Monthly Archives: February 2025

February 28, 2025

• Coffee Break: End-of-the-Week Thoughts on Science and Other Matters Arising
  by KLG 2:15 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/28/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Over-Planting of GM Corn Costing Farmers Billions, Study Finds
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/28/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• What Could Possibly Be Worse Than Carbon Credit Markets? Water Credit Markets. And They Could Be On Their Way
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• Charlie Krauss: What the Enron Egg Says About AI’s Nuclear Courtship
  by Yves Smith 6:00 am

• Changing of the Guard: Lambert’s Weekend Finale as New Writers Take Up Posts
  by Yves Smith 5:50 am

February 27, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/27/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• “COL. Douglas Macgregor : Why Is Trump Arming Ukraine?”
  by Yves Smith 10:36 am

• Links 2/27/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Capital as Power in the 21st Century: A Conversation
  by Yves Smith 6:49 am

• With RFK Jr. in Charge, Supplement Makers See Chance To Cash In
  by Yves Smith 6:13 am

• Demand for Electricity Takes Off. US Power Generation by Source in 2024: Natural Gas, Coal, Nuclear, Wind, Hydro, Solar, Geothermal, Biomass, Petroleum
  by Yves Smith 1:44 am

February 26, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/26/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Trump Will End His Option of Walking Away from Project Ukraine with His Minerals Deal
  by Yves Smith 11:05 am

• Links 2/26/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• COVID-19 in Context: A Retrospective View
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• US Secondary Sanctions “Have Seriously Damaged” Russia-China Bilateral Cooperation
  by Yves Smith 6:33 am

• The Frog or the Scorpion: Do Democrats Really Need to Ask Who Caused the Mess We’re In?
  by Yves Smith 12:30 am

February 25, 2025

• Announcing 2025 Water Cooler Fundraiser for Lambert’s Gold Retirement Watch (and Work Done in 2024)
  by Lambert Strether 3:25 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/25/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• America First Deepens World Stagnation
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/25/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:58 am

• Larry Ellison’s Dark Vision for OUR Future
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• Hubert Horan: Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Thirty-Five: What Drove Uber’s Recent $8 Billion P&L Improvement?
  by Yves Smith 5:58 am

• Can Europe Resist Concessions to Russia in Trump’s Ukraine Agreement?
  by Yves Smith 5:50 am

February 24, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/24/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Minority Reports: How Endowment Effect Would Make Ukraine Mineral Deal as a Tar Baby; Brian Berletic on US Preserving USAID Regime Change Capabilities; John Helmer on Shambolic US Conduct of Ukraine Negotiations
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/24/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Rethinking Unemployment Insurance: New Evidence on Hidden Costs
  by Lambert Strether 6:54 am

• Germany Holds an Election in an Alternate Reality 
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• The Recent Weakness in the German Manufacturing Sector
  by Yves Smith 4:59 am

February 23, 2025

• We’ve Been Here Before: A Review of Thomas Frank’s “The Wrecking Crew”
  by Lambert Strether 5:25 pm

• Links 2/23/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Pain Clinics Made Millions From ‘Unnecessary’ Injections Into ‘Human Pin Cushions’
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

February 22, 2025

• Links 2/22/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Cuts to U.S. Weather and Climate Research Could Put Public Safety at Risk
  by Yves Smith 5:21 am

• “How Can Europe Respond to the Ukraine Standoff?”
  by Yves Smith 5:03 am

February 21, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/21/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• New Suit Seeks Clawback of >$4 Billion of Fines and Insider Trading Profits from TD Bank Executives Earned While Running Decade+ Massive Money Laundering Schemes
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/21/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Claudia Sheinbaum Launches Initiative to Bolster Mexican Sovereignty As Trump Officially Declares Cartels as Terrorists
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• A Fiscal Crisis Is Looming for Many US Cities
  by Yves Smith 5:56 am

• Blackouts Are Becoming the Norm—Can the U.S. Power Grid Be Saved?
  by Yves Smith 2:00 am

February 20, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/20/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Guantánamo, Donald Trump’s “Immigrant Problem,” and the Rest of Us
  by Yves Smith 10:48 am

• Links 2/20/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 am

• Musk Is Lying About Waste and Fraud in Social Security to Have an Excuse to Kill It
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• EU Consumers Don’t Trust US Goods: A Look into Trump’s Trade Deficit Claims
  by Yves Smith 6:53 am

• Charles Kindleberger, the Dollar System, and Financial Crises
  by Yves Smith 1:46 am

February 19, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/19/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• The Bazooka Diplomacy of Trump’s Tariffs
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/19/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• BRICS, Boers, and Preparing for Conflict With China in South Africa: Examining the US Pressure Campaign
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• After We Amplified Warnings of Wildly Overvalued Unicorns, They Crash and Burn
  by Yves Smith 5:55 am

• “What Is the Mainstream Media Missing About Elon Musk? He Is Instituting Technocracy”
  by Yves Smith 3:46 am

February 18, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/18/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Trump’s No-Prisoners Approach to Iran-China Oil Crackdown
  by Yves Smith 9:56 am

• Links 2/18/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:58 am

• Just How Far Could the Fallout from Javier Milei’s $LIBRA Coin “Rug Pull” Scandal Reach?
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• “We Must Fund Oppositions Properly to Save Democracy”
  by Yves Smith 5:55 am

• Who Is Driving the Global Privatization of Domestic Infrastructure?
  by Yves Smith 12:18 am

February 17, 2025

• DOGEbag Roundup: Horrid Website, This Week’s Agency Targets, Sociology of DOGE
  by Lambert Strether 6:52 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/17/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• We Are Restoring Comments
  by Yves Smith 7:05 am

• Hoisted from Comments: A Discussion of China’s Faltering Growth
  by Yves Smith 7:03 am

• Links 2/17/2025
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• A Win in Long-Running Kentucky Retirement Systems Pension Case: Attorney General Thwarted in Scheme to Settle Claims Against KKR and Blackstone on the Cheap
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Climate Crisis Is Causing a Chocolate Market Meltdown: Study
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 16, 2025

• Links 2/16/2025
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• How Much More Is Europe Prepared to Lose? 
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• US Export Controls and the Restructuring of Global Value Chains: An Analysis of Japanese Multinationals’ Exits From China
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 15, 2025

• Is Trump Poisoning the Prospects of Negotiation With Russia Over Ukraine with His Minerals Deal?
  by Yves Smith 9:49 am

• Links 2/15/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:56 am

• Interview: How Elon Musk Blurs the Lines of Free Speech
  by Yves Smith 5:21 am

• Will Some EU States Seize Russia’s “Shadow Fleet” In The Baltic?
  by Yves Smith 4:57 am

February 14, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/14/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• ‘Going Against Trump Policies Is Not Fraud’: White House Panned Over Absurd Defense of DOGE
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/14/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• How Real and Sustainable Is Argentina’s Much-Touted Economic Recovery?
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• How Climate Denial is Fueling a U.S. Homeowners Insurance Crisis and Risking a 2008-Style Financial Meltdown
  by Yves Smith 6:44 am

• Europe’s Challenge and Opportunity in the Trump Era: Building Coalitions of the Willing
  by Yves Smith 6:43 am

February 13, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/13/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Initial Thoughts on US-Russia Talks on Ukraine War as Ukraine and EU Have Nervous Breakdowns
  by Yves Smith 10:35 am

• Links 2/13/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• ‘Make America Healthy Again’ by Transforming Animal Agriculture
  by Yves Smith 6:20 am

• Global Value Chains in a World of Uncertainty and Automation
  by Yves Smith 5:48 am

• The Golden Goose: The Consequences of Trump’s War on American Universities
  by Yves Smith 1:19 am

February 12, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/12/2025: DOGEbags to Infest Entire Federal Government with Bolshevik-Style Parallel Party Structure
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Trump’s Shock Doctrine: Uncertainty and the Repudiation of Contracts
  by Yves Smith 10:20 am

• Links 2/12/2025
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• KLG: The Engineering Ideal in Biology and Its Utility or Disutility
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• Chaos Theory: Assessing the Legal Validity of Trump’s Tariffs
  by Yves Smith 6:35 am

• Mr. Treasury Market Tells Fed It Is Even More Worried About Inflation
  by Yves Smith 4:54 am

February 11, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/11/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Imperialism (Still) Rules
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/11/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Is Washington Setting Its Sights on Mexico’s Former President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador?
  by Nick Corbishley 6:54 am

• KLG: “If the Overhead Cuts to NIH and NSF Grants Go Through Without Changes, Academic Biomedical and Other Research in the US Will Crumble into Dust”
  by Yves Smith 6:50 am

• The Execution of the CFPB: Capitalism Survives Another Attempt to Save It
  by Yves Smith 1:55 am

February 10, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/10/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Climate Minsky Moments: Why They May Matter Less Than Expected
  by Lambert Strether 9:55 am

• We Are Disabling Comments
  by Yves Smith 8:00 am

• US History of Duplicity Means Impossibility of Negotiated Settlements, Including Ukraine; Could a Government in Exile Be Coming?
  by Yves Smith 7:45 am

• Links 2/10/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Paradise Is a Police State: Examining the Techno-Optimism of Billionaire Silicon Valley Investor (And Unofficial Trump Administration Adviser) Marc Andreessen
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• ‘So Much for Lowering Costs’: Fury Over Musk’s Death Wish for CFPB That Returned Over $20 Billion to Consumers
  by Yves Smith 5:16 am

February 9, 2025

• Southern District of NY Pauses DOGE Data Hoovering in State AG’s Case: The Issues, and an Excursion into Federalist 51
  by Lambert Strether 6:55 pm

• Links 2/9/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• On the Front Lines Against Bird Flu, Egg Farmers Say They’re Losing the Battle
  by Lambert Strether 6:50 am

February 8, 2025

• Links 2/8/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Medicaid Work Requirements Could Boot 36 Million People Off Their Health Coverage: Report
  by Yves Smith 5:46 am

• It’s Going to be Torture as the Path to Starmer’s Inevitable Demise Is Rolled Out
  by Yves Smith 5:19 am

February 7, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/7/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Is Trump Serious About Trying to Close the Private Equity Carried Interest Loophole?
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/7/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Oil for Migrants: Did the Trump Administration Just Reset US Diplomatic Relations With Venezuela?
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• Even US Messaging Outlet RFE/RL Having Trouble Prettying Up Trump Planning to Buy Ukraine Rare Earths Empty Bag
  by Yves Smith 6:00 am

• James K. Galbraith Discusses His New Book, Entropy Economics, Plus DOGE, Bitcoin and Tariffs
  by Yves Smith 12:55 am

February 6, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/6/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• ICE Faking News: Games Search Engines to Make Mass Deportations Appear Way More Massive Than They Are
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/6/2025
  by Lambert Strether 6:58 am

• Hubert Horan: Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Thirty-Four – Tony West’s Calamitous Legacy at Uber and with the Kamala Harris Campaign
  by Yves Smith 6:50 am

• Artificial Intelligence and Financial Stability
  by Yves Smith 6:07 am

• Hottest January in the History of Januaries
  by Yves Smith 1:37 am

February 5, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/5/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• The Mass Deportation Handoff, Biden to Trump
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/5/2025
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Does Trump’s Attempted “Dismantling” of Spook-Infested, Regime Change Agency USAID Herald a New Foreign Policy Era?
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

• Life After Lambert Update: KLG to Provide Weekly Health/Pandemic “Coffee Break”; Still Seeking Help in Finding New Site Contributor(s), Including for Other “Coffee Breaks”
  by Yves Smith 3:30 am

• Michael Hudson: Trump’s Tariffs Could Cause Huge Global Crisis
  by Yves Smith 1:11 am

• Trump Commits to Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza
  by Yves Smith 12:15 am

February 4, 2025

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/4/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Rob Urie: To End Oligarchy, End Finance Capitalism
  by Yves Smith 9:55 am

• Links 2/4/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• What Just Happened to UK TBTF Lender Barclays’ Online Banking Services, and What Could It Mean for the Wider World?
  by Nick Corbishley 6:45 am

• New Filing Details How Crooked Attorney Ann Oldfather and Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman Conspired to Sell Out Underwater Pension Funds and Taxpayers to the Tune of Hundreds of Millions, Even >$1 Billion, in Lost Recoveries
  by Yves Smith 6:38 am

• AI’s Impending Information Crisis
  by Yves Smith 1:58 am

February 3, 2025

• Tankus and Kelton on Musk’s DOGE Seizing Treasury’s Payments Chokepoint. But Where Are The Lawyers?
  by Lambert Strether 6:25 pm

• 2:00PM Water Cooler 2/3/2025
  by Lambert Strether 2:00 pm

• Links 2/3/2025
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Trump Declares Economic War on Just About Everyone That Matters. Is a Smash-Up a Feature and Not a Bug? Update: Mexico One Month Pause. Who Blinked?
  by Yves Smith 6:54 am

• How Do We Get Competent Politicians?
  by Conor Gallagher 4:00 am

• Meditation and Mindfulness at Work Are Welcome, but Do They Help Avoid Accountability for Toxic Culture?
  by Yves Smith 2:23 am

February 2, 2025

• Links 2/2/2025
  by Conor Gallagher 6:55 am

• Will It Matter Who Wins Germany’s Upcoming Election or Will Country’s Fate Largely Be Decided in Washington?
  by Conor Gallagher 6:00 am

• California Blesses Political Donors’ Strategy to ‘Multiply Their Influence’
  by Conor Gallagher 5:00 am

February 1, 2025

• Links 2/1/2025
  by Yves Smith 6:55 am

• Migrant Vendors Park Carts as Their American Dreams Slip Away
  by Yves Smith 6:53 am

• Book Bans
  by Yves Smith 6:24 am