~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Trump strategy; Taleb: Tech firms “grey swans”? Ortberg soothes the analysts; Andreessen predicts AI-driven wage crash (and that’s a good thing); “Human Reproduction as Prisoner’s Dilemma” ~
Monday, March 10, 2025
The Planet Had 58 Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in 2024, The Second-Highest on Record
The world endured three of top-20 costliest disasters in 2024, its fifth-deadliest wildfire, and three heat waves with over 1,000 deaths
After “Gulf of America” Rebranding, Will Trump Admin Set Its Sights on Mexico’s Oil and Gas?
What’s in a simple name change? It seems like potentially quite a lot.
Federal Threats Against Local Officials Who Don’t Cooperate with Immigration Orders Could Be Unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia Ruled Against Similar Plans
Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration push is on a collision course with states’ rights to control policing. Which might prevail/
Cut Flowers, Coffee, and a Geopolitical Shock
Colombia and coffee and flowers, or how successful bullying does not necessarily translate into durable wins.
2:00PM Water Cooler 1/27/2025
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Trump’s first week; Democrats for 2028;
Surviving pandemics ~
What France Loses by Closing Its Military Bases in Africa
What happens when a former colonial power like France loses one of the key implements of its control?
The Growing Inequality in Life Expectancy Among Americans
To deliver on pledges from the new Trump administration to make America healthy again, policymakers will need to fix problems undermining life expectancy across all populations.
A Trump Pivot Away From Europe? Not So Fast: The Plunder Is Too Lucrative for American Plutocrats
Europe is now largely an American colony where the tech, energy, weapons, and financial industries are making a killing, so it’s no wonder Trump isn’t going to substantially shift US policy.
New York Times Defends Mexican Cartels Because US Economy
The New York Times sinks to a new low in defending Mexican cartels because they are too intertwined in US economic activity.
Tariffs Are Coming: How Trade Dynamics Will Shape Aggregate Demand and Inflation
Consumers may not suffer from more inflation per official data if Trump imposes tariffs. But that does not mean they won’t be worse off.
Will the Newly Declassified CIA “Assessment” of Covid Origins in Wuhan Include the Possibility of Early Spread in Italy?
The possibility of early Covid spread is unlikely to mentioned in the newly released CIA assessment of Covid origins, since ths alternative hypothesis clearly contradicts the timeline held today as canon.
