Monthly Archives: August 2020

August 31, 2020

• CalPERS Misappropriates Funds, a Violation of the Criminal Code, By Laundering $40,000 Speaker Fee Through Randle Communications, a Nearly $500,000 a Year Advisor to Marcie Frost
  by Yves Smith 10:13 pm

• Don’t “Trust the Science,” Trust Science While You Hone Your Critical Thinking Skills
  by Lambert Strether 5:25 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/31/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Wolf Richter: The State of the American Restaurant, City by City
  by Lambert Strether 11:55 am

• Links 8/31/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Devastating Lawsuit Targets Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Bayer Board Members and Executives Over Disastrous Monsanto Acquisition
  by Yves Smith 6:09 am

• How Should the European Union Respond to Rising Greece-Turkey Tensions?
  by Yves Smith 12:13 am

August 30, 2020

• Permafrost, the Cryosphere, the Biosphere, and Climate Change
  by Lambert Strether 5:25 pm

• Links 8/30/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• 54 Million People in the U.S. May Go Hungry During Pandemic—Can Urban Farms Help?
  by Lambert Strether 5:55 am

August 29, 2020

• Links 8/29/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• The Rotten Alliance of Liberals and Neocons Will Likely Shape U.S. Foreign Policy for Years to Come
  by Yves Smith 5:01 am

• More Giveaways to Capitalist Finance? It’s High Time To Change the Objective
  by Yves Smith 4:09 am

August 28, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/28/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• The Effect of International Scrutiny on Manufacturing Workers: Evidence from the Rana Plaza Collapse in Bangladesh
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/28/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Delayed Second Stimulus Already Leading to Cuts in Grocery Store Spending
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Tom Ferguson: Biden Blurring Almost Everything
  by Yves Smith 5:59 am

• You Know In Your Heart That the Day of Real Resistance Is Coming
  by Yves Smith 1:50 am

August 27, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/27/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• ‘Threadbare’ US System Denounced as Study Shows 12 Million Lost Employer-Tied Health Care During Pandemic
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/27/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Emergency Situation: The Slow-Moving Tragedy of the Russian Arctic
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Another COVID Mystery: Patients Survive Ventilator, But Linger in a Coma
  by Yves Smith 5:21 am

• CalPERS Board Member Theresa Taylor, Under Investigation for Multi-Year Failure to Report Income, Digs Her and CalPERS’ Hole Deeper Via Supporting Conflicted Actions Taken by Ex-Chief Investment Officer Meng
  by Yves Smith 12:40 am

August 26, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/26/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• How Do Banks Create Money?
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/26/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Columbia Journalism Review Publishes Detailed Expose on Gates Foundation Buys Influence With Journalists
  by Yves Smith 5:44 am

• Summer Rerun: Journey into a Libertarian Future: Part III – Regulation
  by Yves Smith 5:16 am

• Robot Generals: Will They Make Better Decisions Than Humans – Or Worse?
  by Yves Smith 1:09 am

August 25, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/25/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• World Bank’s ‘Mobilizing Finance for Development’ Not Financing Development
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/25/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• The Wealth of Corporations: Why Firms Have Zero Net Worth, and Why It Matters
  by Yves Smith 6:53 am

• Foreign Direct Investment and Supply Chains in a Risky World
  by Yves Smith 6:19 am

August 24, 2020

• Former Board Member Jelincic: CalPERS Claims It Is Protecting Confidential, as in Criminal, Informants in Hiding Details About Lending
  by Yves Smith 10:42 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/24/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Koch Influence Taints New Tufts-Based Think Thank: The Tentacles of the Mercatus Center
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 9:55 am

• Links 8/24/2020
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 6:55 am

• A Levels: Government’s U-Turn Has Left Universities in the Lurch
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 5:55 am

• New York City Faces Another “Drop Dead”: How Many Other Cities Will Wind Up in Distress?
  by Yves Smith 4:33 am

• Covid-19: Carmageddon Beckons Unless Work from Home Continues
  by Yves Smith 2:44 am

August 23, 2020

• Paltry Flint Toxic Water Settlement: Let’s NOT Kill All the Lawyers (at Least Not Some of Them)
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 9:55 am

• Links 8/23/2020
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 6:55 am

• ‘They Have Nowhere To Run’: Inmate Families, Advocates Push for Prisoner Release as California Wildfires Engulf State
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 5:55 am

August 22, 2020

• Links 8/22/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Something Remarkable Just Happened This August: How the Pandemic Has Sped Up the Passage to Postcapitalism
  by Yves Smith 4:20 am

• Earl Katz: Regenerative Agriculture and Massive Planting of Trees is Our Only Hope
  by Yves Smith 3:02 am

August 21, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/21/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• How the Agricultural Lobby Is Sabotaging Europe’s Green Deal
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/21/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Looting, American Style: CEOs Get Big Pre-Bankruptcy Bonuses Even When Lenders and Employees Stiffed
  by Yves Smith 2:43 am

• Saudi Arabia Refuses To Learn From Its Two Failed Oil Price Wars
  by Yves Smith 1:32 am

• Global Warming Is Accelerating. (In Other News, Democrats Reverse Platform, Won’t End Fossil Fuel Subsidies)
  by Yves Smith 12:31 am

August 20, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/20/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Cloth Masks Do Protect the Wearer – Breathing in Less Coronavirus Means You Get Less Sick
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/20/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Journey into a Libertarian Future: Part II – The Strategy
  by Yves Smith 6:45 am

• How Dairy Monopolies Keep Milk Off the Shelves
  by Yves Smith 5:58 am

• Apollo’s Leon Black, Found in Serial Child Rapist Jeffrey Epstein’s Black Book, Patronized Strip Club in Russia With Trump
  by Yves Smith 2:54 am

August 19, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/19/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Fiscal Austerity and the Rise of the Nazis
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/19/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Fed Economists Finger Monopoly Concentration as Underlying Driver of Neoliberal Economic Restructuring; Barry Lynn in Harpers and Fortnite Lawsuit Put Hot Light on Tech Monopoly Power
  by Yves Smith 6:50 am

• As Courts Re-Open, Britain’s Renters Must Confront the Power of Landlords
  by Yves Smith 4:23 am

August 18, 2020

• Has CalPERS Come Clean With Its Board Over Pending $500 Million Carlyle Deal, Tainted by Ownership of Carlyle Shares by Departed CIO Ben Meng?
  by Yves Smith 11:01 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/18/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Mortgage Delinquencies Jump by Most Ever. 60-Day Delinquencies Hit Highest Level Ever. Record 16% of FHA Mortgages Delinquent. What a Mess
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/18/2020
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 6:55 am

• Grim Future of Cities: State’s Growing Budget Hole Threatens New York City Jobs, Services
  by Yves Smith 5:54 am

• Major General Dennis Laich: Pentagon Needs a Bad Guy
  by Yves Smith 3:16 am

• What Will the Real American Resistance Look Like — Chaotic Rebellion or Organized General Strikes?
  by Yves Smith 12:42 am

August 17, 2020

• “Everything’s Fine”: The Comfortable, the Afflicted, the Beakwetters, the Gaslit
  by Lambert Strether 4:55 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/17/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• UK Government Accused of New “U-Turn” on Local Covid Contact Tracing with Outsourcing Giants Serco and Sitel
  by Lambert Strether 10:55 am

• Links 8/17/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Brawl Over Mayberry v. KKR: Big Hearing Monday Over One Contested Issue, Whether Attorney General Can Intervene in Kentucky Retirement Systems Case
  by Yves Smith 6:08 am

• Preparing for the COVID-19 Third Wave: The Case for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
  by Yves Smith 4:57 am

August 16, 2020

• Mauritius Oil Spill Tragedy: How and Why the MV Wakashio Ran Aground, and Aftermath
  by Lambert Strether 4:55 pm

• Links 8/16/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• COVID Data Failures Create Pressure for Public Health System Overhaul
  by Lambert Strether 6:18 am

August 15, 2020

• Links 8/15/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Scientists Seek to Collect Ice Core Samples Before Glaciers and Ice Sheets Melt
  by Yves Smith 4:09 am

• Universal Testing: An Overlooked Covid-19 Policy Response
  by Yves Smith 3:51 am

August 14, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/14/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• The A Levels Results Crisis and the Covid Education Train Wreck
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/14/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Summer Rerun: Journey Into a Libertarian Future: Part I –The Vision
  by Yves Smith 6:06 am

• ‘Morality Pills’ May Be the US’s Best Shot at Ending the Coronavirus Pandemic, According to One Ethicist
  by Yves Smith 4:41 am

• The Pandemic Has Revealed America’s Zip Code Map of Inequality
  by Yves Smith 12:45 am

August 13, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/13/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• The Bakken Boom Goes Bust With No Money to Clean up the Mess
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 9:55 am

• Links 8/13/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Mauritius Oil Spill Tragedy
  by Yves Smith 6:51 am

August 12, 2020

• CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost Moonlights? Implausibly Denies Relationship With Top Speakers’ Bureau
  by Yves Smith 11:15 pm

• House Democrats Introduce Urgent Bill to End ‘Deliberate Sabotage’ of Postal Service by Postmaster General
  by Yves Smith 10:55 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/12/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Wolf Richter: No, Americans Aren’t Suddenly Flying Again, Despite What the Media Said Today to Boost Stocks of Airlines and Boeing
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 9:55 am

• Links 8/12/2020
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 6:55 am

• “Savings Glut” Fables and International Trade Theory: An Autopsy
  by Yves Smith 2:55 am

August 11, 2020

• CalPERS Preliminary Returns Inconsistent with Other CalPERS Data; CalPERS Refuses to ‘Splain Even Though It Ought to be Easy
  by Yves Smith 11:18 pm

• Re-Localizing Industry, One Thing at a Time
  by Yves Smith 11:10 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/11/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Trump EPA Poised to Weaken Obama Methane Rule, Despite Possibility of Later CRA Overturn
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 9:55 am

• Links 8/11/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• The TPP Is Dead! Long Live the TPP!
  by Yves Smith 5:32 am

• Covid-19 Shortages Continue and Could Get Worse
  by Yves Smith 5:14 am

• Racial Disparity in COVID-19 Deaths: Seeking Economic Roots in Census Data
  by Yves Smith 3:46 am

August 10, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/10/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness of Any COVID Vaccine
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 9:55 am

• Links 8/10/2020
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 6:55 am

• Hubert Horan: Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Twenty-Three: Uber’s Already Hopelessly Unprofitable Economics Take A Major Coronavirus Hit
  by Yves Smith 6:30 am

August 9, 2020

• CalPERS Digs Its Ben Meng Defenestration Hole Deeper: Claims Knowledge of Abuse Months Ago; Notice for Emergency Closed Session Legally Invalid Unless CEO Frost’s Job Is on the Line
  by Yves Smith 11:25 pm

• COVID-19 Survivors Face Lifetime of Disability
  by Yves Smith 11:20 pm

• Links 8/9/2020
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 6:55 am

• COVID-19 and the California Prison Crisis: 24th San Quentin Inmate Dies Last Friday
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 6:50 am

• Wind Farms Built on Carbon-Rich Peat Bogs Lose Their Ability to Fight Climate Change
  by Jerri-Lynn Scofield 4:55 am

August 8, 2020

• Links 8/8/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Larry Wilkerson: The Danger of War With China is Real and Insane
  by Yves Smith 3:29 am

• Why Capitalism Is in Constant Conflict With Democracy
  by Yves Smith 2:52 am

August 7, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/7/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Patrick Cockburn: War and Pandemic Journalism
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/7/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Crapification, Vanguard Style: Customer Service Rep Bullies Your Humble Blogger into Taking Security Risk
  by Yves Smith 6:46 am

• Stimulus Talks on Verge of Failure as Both Sides Trade Blame
  by Yves Smith 6:41 am

• Why Taiwan Is at the Heart of a Geopolitical Struggle to Produce Cutting-Edge Computer Chips
  by Yves Smith 5:30 am

August 6, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/6/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Peter Kuznick: Why Did Americans Accept Barbaric Slaughter of Japanese Civilians?
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/6/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng Resigns Following Our Exposing His False, Felonious Financial Disclosure Filings and Private Equity Conflicts of Interest
  by Yves Smith 5:35 am

• Mass Gatherings Contributed to Early COVID-19 Mortality: Evidence from US Sports
  by Yves Smith 5:24 am

• Why International Financial Regulation Still Falls Short
  by Yves Smith 5:08 am

August 5, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/5/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• International Trade Has Cost Americans Millions of Jobs. Investing in Communities Might Offset Those Losses
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/5/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Washington Going Full Andrew Mellon as Stimulus Talks Drag, Inadequate Support Guaranteed
  by Yves Smith 6:00 am

• Remembering John Weeks
  by Yves Smith 5:49 am

• Preserve Our Post Office, Before It’s Too Late
  by Yves Smith 5:14 am

August 4, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/4/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Call for ‘Emergency Charity Stimulus’ as Billionaire Wealth Soars and US Nonprofits Sink
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 8/4/2020
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Hubert Horan: The Airline Industry Collapse Part 3 – Recovery Expectations Were Always Dreadfully Wrong
  by Yves Smith 6:00 am

• How’s Your Economy, Small Businesses Death Watch Edition
  by Yves Smith 4:25 am

• Is Silicon Valley Nudging Us Towards an Authoritarian Future?
  by Yves Smith 2:43 am

August 3, 2020

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 8/3/2020
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Rents Swoon in San Francisco, Other Expensive Cities, TX-OK Oil Patch Y/Y. But 23 Cities with Double-Digit Rent Increases
  by Lambert Strether 12:25 pm

• Links 8/3/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Homeowners Beware: Mortgage Servicers Still Can’t or Won’t Shoot Straight
  by Yves Smith 6:00 am

August 2, 2020

• CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng Made False, Felonious Financial Disclosure Report; More Proof of Lack of Compliance Under Marcie Frost
  by Yves Smith 11:45 pm

• So What’s With Those Weird Seed Packets from China?
  by Lambert Strether 4:55 pm

• Links 8/2/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• How to Laugh Away the Far-Right: Lessons from Germany
  by Lambert Strether 6:45 am

August 1, 2020

• Links 8/1/2020
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Austria Confirms OPCW Report On Skripal Faking by the British – Vienna Exposes Financial Times Lies and Cover-Up
  by Yves Smith 3:14 am

• The Hijacking of Police Reform by Wealthy Opportunists Resembles the Harm Done to Public Schools
  by Yves Smith 2:22 am