Author Archives: Yves Smith
Interview: How Elon Musk Blurs the Lines of Free Speech
Billionaire Elon Musk’s new job raises tricky First Amendment questions, with implications for public health.
Read more...Will Some EU States Seize Russia’s “Shadow Fleet” In The Baltic?
Could major incident in the Baltic Sea spark a crisis that leads to Russian escalation, thwarting Ukraine talks?
Read more...‘Going Against Trump Policies Is Not Fraud’: White House Panned Over Absurd Defense of DOGE
Administration efforts to defend DOGE confirm that spending cuts are ideological, and not value-neutral ‘efficiency’ or cost reduction
Read more...How Climate Denial is Fueling a U.S. Homeowners Insurance Crisis and Risking a 2008-Style Financial Meltdown
A climate-change-driven insurance and eventual mortgage/housing price crisis is getting momentum. And unlike 2008, price recovery is unlikely
Read more...Europe’s Challenge and Opportunity in the Trump Era: Building Coalitions of the Willing
How some ideas for bolstering Europe’s position in the Trump era are not as well thought through as they ought to be.
Read more...Initial Thoughts on US-Russia Talks on Ukraine War as Ukraine and EU Have Nervous Breakdowns
Plenty of people are seriously Not Happy that Trump and Putin are talking about Ukraine, and some do have agency.
Read more...‘Make America Healthy Again’ by Transforming Animal Agriculture
Will RFK, Jr., tackle the many health-harming the practices around industrial animal farming?
Read more...Global Value Chains in a World of Uncertainty and Automation
Global supply chain expansion slowed to crawl speed after the 2008 crisis. But that did not translate into much reshoring.
Read more...The Golden Goose: The Consequences of Trump’s War on American Universities
A bug or a feature? The Trump plan to cap NIH/NSF grant indirect overheads is a gut punch to the economics of top universities.
Read more...Trump’s Shock Doctrine: Uncertainty and the Repudiation of Contracts
How Trump’s economic revolution and the uncertainty it is creating are already wreaking havoc.
Read more...KLG: The Engineering Ideal in Biology and Its Utility or Disutility
How the engineering ideal in biology, already taken further than is realistic, has become a foundation for the quest for eternal life.
Read more...Chaos Theory: Assessing the Legal Validity of Trump’s Tariffs
A look at the legality of Trump tariffs. Sadly, another proof that international law does not count for much in practice.
Read more...Mr. Treasury Market Tells Fed It Is Even More Worried About Inflation
The Fed vigorously backpedaled on further cuts, pivoting to wait-and-see, due to long-term rates signaling inflation concerns.
Read more...Imperialism (Still) Rules
Many in the West now deny imperialism. But even the Economist now sees Trump’s revival of this US legacy.
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