ECONOMY

2:00PM Water Cooler 2/28/2024 | naked capitalism

Photo of Connecticut Digital News Connecticut Digital NewsFebruary 28, 2024
22 minutes read

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

For G&S fans, for the upcoming Leap Year day:

“You’re only five and a little bit older.”

Bird Song of the Day

Winter Wren, Ferd’s Bog, Hamilton, New York, United States.

* * *

Politics

“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

2024

Less than a year to go!

* * *

Trump (R): “Trump leads in Wisconsin and overtakes Biden in all swing states” [Washington Examiner]. Yee haw:

I think the multiway polls, as opposed to Trump-Biden head-to-head, are more likely to be predictive this year (all other things being equal), since so many people loathe both major candidates and are looking for alternatives. Of course, 250 days is a long time in politics, but for the Democrats base — not the professionals — these numbers must be deeply, existentially disturbing, since they live in a mental universe where “this can’t be happening.”

Trump (R): “Why the chief of one of the most powerful unions in America is courting Trump” [MSNBC]. “Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien met with Trump twice in January, including a private visit to Mar-a-Lago, after which the union posted a photo of the pair. Then news came out that the Teamsters donated $45,000 to the Republican National Committee’s convention fund — the maximum amount allowed from the union’s political action committee. It appears to be the most significant contribution that the Teamsters have made to the RNC in two decades.” And: “Organized labor experts say that O’Brien appears to be strategically positioning himself, both for internal political reasons and because he could be trying to put a good word in with Trump in case he wins the election. That maneuvering raises two concerning questions. One, is a major union playing footsie with Trump because it views President Joe Biden as particularly weak in this election cycle? Second, could this process result in the union effectively nudging some on-the-fence union members and their communities to think of Trump as anything but the foe of labor he really is?” • Good questions!

* * *

Biden (D): “Should Biden Drop Out and Pick a New Candidate? Maybe Later. It’s almost panic time” [Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine]. “Trump is currently leading the national polls by about two points. In each of the last two elections, the Electoral College has given Trump a clear advantage, and the current polls show the same dynamic. The tipping point state in the Electoral College right now is Michigan, where Trump has been leading consistently and currently has a five-point edge in the polling average. The next best chance for Biden after Michigan would be North Carolina, where he trails by 6 percent, and then Georgia, where he trails by 6.8 percent. So as of now, it would take a five-point national swing to make the race a pure toss-up. Keeping Biden makes sense if you think he’s running just a hair behind Trump. My read is that he’s in a dire spot, though not quite a hopeless one. It’s not quite a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency scenario, but if he sees no improvement within a few months, it will be.” • A “few months” being uncomfortably close to the Convention.

Biden (D): “Trump Keeps Biden in the Race” [RealClearPolitics]. “Donald Trump is keeping Joe Biden in the race. This is true on several levels; the one that matters most is numerical: Trump cannot pull away in the polls. Trump may end up winning, but he appears unable to put Biden away – now or for the remainder of the campaign. Biden, therefore, has reason to stay in and Democrats reasons to stick with him… By all approval measures, Biden should be heading for the exit, not the campaign trail. So, why is he still running? Because in a head-to-head matchup with Trump, Biden is outperforming his presidential performance, trailing Trump by two points – even in a five-way contest, he trails 38-41. Despite his low approval ratings, Biden remains within striking distance of victory. Biden is still in because he is running against Trump.” And: “However, today’s polling results against the currently unpopular Biden raise the question of whether Trump hit his ceiling in 2020. While Biden is unquestionably losing support, most is not going to Trump; instead, it is parked in the undecided column or with third-party candidates.” And: “Biden and his team are still in the race because Trump has not put him out of it.” • Yep. Where’s that compilation of Biden’s gait problems? The shadows cast by both Biden and Trump loom far larger than the actual figures of both man.

Biden (D): “It’s still a Biden referendum. That’s not good for him” [Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call]. “And yet, even with Biden’s weak poll numbers, many Democratic strategists think the current president can fundamentally change the trajectory of the campaign. Once voters start focusing on the general election and comparing Biden to Trump, they predict, the entire race will change. That’s possible, but it’s not self-evident how or why the current shape of the presidential contest would change. After all, both Trump and Biden have nearly universal name identification, and both have been in the public’s spotlight for weeks, months and years. We know about them because we have seen them day after day. It’s not as if the current president and the former commander in chief will say something to change our opinions of them. Americans know the two men very well, which is why they are so unhappy with the choice they have for 2024…. For the moment, if the election is either a referendum on Biden or a choice between the two nominees, Biden finds himself in deep trouble. He needs November to be about Trump — and specifically about Trump’s most outrageous comments and most dangerous beliefs. That may be the only way for Biden to change the trajectory of the race and turn out the Democratic demographic groups and swing voters he needs to win.”

Biden (D): “Biden’s Cold War Nostalgia Is Dooming His Presidency” [Jeet Heer, The Nation]. “The paradox of the Biden presidency is that he and his foreign policy team (notably Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and White House aide Brett McGurk) are the last Scoop Jackson Democrats, a crew of neoconservatives and liberal hawks who are pursuing a wildly anachronistic policy. This was evident long before October 7, when the Hamas massacre and Biden’s ensuing support for Israel’s devastation of Gaza brought the problem into stark relief. The killing fields of Gaza are only making visible the horrific and ongoing human costs of Biden’s long-standing commitment to an obsolete Cold War liberalism that is completely inadequate to the challenges of the 21st century. Like Scoop Jackson, Joe Biden is an over-eager and uncritical enthusiast for military Keynesianism—the use of arms spending to fuel economic growth. The ideal of Cold War liberalism was to fuse foreign and domestic policy, creating an integrated warfare/welfare state. Jackson, who became known as ‘the senator from Boeing’ for his ardent support for the airplane manufacturer—a major employer in Washington State—was the leading exponent of the idea that lavish government funding of armament production was the best path for creating a large unionized workforce force and a robust domestic manufacturing sector. The logic here is not so much ‘guns and butter’ but that if you manufacture enough guns, you will create enough high-paying jobs that will allow Americans to buy butter. Underlying this project is the brute political reality that it is easier to get bipartisan consensus and elite comity (which Biden, still a man of the Senate in his worldview, always seeks) if you push for defense spending rather than social spending. Further, it is much easier to get funding for social spending (as in the buildup of universities after the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957) if you can make the case that national security depends on it.” • One could, I suppose, view the American Recovery Act as a pivot from this, but it’s really more of a parallel project. And I don’t see Americans buying a lot of butter these days.

Biden (D): “Is Biden’s Gaza Policy Alienating Black Voters?” [Foreign Policy]. “In the beginning of January, in an attempt to boost political morale among his most loyal constituency, Biden made an appearance at the Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina… At this sacred site, it was fitting that Biden spoke about domestic issues such as racism and political violence. Unfortunately, Biden’s foreign-policy woes followed him to the pulpit, where he was interrupted by protesters demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Churches like Mother Emanuel AME play a key role in shaping the voting decisions of the larger Black community. More and more members of the clergy are speaking out from the pulpit against Biden’s support for Israel. A recent New York Times article revealed that over the past several months more than 1,000 Black pastors—ranging from conservative Southern Baptist churches to progressive nondenominational congregations in the Midwest and Northeast—have called for an end to Israel’s offensive operations in Gaza as well as the release of all hostages held by Hamas. As in other parts of the American public, much of the momentum behind Black faith leaders’ calls for a cease-fire is coming from younger congregants.” • Hmm.

* * *

MI: “Four takeaways from the Michigan primary” [WaPo]. “Early Wednesday morning, with nearly all votes in, Biden was leading ‘uncommitted’ 81 percent to 13 percent, while Trump led former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley 68 percent to 26 percent.” 13% “uncommitted” is not a good number for the general at all. After a lot of foofra about previous “uncommitted” elections, this: “These uncommitted votes clearly signal something quite different — and potentially more troubling for the incumbent president — than those 2012 protest votes. The real question is whether support can be marshaled in other states and in other ways to make Biden truly feel as if he needs to change his ways and mind his left flank. The protest vote got a foothold after an initial false start in New Hampshire; now it’s about signaling that the movement has some staying power.” Oh, and: “[Dean] Phillips on Tuesday finished in fourth place (2.7 percent), behind Williamson (3 percent). Williamson suspended her campaign three weeks ago.” • Oh well.

MI: “Some very worrying signs for Joe Biden” [CNN]. “A depressed vote is not Biden’s only concern. So too are fears that former President Donald Trump’s improved poll numbers with Black and Latino voters might indicate the real potential for the GOP to cut into traditional Democrat constituencies. Tuesday night, the numbers from Michigan suggest that the problem is real. Biden is facing resistance in the Wolverine State from Arab-American Democrats who led the charge in pushing voters to vote ‘uncommitted’ to send a message to the Biden campaign. A significant number of people have sided with that campaign.” And the usual: “But is this fatal? No, it is not. There is considerable time between now and November. The situation in the Middle East is dynamic and it is possible the frustration and anger, which are very much in play today, won’t be as much a priority for voters come Election Day.” • I wouldn’t characterize opposing genocide as “frustration and anger.” And if genocide is your issue, then the choice is clear: Biden, clear-eyed, committed one (and committed the whole country to it, as well). Trump didn’t and hasn’t. It’s not hard! Note the vote in Dearborn:

MI: “‘Unprecedented’ Poll Numbers For Trump In Michigan Are Bad Sign For Biden” [Sean Trende, RealClearPolitics]. “Even as low as 2-3% [loss in support in the Democratic primary] is a problem for Biden because that can translate to like a percentage point off his margin in a general election. If a fraction of those voters don’t show up, he’s done… If there’s a pro-Palestinian candidate on the ballot, he’s going to have a really hard time winning that state. He doesn’t have a lot of margin for error there…. If he doesn’t win Michigan, it is pretty much over…. If he’s shedding Arab American voters because of his position on Israel, it will be very difficult for him to win the presidency without Michigan.”

Spook Country

“Tucker Carlson: U.S. Intel Agencies Spied On Me During Russia Trip, Leaked To Semafor That I Met Snowden” [RealClearPolitics]. “Tucker Carlson accused U.S. intelligence of hacking his communications and leaking to Semafor that he met with Edward Snowden while he was in Russia and said ‘one of the biggest law firms’ in the country warned him that the U.S. government would arrest him if he gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a ‘softball’ interview. ‘The lawyer said very specifically, depending on the questions you ask Putin, you know, you could be arrested or not,’ Tucker Carlson told the Lex Fridman podcast in an interview released Tuesday. ‘He said, ‘Look, a lot will depend on the questions that you ask Putin. If you’re seen as too nice to him, you could get arrested when you come back….’” • I’ve gotta say, liberal Democrats building a 21st Century Okhrana wasn’t on my bingo card, though I suppose after [genuflects] Brennan and Obama’s “disposition matrix” it should have been.

“Obama’s CIA Asked Foreign Intel Agencies To Spy on Trump Campaign” [RealClearPolitics]. RCP again, WTF. There is nothing new here, but it’s a good summary of the work that Taibbi, Shellenberger, et al. have done. “The revelation that the U.S. intelligence community, under the Obama administration, sought the assistance of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance to surveil Donald Trump’s associates before the 2016 election is a chilling reminder of the lengths to which the Deep State will go to protect its interests and challenge its adversaries…. This bombshell, reported by a team of independent journalists, exposes a dark chapter in American political history, where foreign intelligence services were reportedly mobilized against a presidential candidate. The alleged operation against Trump and his associates, which predates the official start of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, is a stark example of political weaponization of intelligence…. The narrative that has been pushed for years, that the investigation into Trump’s campaign began with an Australian tip about a boastful Trump aide, now appears to be a cover for a more extensive and coordinated effort to undermine Trump. If reports are accurate, , long before the official narrative claims. The implications of this are profound. It suggests an unprecedented level of collusion between U.S. intelligence agencies and their foreign counterparts to influence the outcome of an American presidential election. The use of foreign intelligence to circumvent American laws and surveillance limitations represents a grave threat to our nation’s sovereignty and the principles of democracy.” • One can only wonder who the spooks started surveilling in 2018 and 2019.

Republican Funhouse

“Biden, Republican Johnson hold ‘intense’ Ukraine talks at White House” [Reuters]. “Speaking to reporters afterward, Schumer said it was one of the most intense meetings he has ever been a part of, as the Democrats sought to persuade Johnson to agree to funding Ukraine. ‘It’s in his hands,’ Schumer said of Johnson. ‘We told him how important it was. It was passionate.’ Johnson called the talks ‘frank and honest’ and said his primary concern is addressing migration along the U.S. southern border with Mexico, a subject he said he returned to repeatedly including in a one-on-one session with Biden. Biden said he believed a solution could be reached on funding the government by a Friday deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown, which he said would be damaging to the U.S. economy. Ukraine funding becomes more urgent every day, Biden said before the meeting.” I hate this recurrent story; it’s a “Perils of Pauline” thing, where the heroine — in this case, the Federal budget — always gets saved at the last moment. But maybe not this time? On the border, Trump has said he wants to run on it, so no deal. It’s not clear to me, however, whether Trump’s word is writ with the House leadership. On Ukraine, Ukraine has lost; the only question is who gets the blame. Since it’s a Democrat war through and through, Biden should, but the Democrat story will be that it’s the Republicans’ fault for denying them weapons; and given the media environment, that’s not a hard sell to make. If I were Johnson, I’d want to avoid that, no matter what his hardliners think. I keep trying to imagine what kind of poison pill Johnson could add to the bill to make it painful and difficult for Johnson to sign. Maybe try to impose a diplomatic track? (A hard sell on the right, I am sure). Not that a diplomatic track would have any reality, you understand. Or perhaps audits of weapons distribution? A hearing on the 2014 Maidan coup, now that the spooks have opened that can of worms? How about Vicky Nuland’s head on a platter?

* * *

“Column: As measles spreads, ‘herd stupidity’ grips Florida’s government” [Michael Hiltzick, Los Angeles Times]. “Nine cases may not seem like a lot, but it’s enough to alarm epidemiologists. They point out that measles is among the most contagious viruses known to humankind, which means that the cases identified thus far are likely to be the tip of \the iceberg. Who’s unconcerned? The chief public health official of the state of Florida, that’s who. He’s Joseph Ladapo, whom I earlier identified as ‘the most dangerous quack in America.’… Ladapo has now cemented his position at the top of the list of public officials hazardous to your health. He did so with a letter issued Feb. 20 to parents with children at the elementary school suffering the outbreak. The letter noted that it is ‘normally recommended’ that children stay home until the end of the infectious period, which he pegged at March 7. But he added: ‘Due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational cost of healthy children missing school,’ his agency would let parents or guardians make their own decisions about sending their kids to school. The letter was also notable for what it did not say. It did not recommend that parents of nonimmunized children get them vaccinated immediately.” And: “But as epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina observed on her blog, Your Local Epidemiologist, while the vaccination rate in Florida is just over 90%, that’s ‘not high enough — because measles is so contagious, the threshold for herd immunity against measles is 95%. This means there are pockets in the school, other schools, and a community that measles could burn through.’ Measles is already on the march in the U.S. in 2024… To put it another way, Ladapo’s appeal to the principle of ‘herd immunity’ is outweighed by the herd stupidity of the anti-vaccination movement that he is a part of.” • I assume the next claim will be that measles are “mild”:

I hate to file this in a partisan bucket, but Ladapo is an elected….

“10 measles cases reported in Florida as criticism rises over top health official’s response” [Orlando Sun-Sentinel]. “Meanwhile, all media questions about whether these cases are in the unvaccinated, whether the younger children with measles are siblings of infected at Manatee Bay and whether the newest case is in a college student have gone unanswered by Florida’s health officials. Similar to the early days of COVID, Florida health officials are not providing answers to questions the public wants to know: How did measles get to Florida, is it just the unvaccinated, how exactly is this once-eradicated disease spreading in South Florida? How many people in Broward County have been vaccinated at the recent events? Local health officials in Broward County and Polk County have redirected reporters inquiries to the Florida Department of Health’s main communications office in Tallahassee. That office has not respond to multiple inquires from the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Orlando Sentinel.” • Commentary:

Democrats en Déshabillé

The notion that Democrats need to “make a case” keeps cropping up. No. What the Democrats needed to have done was deliver:

So Kamaka owes me a lot more than six hundred bucks (and that “two thousand” figure must have been workshopped). Cf Matt 7:16-20.

“How Panera Bread Ducked California’s New $20 Minimum Wage Law” [Bloomberg]. “Billionaire Greg Flynn, who made his fortune running one of the world’s largest restaurant franchise operations, is getting a new boost from sourdough loaves and brioche buns That’s because a California law that’s about to raise the state minimum wage at fast-food spots to $20 an hour from $16 offers an unusual exemption for chains that bake bread and sell it as a standalone item. Governor Gavin Newsom pushed for that break, according to people familiar with the matter. Among the main beneficiaries is Flynn, a longtime Newsom donor whose California holdings include two dozen Panera Bread locations.”

Realignment and Legitimacy

I think we should just assume that Google’s picked a side in the culture wars, and act accordingly:

Re-upping this from Links two days ago:

Commentary: “I’m done with @Google” Mario Juric. A long Tweet. Key paragraph:

I’ve been reading Google’s Gemini damage control posts. I think they’re simply not telling the truth. For one, their text-only product has the same (if not worse) issues. And second, if you know a bit about how these models are built, you know you don’t get these “incorrect” answers through one-off innocent mistakes. . With that prior, the balance of probabilities is strongly against the outputs being an innocent bug — as @googlepubpolicy is now trying to spin it: .

Those values appear to include a desire to reshape the world in a specific way that is so strong that it allowed the people involved to rationalize to themselves that it’s not just acceptable but desirable to train their AI to prioritize ideology ahead of giving user the facts.

Google’s entire management heirarchy signed off on Gemini. It’s doing what they want it to do (like, for example, MCAS). Not sure how this fits in with Doctorow’s enshittification thesis; this feels like a whole new thing, to me.

#COVID19

“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).

Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!

Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).

Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Stay safe out there!

* * *

Covid is Airborne

I love the idea that SARS-CoV-2 would evolve in a direction that prevented us from hearing coughs, transforming the symptomatic into the asymptomatic:

Do readers notice this? I see “everyone’s coughing” a lot on my feed, but the accounts I follow are pretty doomstruck (and also biased toward the UK, which I think is worse off.)

Morbidity and Mortality

“Mild!” “Just a cold!” “Immunity debt!”

All lies.

Elite Maleficence

* * *

TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.

2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”

NOTES

[1] (Biobot) Biobot drops, conformant to Walgreen positivity data (if that is indeed not a data artifact).

[2] (Biobot) Regional separation re-emerges.

[3] (CDC Variants) “As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.” Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.

[4] (ER) Does not support Biobot data. “Charts and data provided by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the past year, using a rolling 52-week period.”

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Not flattening.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Still down. “Maps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.

[7] (Walgreens) That’s a big drop! It would be interesting to survey this population generally; these are people who, despite a tsunami of official propaganda and enormous peer pressure, went and got tested anyhow.

[8] (Cleveland) Flattening, consistent with Biobot data.

[9] (Travelers: Posivitity) Down, albeit in the rear view mirror.

[10] (Travelers: Variants) About time for something to challenge JN.1. But what’s “other”? Something to look forward to, I guess!

Stats Watch

GDP: “United States GDP Growth Rate” [Trading Economics]. “The US economy expanded an annualized 3.2% in Q4 2023, slightly below 3.3% in the advance estimate, following a 4.9% rate in Q3. The downward revision is due to private inventories which subtracted 0.27 pp from the growth, compared to an addition of 0.07 pp seen in the advance estimate. On the other hand, consumer spending was revised higher (3% vs 2.8% in the advance estimate), led by services (2.8% vs 2.4%) while goods rose less (3.2% vs 3.8%). Also, government spending rose way more (4.2% vs 3.3%)…..”

Retail: “United States Retail Inventories Ex Autos” [Trading Economics]. “Retail inventories excluding autos in the United States rose by 0.3% month-over-month in January 2024, following a 0.4% increase in the prior month. On a yearly basis, retail inventories excluding autos fell by 1.4% in January.”

* * *

The Bezzle: “Klarna says its AI assistant does the work of 700 people after it laid off 700 people” [Fast Company]. “One month after taking its OpenAI-powered virtual assistant global, the Swedish buy-now, pay-later company has released new data touting its ability to handle customer communications, make shoppers happier, and even drive better financial results.” • We can’t make a robot car, but we can automate a fintech call center.

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 79 Extreme Greed (previous close: 77 Extreme Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 75 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 28 at 12:55:14 PM ET.

Zeitgeist Watch

“Fit” for what?

If only there were a way to put shared air on a subscription basis. (Actually, that’s an interesting question, and probably some economist has written a paper on it: Why can some things be rented, and others not? Since we live in a rentier-driven, financialized society, that question would be of more than passing interest…).

“The Psychological Trick Scammers Rely on and How to Protect Yourself” [Time]. “There’s one simple and effective trick many scams rely on: emotional manipulation. ‘They use fear-based tactics to get us into our primitive brain, which is always on alert,’ says Alex Melkumian, founder of the Financial Psychology Center.” So in some sense, avoiding “living in fear” is a useful heuristic (and I wonder if scammers tend to present themselves as PMC). More: “If you find yourself in a situation that might be raising red flags, [Megan McCoy, assistant professor of personal financial planning at Kansas State University] suggests reminding yourself to slow down. ‘I can think of very few cases in life where this bill cannot be paid in an hour or two hours later,’ she says. Ask for a number to call back, and take the time to do an internet search and consult those around you.’” • Do an internet search, at least until OpenAI infests everything with data from scammers, as SEO has already done with Google.

News of the Wired

I am not feeling wired today.

* * *

Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From lcm:

lcm write: “Last of the winterberries (Ilex verticillata).” A little small, but I like the touches of red against the wetland.

* * *

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