Author Archives: Yves Smith

Who Got Reuters to Pull Article on Sanders’ “Left Hook” TV Ad?

Reuters deep sixed a favorable article about a hard-hitting Sanders ad. The only plausible explanation is pressure from the Clinton campaign.

Youth Unemployment in the Mediterranean Region and its Long-Term Implications

The data on European youth unemployment is sobering, and the migrant influx is making a bad situation worse.

Links 4/15/16

How CalPERS Was Taken By Private Equity Firm Silver Lake and Tried to Hide That (A Tale of Two Spreadsheets)

CalPERS told two very different stories about how well its investment in Silver Lake, the general partner, fared. Which should we believe?

Open Thread: Reader Takes on Sanders/Clinton Brooklyn Debate

Seeking reader reactions to last night’s Sanders/Clinton debate.

Michael Hudson: Pamama – Laundering Haven for War Budgets

Michael Hudson explains the history of Panama as a center to launder earnings for the oil and the gas industries, and the mining industry.

Five Big Banks Get Bad Grades on Living Wills, No One Gets Clean Pass; Admission That “Too Big to Fail” is Alive and Well

The practical and political consequences of no big banks getting a pass on their living wills.

Mathew D. Rose: The Remarkable World of Angela Merkel and Her Friends

With friends like Merkel’s, who needs enemies?

Bill Black: “Liberal” Economists Cheered the New Democrats’ Deregulation of Finance

A case study illustrating how soi-disant liberal economists pushed the US to the right during the Clinton Administration.

Martin Wolf Defends Central Banks’ Negative Interest Rate Policies

The Financial Times’ lead economics writer, Martin Wolf, makes an intellectually bogus case for negative interest policies.

Krugman Kinda, Sorta Retracts a Key Part of Last Friday’s ‘Sanders Over the Edge’ Op-ed

Being Paul Krugman means never having to say you’re sorry.

Housing’s “Deadly Embrace” in Financial Cycles

The IMF argues that regulating mortgages is not sufficient to prevent housing booms and busts.

John Helmer: Brookings Launches Unguided Missile – The Panama Papers as Putin Plot

Brookings issued an astonishing report, and not in a good way, about the Panama Papers.

Intra-EMU Divergence Is A Feature Not A Bug

Yves here. I’m leery of reinforcing the “competitiveness” meme, since it’s based on the false premise that all countries can be exporters. But this article nevertheless makes important observations about Eurozone structural flaws.