Author Archives: Yves Smith

Medical System Cracking: New Rochelle Nurses Strike Over Unsafe Staffing Levels; Washington State Warns of Potential for “Catastrophic Loss of Medical Care”

Medical systems are already under strain due to Covid and some nurses have had enough.

It’s Time to Break Up Britain

The Tories’ shambolic, self-serving rule has stoked interest in Britain breakaways by Scotland and even Wales and the North. But are they viable?

Polarized Pandemic Response and Covid-19 Connectedness Across US States

US data shows that strict responses reduce Covid outbreaks, and less stringent (Republican) states spread disease to each other.

Morag Maclean, R.I.P.

Morag was an exceptionally fine person, and I am deeply saddened to learn of her death.

DoorDash Delivery Workers Would Need to Toil for Two Days to Buy a Single Share of Their $60 Billion Company

A look at how DoorDash exploits its workers, and how they and some legislators are seeking to change that.

‘95% Effective’ May Not Mean What You Think It Means

A detailed discussion of the headline “95% effective” claim for the about-to-be-released Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines.

Jamie Galbraith: How Jason Furman and Lawrence Summers Reinforce a Destructive, Debunked Mainstream Paradigm to Support Deficit Spending

To defend deficits, Furman and Summers relied on debunked theories, thus preserving destructive mainstream economic ideas.

Brexit Chaos Was Entirely Predictable Because the World Works on Routine, and Brexit Breaks All the Routine Systems on Which Trade Has Relied

Brexit disruption has started even with a skimpy deal still theoretically possible.

Medicare Blues

Medicare is not looking good.

Why America’s Future Depends on Rebuilding Our Factories

Bringing factories back to the US would have been a good idea 20 years ago. Hard to see how we get there from here now.

CalPERS Employees Beware: Don’t Fill Out Non-Confidential Survey Jiggered to Falsely Boost Executive Bonuses

Memo to CalPERS employees: If you see staff or vendors profiteering, call a lawyer. You could win a financial award and stop the abuse.

Links 12/8/2020

Is It Time for a Debt Jubilee?

Steve Keen and Micheal Hudson provide a deep dive on a debt jubilee, and how it could be implemented in a Covid-afflicted economy.

Google Monopolizes Ad Markets Through Conduct Lawmakers Prohibit in Other Electronic Trading Markets

How Google’s abuses allow the search giant to dominate online advertising, and what can be done about it.