One of the planet-roasting policies that the US has maintained for decades is allowing oil and gas extractors to pay only a small amount for what they extract. That was always bad. But the wrecker has cut down the payments to nearly zero for hundreds of wells.

Varoufakis has proposed a system to replace today's capitalism. It still uses markets for goods and services, but workers are always co-owners as every enterprise is a cooperative.

I don't understand how the levies on countries for having an imbalance of trade or payments would function. If this is meant to pressure countries not to have imbalances, what could they do to avoid them?

I am also worried by the idea that people would make all their payments using central bank accounts — because that implies tracking, which is dangerous. And I am not convinced that the 5% flat tax on business income would bring in enough funds for the state to do its many jobs.

Perhaps I would see these are not real problems if I understood better. Perhaps some details could be changed. In any case, it is an interesting area to explore.

Thugs went to arrest the man accused of killing a right-wing extremist protester in Portland, but they shot him dead instead.

I have to suspect they killed him by choice.

Oil companies are hoping that increased production of plastics will make up for decreased combustion of fossil fuels. Alas, it seems that life can't tolerate plastics.

(satire) *… streaming service Spotify reportedly celebrated Thursday the platform’s 100th dollar given to artists.*