2:00PM Water Cooler 2/7/2025
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Possible Democrat strategies against DOGE; The notion of “racial capitalism” decried; Gallery: Hole punches ~
Read more...Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Possible Democrat strategies against DOGE; The notion of “racial capitalism” decried; Gallery: Hole punches ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; DOGE as a revolutionary NRx (neo-reactionary) project; DOGE seeks to avoid FOIA; DOGE given sysadmin privileges at Office of Personnel Management with days of the Inaugural; An atmospheric Turner ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; DOGE: New lawsuit from Public Citizen on DOGE data “access”; DOGE goons have write access to Treasury’s payments system (Tankus, Wired, Marshall, but not Taibbi) ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, pandemics; DOGE: Fresh lawsuits and probes; DNC follies; How one programmer’s thoughts on bitcoin changed; Oldest known portrait. ~
Read more...What attack surfaces does DOGE present?
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Open Thread ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Elon demands access to the Federal Government’s check-writing machine; DOGE’s IT; The DNC meets to pick a new chair ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; The Rescinded OMB “freeze” memo: after-action reports and interpretations; Beware the so-called “buyout” scheme; Tulsi Gabbard nomination for DNI ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Anti-Trump lawfare begins… but with far, far more solid cases; OMB memo RESCINDED. That was fast!; A defense of slowness ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Trump strategy; Taleb: Tech firms “grey swans”? Ortberg soothes the analysts; Andreessen predicts AI-driven wage crash (and that’s a good thing); “Human Reproduction as Prisoner’s Dilemma” ~
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Syndemics; Trump’s first week; Democrats for 2028;
Surviving pandemics ~