Author Archives: Yves Smith

Goldman Is Evil But McKinsey Is Worse

Why the McKinsey veneer is looking tattier and tattier with every passing day, and why that’s not likely to change.

America, the Unreliable Superpower: Can Biden Shore Up Its Record?

Biden promises to go back to a US superpower old normal that was still a pretty unsettling ride for our allies.

Links 2/6/2021

Michael Hudson – Changes in Super Imperialism

Michael Hudson recaps his classic Super Imperalism and extends it to the 21st century struggle for dominance among the US, China, and Russia.

Negative Interest Rates Are Coming, but There Is No Chance That They Will Work

Negative interest rates: a bad idea that some central banks still can’t resist.

Betsy DeVos Is Gone, But Her Education Agenda Is Rolling Out Across the Country

Even though Betty DeVos was depicted as a textbook ogre, her education privatization agenda is advancing as if it were perfectly respectable.

“The Vibe in North Houston”: A Report on Working Class Men Betrayed and in Angst

An account of working class men on the boil.

Mayberry v. KKR: Kentucky Attorney General Shows True Colors, Looks Over-Eager to Settle Pathbreaking Pension Case Rather Than Inconvenience Private Equity Kingpins Blackstone and KKR

Yet more underhanded-looking dealing, this time by the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, in the landmark pension case Mayberry v. KKR.

As COVID Rages, Bankruptcy Cases Fall…..For Now

The good news about bankruptcy under Covid is not likely to last.

Warning: If Your Business Depends on a Platform, You Don’t Have a Business

A warnign to small fry Internet content producers: time to think of getting your own platform as a matter of self-preservation.

Pension Bridge Presents Former CalPERS CIO Ben Meng as ESG Leader Despite California Investigation for Conflict of Interest That Led to His Exit

Pension Bridge discredits itself by inviting former CalPERS CIO Ben Meng, under investigation for ethics violations, to speak at its ESG event

Epidemic of Despair Could Haunt America Long After COVID

The pandemic may have severe after-effects, with deaths of despair impacting more distressed and newly-vulnerable populations.