Author Archives: Yves Smith

Why It’s Good for San Francisco that Rents Dropped 29% to Multiyear Low. But They Haven’t Dropped Nearly Enough Yet

Rents in San Francisco have taken a beating. But they need to fall further.

Is the Post-COVID Boom Going to Bust?

Reading the tea leaves of the economy after Covid…..assuming an “after Covid”.

This Obscure Energy Treaty Is the Greatest Threat to the Planet You’ve Never Heard Of

The Energy Charter Treaty lets fossil fuel companies to sue governments for taking action on climate change. It must be stopped.

Ilargi: But….Then There’s the [Lithium] Math

EV fans ignores the lack of enough lithium to meet projected sales with current technology. Will the next big thing arrive soon enough?

Michael Hudson Discusses the Economic Winds of [Non] Change Under Biden on Radical Imagination

Michael Hudson looks at Biden and his administration and finds not much to like.

Housing and the American Dream: Is A House Still a Home?

Single-family home-ownership—elusive for many today—is an aspiration we ought to abandon.

More Evidence That Private Equity Kills: Estimated >20,000 Increase in Nursing Home Deaths, 160,000 Life Years Lost Due to Cuts in Care

Private equity greed knows no bounds: their nursing home acquisitions generated a “serious” rise in deaths and fall in other measures of care

Links 2/23/2021

Why Behavioral Economics Needs Behavioral Biology: Avoiding Arms Races

Are behavioral economists really nudging people in the right direction?

Deathbed Confession: FBI and NYPD Responsible for Malcolm X Assassination

US police forces at a minimum set up the conditions that allowed for Malcolm X to be killed. How far does their culpability extend?

Hubert Horan: The Airline Industry Collapse Part 6 – U.S. Airlines Lost Over $35 Billion in 2020

The airline biz is on track to being America’s biggest welfare queen.

Google’s Dominance of Online Ads is a Big Deal. Here’s How to Fix It.

Legal scholar Dina Srinivasan talks to INET’s Lynn Parramore about reining in Google and restoring fairness to a regulatory Wild West.

Links 2/20/2021