Author Archives: Yves Smith

PBMs, the Brokers Who Control Drug Prices, Finally Get Washington’s Attention

Why it isn’t easy to slip the leash of PBMs.

Big Food Raking in Huge Profits From Price Hikes as US Hunger Persists: Analysis

Big food company profit-goosing price hikes confirms that the Fed is barking up the wrong tree in going after labor.

How Trade Fragmentation Affects Bank Credit Supply

Engaging in more bilateral trade to bypass the dollar fragments the activities of major international banks and even affects locak players.

NY Times Is Wrong on Dedollarization: Economist Michael Hudson Debunks Paul Krugman’s Dollar Defense

Michael Hudson calls out Krugman for invoking the favorite libertarian trope of hyperinflation.

The Mercenaries Who Fight for American Empire

How private military contractors, aka mercenaries, are now an essential part of America’s increasingly privatized wars.

Links 5/10/2023

What We Owe the Future: A Million-Year View, or How to Look at the World from the Philosophical High Ground

A critical look at William MacAskill’s new book on how human civilization can make it through the next few hundred years.

The U.S. Needs To Double The Size Of Its Energy Grid

Will the state of the US grid constrain the conversion to electric vehicles and other green devices?

Links 5/9/2023

Why I’m Skeptical of Powell’s Claim Red-Hot Rent CPI Will Just Vanish: Landlords Report the Opposite, Even for April

Oopsie! Still perceived-to-be-high housing prices, thanks to higher mortgage rates, is a landlord’s wet dream. Who’d have thunk it?

Peter Pan Bonds to the Debt Ceiling Rescue?

Yet another way to circumvent debt ceilng restrictions isn’t getting the consideration it warrants.