Author Archives: Yves Smith

Influential CalPERS Beneficiaries Charge Sacramento Bee With Biased Coverage

The sad decline of the Sacramento Bee, as demonstrated through its one-sided CalPERS reporting.

Links 8/23/19

The Fed Thinks the US Economy Is Fine. Do You?

Seeking reader input on the health of their economy.

Cheerleading for Austerity

Readying austerity talk just in time to condition voters for 2020.

It’s Raining Plastic, From the Pyrenees to the Rockies to the Arctic

On the extent of plastic exposure in the form of microplastics.

Hong Kong’s Economy Is Still Important to the Mainland, at Least Financially

Correcting misinformation about Hong Kong’s status sometimes bandied about by critics of its protestors.

Links 8/22/19

A Brush With A Notorious Cat, My Rabies Education And The Big Bill That Followed

A rabies ripoff.

Trump Never Had a Grand Strategy for China: They Were Just Tariff Tantrums

Trump’s tariff strategy is obviously incoherent, but other approaches like anti-trust to improve the US trade’s position are sorely wanting.

Amid Recession Warnings, Trump Reportedly Considering More Tax Cuts for Rich and Corporations

Trump proposes yet more tax breaks, which would do more for the stock market than for the real economy.

It’s Official: Parts of California Are Too Wildfire-Prone To Insure

California is leading a trend of climate-change-induced insurance redlining.

Links 8/21/19

Crooked Conflict of Interest: CalPERS Board Member Lisa Middleton Pushed Radical Changes to Board Schedule to Solve Her Personal Schedule Conflict

New CalPERS board member Lisa Middleton behaved dishonestly by failing to recuse herself and worse, advocating for massive changes to CalPERS board meetings to solve a personal scheduling issue.

CalPERS’ Secret Investigation of Hiring Practices Shows Glaring Deficiencies; Has the Board Been Kept in the Dark?

CalPERS set out to hide the results of an audit of its hiring practices. That not surprising, since we have the key pages that show it got bad grades.