Saturday, July 12, 2025

2:00PM Water Cooler 9/11/2020

~ Paul Krugman loses his mind (or Lambert does) ~

More than 500,000 People in Oregon Flee Wildfires

West coast wildfire crisis extends beyond California to include parts of Oregon and Washington states, caused by rare windstorms..

Links 9/11/2020

America’s Dire Inequality Demands a New Conceptual Framework. This Economist Has One.

Lance Taylor explains that wage repression — far more than monopoly power, offshoring or technological change — is driving rising inequality.

CalPERS Cooks Its Books: Grossly Understated Investment Consultant Meketa’s Expenses in Annual Financials; Made a Criminal False Account by Burying the Cost

CalPERS violates accounting rules by hiding outside consulting costs in internal investment overheads. None of the possible reasons are good.

CalPERS’ Bad Numbers: CEO Marcie Frost’s Multi-Hundred Thousand /Year Advisor Randle Communications Missing from Board Reports

A remarkable series of accidents led to the CalPERS board not being told how much CEO Marcie Frost’s advisor Randle Communications costs.

Sediment, Big Spring Run, and River Restoration to Pre-Colonial Times

A geological paradigm shift?

2:00PM Water Cooler 9/10/2020

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Links 9/10/2020

‘Dereliction of Duty’: Outrage as USPS Board Issues Gushing Praise for DeJoy Amid Mail Slowdowns, Medicine Delays, and Straw-Donor Scandal

The latest sordid episode in the teardown of the US mail service.

What Rent Drop? Listed Prices Aren’t Budging Where COVID-19 Hit Hardest

New York City disproves popular beliefs about flight from cities and rent declines.

How US Consumers Use Their Stimulus Payments

Contrary to right wing beliefs, giving citizens stimulus payments didn’t lead them to loaf.

2:00PM Water Cooler 9/9/2020

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Regressive Taxation Must Be Reversed

Discussing taxation proposals by inequality mavens Emanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.

Links 9/9/2020