Author Archives: Yves Smith

Bond Investors Get Skittish as Record Wave of Acquisitions Push to Close Financings

Standard & Poors warns of the worst drop in the “net outlook bias” for bond investors since the financial crisis.

Neoliberal Capitalism, Its Crisis, and What Comes Next

The fundamental contradictions of neoliberal capitalism are pushing it to the breaking point.

Links 1/13/16

Why Larry Summers is Wrong and Bernie Sanders is Right on Glass Steagall

Larry Summers, acting as a proxy for Team Clinton, attacked Sanders’ reform proposals, particularly the an updated Glass Steagall. Her’s why Summers is wrong.

Michael Klare: Plunging Oil Prices – A Recipe for More War?

Low and generally volatile oil prices are a prescription for more political instability in major oil producing nations.

Does The U.S. Have A Middle East Strategy Going Forward?

This post describes how the US is running its Middle East policies by the seat of its pants, with not surprising bad results.

2015: A Failing Fiscal Policy

Although the case study is the UK, this post is yet another example of how counterproductive austerity is, from both an economic and a social perspective.

Links 1/12/16

Mathew D. Rose: Now It Is Poland’s Turn

Germany is very upset that Poland has voted in a populist, Euroskeptic, anti-austerity government. And Germany is particularly unhappy that the new regime is increasing its control over public media….which Germany already has in place.

How the Labor Cost Competitiveness Myth is Making the Eurozone Crisis Worse

A new article makes a devastating attack on a fundamental belief driving Eurozone policy, that the member economies need to be made more “competitive,” meaning labor needs to be squeezed, for the currency union to achieve more growth.

Marshall Auerback: What US Treasury Yields Might Be Signalling

Bond yields warn of deflation. How real is this worry?

Memo to the Private Equity Growth Capital Council: No One Outside Your Echo Chamber Believes Your Big Lies Any More

A case study of a a propagandist, the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, failing at its own tradecraft.

The Death of the Professional: Are Doctors, Lawyers and Accountants Becoming Obsolete?

Is the professional about to go the way of the dodo bird?

Links 1/9/16