Fearless commentary on finance, economics, politics and power

Why many community members don’t leave in the face of localized collapse, and how they adapt.

~ Today’s Water Cooler : Politics; syndemics ~

An attempt at informational forensics on the Israel-Hezbollah pitched battle on Sunday.

Mexico’s President AMLO responds by refusing to discuss the matter with US Ambassador Ken Salazar while giving the Mexican people a brief history lesson on US interference in Latin America.

A new Team Democrat messaging strategy boils down to “War is love.”

Michael Hudson reprises a favorite theme of how the salutary practice of debt forgiveness came to an end under Greco-Roman oligarchs

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, pandemics ~

Significant investment has been put toward brain research, including the development of new technologies to treat some conditions. These technologies may very well improve lives, but they also raise a host of ethical issues

Chas Freeman sends a sobering warning.

Biden might be senile and Blinken stupid, but it’s the plutocrats and their think tanks that run the show in Washington. 

Are both parties set to continue stimulative fiscal policy, leaving Powell or a successor to reapply the monetary policy brake?

While we encourage well-informed, well-argued, and sometimes energetic discussions, rancor is another matter. Yesterday, a long thread on Lambert’s post on the RFK, Jr. speech where RFK, Jr. excoriated the contemporary Democratic party and endorsed Trump too often descended into advocacy and bile. Several times in the past I have had to shut off comments […]

The chokepoint concept with a lot of maps and many examples