Author Archives: Yves Smith

CalPERS Board, General Counsel Illegally Silence Naked Capitalism Even as We Try to Help

CalPERS’ general counsel lied obviously and casually to the board, a sign of a deeply diseased institutional culture.

Corporate Tax Cuts: More Debunking of the Claim that They Spur Growth

Contrary to aggressive corporate PR, why corporate tax cuts do not promote investment in projects that promote growth.

Back to the Future? Lessons on Inequality, Labor Markets, and Conflict from the Gilded Age

Warning to capitalists: the high levels of inequality of the deregulated Gilded Age led to concerted and effective pushback by workers.

Links 8/23/16

Trickle Down Election Economics: How Big Money Can Affect Small Races

Billionaires are targeting key state races.

Revealed: ECB Secretly Hands Cash to Select Corporations

Is the ECB’s latest bond-buying program creating corporate winners and losers?

CalPERS’ Tainted Fiduciary Counsel Robert Klausner Departs After NC Publicizes His Dubious History

CalPERS’ tainted fiduciary counsel, Robert Klausner, is leaving. But CalPERS’ handling of his departures says it hasn’t learned its lesson.

A Hard Look at the War Criminals, Um, Hawks Who Say “Never Trump”

The hawks who are throwing bricks at Trump forgot that they are living in glass houses.

Eurozone Stability Under Threat of a ‘Bad Shock’

Remarkably, an increasing number of economists believe the Eurozone has addressed its weaknesses. Shades of the Great Moderation, circa 2006.

Links 8/20/16

The Link Between Health Spending and Life Expectancy: The US is an Outlier

Why does lavish health spending in the US produce so little in the way of results?

Gaius Publius: “You Broke It, You Bought It” – A Sanders Activist Challenges Clinton Supporters

Clinton’s hard move to the right is causing some consternation among bona fide progressives. But what will they do about it?

Dirk Bezemer and Michael Hudson: Finance is Not the Economy

Picking apart the conflation of real capital with finance capital and explaining how that confusion undermines sound analysis of the crisis.