 8/29/2018
Topics: Guest Post, Water Cooler
Posted by Lambert Strether at 2:00 pm | 101 Comments »
Why I Hate The New York Times Front Page Redesign
Moar crapification.
Topics: Banana republic, Guest Post, Media watch, Politics, Ridiculously obvious scams
Posted by Lambert Strether at 1:45 pm | 57 Comments »
Links 8/29/18
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 227 Comments »
Matt Taibbi on Facebook and Google Playing the Censor
Matt Taibbi weighs in on how tech giants are endangering your civil liberties.
Topics: Media watch, Politics, Surveillance state, Technology and innovation
Posted by Yves Smith at 4:29 am | 40 Comments »
TSB: Why Are So Few Customers Leaving a Bank that Trampled on Them?
Despite months of IT mayhem and all kinds of problems, customers cling to TSB Bank in the UK.
Topics: Banana republic, Banking industry, Guest Post, Technology and innovation
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:20 am | 27 Comments »
A Stopped Clock Asks Two Good Questions — Will Trump Resign? Will Democrats Impeach Him?
Looking at presumed end-games for the pursuit of Trump.
Topics: Banana republic, Legal, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 12:40 am | 111 Comments »
2:00PM Water Cooler 8/28/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: Trade, elite impunity, “Ratface Andy,” the midterms, Stormy Daniels, free college, NV machine voting debacle, consumer confidence, manufacturing, Aramco, poverty
Topics: Water Cooler
Posted by Lambert Strether at 2:00 pm | 128 Comments »
America’s Broken Retirement System is a Recipe for Political Chaos
Bolstering, rather than cutting, Social Security is the solution to America’s retirement train wreck.
Topics: Dubious statistics, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Income disparity, Macroeconomic policy, Politics, Social policy, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 90 Comments »
Links 8/28/18
Topics: Guest Post, Links
Posted by Lambert Strether at 6:55 am | 225 Comments »
White-Collar Criminals Got Off Scot-Free After the 2008 Financial Crisis — and That Helped Fuel President Trump’s Rise
Ten years later, Trump’s rise to power is a consequence of poor governance.
Topics: Banana republic, Banking industry, Credit markets, Doomsday scenarios, Guest Post, Legal, Politics, Regulations and regulators
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:48 am | 74 Comments »
Why Marcie Frost’s Shoddy Resume Alone Was Reason Not to Hire Her at CalPERS
Did any member of the CalPERS Board actually read the words in Frost’s resume?
Topics: Banana republic, CalPERS, Corporate governance, Investment management
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:42 am | 29 Comments »
Will Saudi Arabia’s Geopolitical Strategy Backfire?
Yves here. Perhaps because the author assumes readers are already familiar with this part of the Saudi story, the kingdom is facing serious budgetary pressures even with oil now over $70 a barrel. Stability has been achieved only by generous payments to the populace at large. Take that away and the legitimacy of the government […]
Topics: Energy markets, Guest Post, Middle East, Politics, Russia
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:30 am | 11 Comments »
2:00PM Water Cooler 8/27/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: Trump NAFTA deal, Elizabeth Warren, ICE, manufacturing, housing, AirBnB, AI and robot cars, placebos, social determinants of health, pipeline protests, platform capitalism
Topics: Guest Post, Water Cooler
Posted by Lambert Strether at 2:00 pm | 97 Comments »
CalPERS’ CEO Marcie Frost’s Misrepresentations Regarding Her Education and Work History During and After Her Hiring
Another apparent case of employment fraud at CalPERS, this time with CEO Marcie Frost as the perp.
Topics: Banana republic, CalPERS, Corporate governance, Investment management, Japan, Ridiculously obvious scams
Posted by Yves Smith at 10:11 am | 54 Comments »
Cover-Up of CalPERS’ CEO Frost’s Misrepresentations of Her History: Document Destruction/Loss at CalPERS, Pressure on The Evergreen State College
While CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost’s cover-up of her resume misrepresentations is not worse than her crime, it looks awfully guilty.
Topics: Banana republic, CalPERS, Corporate governance, Legal
Posted by Yves Smith at 10:10 am | 24 Comments »


