Author Archives: Yves Smith

A Tale of Two Elections: U.S. and Bolivia

US sanctimoniousness about the importance of elections respecting popular will does not apply outside our borders.

Brexit Event Horizon and Covid Mutation Deliver Lumps of Coal to UK for Christmas

“It’s always darkest before things go completely black.” That looks like a fit for Brexit.

Antitrust Spring

Regulators and officials are dusting off antitrust rule books to go after tech monopolists.

How President Biden Can Fix our Trade Problem

Trump’s approach to trade largely failed because the problem can’t be solved by tariffs. Here’s the answer.

SCOTUS: States Can Bar Pharmacy Benefit Manager Grifting

A new Supreme Court ruling upholds the ability of states to regulate pharmacy benefit managers.

We Are Fourteen Years Old

Fourteen years old and (hopefully) still making lots of trouble!

Why We Need to Adopt Friedrich Engels’ Thinking on Science in These Times

Friedrich Engels work on working class included describing how capitalists would not contrain their environmental damage.

Covid, the Politicization of Science, and More Questions About the Pfizer Vaccine Approval

How political considerations are getting in the way of science-based policy, as in not unduly tainted by commerce, special interests, or fashion.

Brexit: End of the Line

Even with the EU giving as much Brexit time as it can, December 31 is coming.

Do Billionaires Destroy Democracy and Capitalism?

The US can draw on its Gilded Age to bring its billionaires to heel.

Links 12/17/2020

Further Discussion of the Red Flags in the Pfizer Vaccine Paper in the New England Journal of Medicine

Responding to critics of a post on the Pfizer vaccine paper and editorial.

Study of 50 Years of Tax Cuts For Rich Confirms ‘Trickle Down’ Theory Is an Absolute Sham

Another nail in the trickle down economics coffin. Too bad that vampire-like, it keeps coming back.