Author Archives: Yves Smith

Ilargi: Iran – Let’s (Not) Make a Deal

And about that Iran deal….an elephant in the room the media and punditry are conveniently ignoring.

Criminality, CalPERS Style: Board Members Misappropriate Public Funds by Signing Blank, Undated Expense Forms

The CalPERS Board President, Priay Mathur, the Board Services Unit, and board members are pre-signing expense forms in violation of the California Penal code.

Election-Rigging, CalPERS-Style: How Voting by Phone Was Designed to Favor Incumbent, Suppress Support for Challenger

CalPERS not only looks to have tried to throw the phone voting in a runoff election last year in favor of the incumbent, but it is acting awfully guilty by refusing to cough up records and data.

CalPERS Has Chief Financial Officer Charles Asubonten, With Verifiable Misrepresentations on His Resume, Presenting to the Board Next Week. What Gives?

CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost appears to be doubling down on her initial bad judgment about Chief Financial Officer Charles Asubonten’s resume misrepresentations by featuring him prominently at a board committee meeting next week.

Airbnb Turns to Brussels for Help as Anti-Tourist Backlash Intensifies in Europe

Airbnb is on the run in Europe and desperate to find allies.

The U.S. Is Not at Full Employment—Don’t Believe the Trump Administration’s Hype to the Contrary

Why recent employment statistics are giving an unduly rosy picture of the state of the US labor market.

How Tax Evasion Increases Inequality

Total tax evasion among the top 0.01% in Scandinavia is roughly 10 times the level of the population at large.

Links 5/9/18

20% of Inmates in California Jails on Psychotropic Medications

Why are inmates in California jails being medicated at much higher rates than in the past?

Can Canada’s Mutual Help Financial Organizations for Disenfranchised Blacks Serve as a Model for the Un and Underbanked in the US?

Are Canada’s mutual-assistance-based financial groups a guide for how minority and disadvantaged groups can escape the tax of overpriced bank services like check cashing?

Europe Buys More Russian Gas Despite Strained Relations

Russia remains very much entwined in Europe’s economy.

Globalisation, Government Popularity, and the Great Skill Divide

How do voter reactions to globalisation vary by skill level?

Links 5/8/18

SEC Gives Private Equity Firm Welsh Carson a Wet Noodle Lashing Over Purchasing Kickback Abuse

More SEC enforcement theater on the private equity front.

Warren Buffett’s Mortgage Companies Engage in Alleged Discrimination Against Minority Borrowers, Violating Fair Housing Act

An investigative report suggests that Berkshire Hathaway’s mortgage lending operation discriminates against minority borrowers.