Author Archives: Yves Smith

UK Press Making Optimistic Noises re Big Brexit Hurdle: Breakthrough or Headfake?

Today is the day of a big Brexit deadline. But don’t get your hopes up.

Links 12/2/17

GOP Tax Bill is Even Worse Than We Think

There’s ugly, and then there’s the GOP’s tax bill.

Is Bitcoin A Speculative Bubble?

Do Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have fundamental value?

Japan’s Tight Labor Market Generates Deflation…

Puzzling over Japan’s super low unemployment with continued deflation.

How Market Competition Really Works

One of the best models of competitive markets in an economy is an evolutionary one.

Global Value Chains, Trade Shocks and Jobs: An Application to Brexit

A conservative analysis, incorporating the impact on value chains, estimates the UK will face a 4.7% GDP fall in a hard Brexit scenario.

Science Suggests We’re Making Fish Homicidal Through Antidepressants We Flush Into the Water

First a lobster with a Pepsi tattoo, now fish made mad by meds in the water.

Links 11/30/17

Exploiting the Elderly: Crapification and Long-Term Care Insurance, Genworth as Case Study

Genworth’s flagging long-term insurance business as a window into the challenges facing even the high-functioning elderly.

New Paper Debunks Desperate Rationalization for Private Equity: Lower Volatility Based on Bogus Valuations

A new paper by Jeff Hooke and Ken Yook of John Hopkins argues that “smoothed,” as in phony, private equity valuations are misleading.

The Web Began Dying in 2014 – Here’s How

The Internet has changed considerably since 2014, and not in a good way.

The Republican Tax Plan

Economists discuss the Republican tax proposals and for the most part, find a lot not to like.

Judge Slams Uber for Withholding, Possibly Destroying Evidence in Waymo Trial; May Undermine Uber in Other Litigation

Uber is in serious hot water in the Waymo trial. If Uber did try pulling a fast one on the court, the blowback could extend to other cases.