2:00PM Water Cooler 12/5/2019

Today's Water Cooler: WTO dispute resolution, digital services, Huawei, 2000 v. 2019, Biden's bus, Buttigieg, Iowa caucus, impeachment witness statements, VSAP, Wells Fargo, UPS, Google, private equity, corals, climate polling, health insurance, Maxwell's equations, generationsd

‘Dark Waters’ Tells the Origin Story of a Public Health Nightmare. We’re Still Living It.

On a docu-drama that recounts the first major suit against toxic "forever chemicals" and what's being done about them now.

Links 12/5/19

Questioning Innovation

Why innovation isn't necessarily a good thing.

Tucker Carlson Tears into Vulture Capitalist Paul Singer for Strip Mining American Towns

Tucker Carlson takes on the feared vulture capitalist Paul Singer as an examplar of how hedge funds are destroying American communities.

The Debt Delusion

A short take on John Week's new book, The Debt Delusion, and why it matters.

2:00PM Water Cooler 12/4/2019

Today's Water Cooler: Impeachment v. trade bill, France v. US, US v. China, Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, Jewish-Americans, Stacey Abrams, employment, manufacturing, services, shipping, potatoes, another IoT debacle, P4HCAF, prison staffing, slavery, the connectome, the Dead

CalPERS Still Owns Toxic National Enquirer Via Hedge Fund Chatham; CEO Marcie Frost Falsely Says It Was Sold; Columbia Journalism Review Depicts Pending Sale as a Sham

CalPERS is trying to pretend it is done with the National Enquirer. A pending sale would still have CalPERS subsidizing the Enquirer's costs.

Links 12/4/19

Why the UK Needs a Financial Transaction Tax

Claims that a financial transaction tax would be difficult to implement and raise little revenue are fake news.

Opening of Formerly Secret FDA Database Exposes Medical Device Failures, Spurring Lawsuits

The FDA kept a database of medical device malfunctions secret for decades.

Wealthy Countries’ Approach to Climate Change Condemns Hundreds of Millions of People to Suffer

Emerging economies want large scale subsidies from their richer brethren to pay for them to move to green energy sources.