Why recent employment statistics are giving an unduly rosy picture of the state of the US labor market.
Saturday, February 7, 2026
2:00PM Water Cooler 5/9/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: Belt and Road, NAFTA, Cory Booker, Joe Biden, billionaires and the Iran deal, prices, capital investment, shadow finance, Google and AI, Comcast and net neutrality, Schneiderman
How Tax Evasion Increases Inequality
Total tax evasion among the top 0.01% in Scandinavia is roughly 10 times the level of the population at large.
20% of Inmates in California Jails on Psychotropic Medications
Why are inmates in California jails being medicated at much higher rates than in the past?
Can Canada’s Mutual Help Financial Organizations for Disenfranchised Blacks Serve as a Model for the Un and Underbanked in the US?
Are Canada’s mutual-assistance-based financial groups a guide for how minority and disadvantaged groups can escape the tax of overpriced bank services like check cashing?
Europe Buys More Russian Gas Despite Strained Relations
Russia remains very much entwined in Europe’s economy.
2:00PM Water Cooler 5/8/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: NAFTA, WTO, trade and manufacturing, Democrat messaging, Manchin v. Swearengin, small business optimism, credit, trucking employment, Alden Global Capital ad the press, BS jobs
Globalisation, Government Popularity, and the Great Skill Divide
How do voter reactions to globalisation vary by skill level?
SEC Gives Private Equity Firm Welsh Carson a Wet Noodle Lashing Over Purchasing Kickback Abuse
More SEC enforcement theater on the private equity front.
Warren Buffett’s Mortgage Companies Engage in Alleged Discrimination Against Minority Borrowers, Violating Fair Housing Act
An investigative report suggests that Berkshire Hathaway’s mortgage lending operation discriminates against minority borrowers.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman Resigns Due to Sexual Assault Allegations, After Getting Away With Selling Out Homeowners
Good riddance to Eric Schneiderman.
2:00PM Water Cooler 5/7/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: NAFTA, primaries, employment, lithium, cobalt, coffee, oil, robot cars, terms of service agreements, volcanoes, Liz Phair, automobile repairs
Tyler Cowen, Koch Brothers Funding, Mercatus Center, George Mason University, and Academic Freedom
Recent documents disclose how private money, from the Koch Brothers, among others, curtailed academic freedom at George Mason University, its Antonin Scalia Law School, and its associated Mercatus Center.
