Fearless commentary on finance, economics, politics and power

Quelle surprise! Occupational decline, aka “The robots ate my career,” lowers lifetime earnings, particulalry for low-wage workers.

One more book to read!

Today’s Water Cooler: Biden, Sanders, Warren, DNC and debates, knitters, Google donations, DSA dog caucus, manufacturing, Toys “R” Us, Amazon, Comcast ripoff, Green New Deal, permafrost, forests, weed, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Zork, epic trolling

Lambert goes to the convenience store and buys coffee.

Lawernce Wilkerson offers another dose of his pithy commentary on US policy versus Iran.

As they so often do, by promoting unrealisitc models, economists have become part of problem rather than the solution.

Some urban public schools, like the ones in St. Louis, are about to regain substantial local control after budget crises made them wards of the state (government). Will these cities be able to take advantage of this opportunity?

Why operating drones for the military and moderating content for Facebook are both really bad gigs.

Today’s Water Cooler: Temporarily open thread.

This important scholarly work paints a vivid portrait of 19th century America’s most significant and devastating system of economic exchange.

“Excluding capital, the big eight basin producers have destroyed on average 80 percent of the value of their companies since the beginning of the shale revolution,”

The mythology of shareholder capitalism does not stand up to scrutiny.

A random walk through Victory Garden posters, with commentary, and a recommendation that the government mobilize to recreate them.