Author Archives: Yves Smith

How Public Real Estate Investment Trusts Extract Wealth from Nursing Homes and Hospitals

REITs are considered “passive” investors but play a very active role in reshaping whole industries, like hospitals

Now It’s Official: Financial Times Profiles Venture Capital Crash

A venture capital washout is underway. Pass the popcorn.

Yanis Varoufakis: Inflation as a Political Power Play Gone Wrong

Looking at inflation through a class warfare lens.

Izabella Kaminska and Yves Will Discuss the Economy and More with Gonzalo Lira Today

Izabella Kaminska and Yves will mix things up with Gonzalo Lira on his latest roundtable.

Hospices Have Become Big Business for Private Equity Firms, Raising Concerns About End-of-Life Care

Expect hospice care to go the way of privately-owned nursing homes, now that private equity is geting its claws into the industry.

Book Review: A Global History of the Black Death

In “The World the Plague Made,” James Belich argues that the Black Death had a profound impact beyond Europe.

The Future of Global Catastrophic Risk Events from Climate Change

U.N.: Climate change is causing extreme events that can kill > 10 million or lead to > $10 trillion in damages, threatening societal collapse

Links 7/29/2022

Michael Hudson: American Diplomacy as a Tragic Drama

American policies have become astonishingly obvious about not simply putting the US first, but also exploiting supposed partners to do so.

Xi and Biden Talk Past Each Other in Over 2 Hour Phone Call

The Xi-Biden call confirmed that despite keeping communications lines open, the two superpowers are at an impasse.

The Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight: Western Leaders Bungle Russia Gas Supply, Barmy Oil Price Cap, and Appear Unable Even to Line Up Meetings

The harder you look at Western scheming against Russia (and China) the worse it appears.

Left in the Dark: The Families Struggling to Survive Fuel Poverty

The future many in the UK and Europe will suffer this winter: having to choose between food and fuel.

Biden’s Climate Emergency: Will He Declare It?

Biden has put the idea of using the National Emergency Act to declare a climate emergency in play. What are its odds of happening?

Prices of New Houses Plunge, Sales Crater to Lockdown Level, Inventories Pile Up to Highest Since 2008

There is no “housing shortage,” with over 9 months’ supply of unsold houses, the most since the Housing Bust. But prices are still too high.