Tuesday, December 3, 2024

2:00PM Water Cooler 12/3/2024

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics ~

Wall Street Journal Tries “Recovery Finally Underway” Office Space Patter as Securitized Office Mortgage Delinquencies Hit a New Post-Crisis High of 10.4%

The Journal gets egg on its face for trying to call a bottom in the office space market even as delinquencies were accelerating

Links 12/3/2024

Is Fear of Hybrid War With Russia Making Cash Great (Or At Least, Necessary) Again in Europe?

As unintended consequences go, this could be a big one. 

Trump Threatens BRICS Countries With 100% Tariffs if They Ditch the Dollar

Why Trump’s dedollarization tariff threat is much more bark than bite.

Self-Censorship and the Ad Hominem Inference

Identifying a key mechanism that fosters self censorship.

2:00PM Water Cooler 12/1/2024

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; The urban-rural divide; Thomas Frank on populism (video); Blue periods …. ~

Make America Healthy Again: An Unconventional Movement That May Have Found Its Moment

The MAHA movement capitalizes on many of the nonconventional health concepts that have been darlings of the left, such as promoting organic foods and food as medicine.

Links 12/2/2024

Erdogan Backstabs His Way Into Center of Middle East Conflict

Ankara’s ongoing support for extremist paramilitary groups in Syria threatens ties with Russia and China, and by aiding Israel he insults the Turkish people who overwhelmingly oppose US-Israel actions in the region.

Nissan in Crisis, “12 or 14 Months to Survive,” as Size, Difficult Conditions for Non-China Carmakers Make Rescue Seem Remote

Nissan, with intensifying cash flow woes and vultures circling, looks like a canary in the coal mine for non-China carmakers.

Big Finance, Big Tech AI Titans Ride Next Wave of “Generative Biology”‘ Colonization at COP16

The COP16 biodiversity conference included Big Tech pushing black box “generative biology” AI-created DNA and related financial markets

Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s Pick to Head the NIH, Is a Eugenicist Charlatan

Putting on my hazmat suit…

Links 12/1/2024

Book Review: The Many Bounties of Collaboration in Nature

What would make a critical mass of Americans, marinating in a rugged individualist culture, want to become their neighbors’ keepers?