The Economics of Undyed Hair Roots
Monitoring a recession indicator: hair salon visits, or more accurately, their reduction.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Links 6/14/2025
Forcible Removal of US Sen. Alex Padilla Signals a Dangerous Shift in American Democracy
Trump’s war against the Constitution, Congressional oversight powers, and legislation escalates with the man-handling of Senator Padilla
Read more...Those Who Would Be King
Trump’s June 14 spectacle is an exploitation of the military for personal and political gain. Will No King protests make a dent?
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: The Economics of Europe’s Descent into Warmongering
The long path that has led Europe to see big defense spending will be a lifeline, hence the need to stoke war fever.
Read more...Israel Launches Attacks Against Iran; Iran Begins Retaliation
Parsing emerging information on the Israel campaign against Iran, and Iran’s initial response.
Read more...Kennedy’s HHS Sent Congress ‘Junk Science’ To Defend Vaccine Changes, Experts Say
More on RFK, Jr. making shit up but attempting to wrap it in the mantle of science.
Read more...Climate Adaptation and Inequality: Lessons from Cape Town’s Drought
Cape Town’s drought illustrated that when climate crises become acute, the rich care for themselves irrespective of bigger effects.
Read more...Rob Urie: Why Retaliation Rhymes with Negotiation, US – Russia Edition
On not-well-known elements of the US-Ukraine-Russia conflict, the fecklessness of the left, and the abject stupidity of Western leaders
Read more...Satyajit Das: A Fist Full of Dollars
Two recent books seem unduly complacent about the status of the dollar as reserve currency.
Read more...“Is All Economic Growth Good?”
It can’t be said too often: what most economists call growth is too often what we here call groaf.
Read more...The Projected Death Count from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill
Researchers projects that “big beautiful bill” cuts to public health insurance coverage may lead to upwards of 51,000 deaths a year.
Read more...“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”: Why Are Young Men Giving Up on Sex?
Many, and perhapse even most, young American men have soured on sex. What could be responsible?
Read more...Do AI Models Think?
A new paper confirms early doubts that LLMs could ever meet AI boosters’ claims that they were intelligent.
Read more...“Is the US on the Path to Becoming a Failed State?”
Yes, the US is in the midst of multifaceted institutional collapse. But to see Trump as the cause as opposed to an accelerant is misguided.
Read more...