Author Archives: Yves Smith

Wolf Richter: Moody’s Explains Why Junk Bonds Will Sink Stocks Further

Why the high risk spreads in the junk bond market bode ill for the stock market.

Links 1/23/16

Ilargi: Square Holes and Currency Pegs

The difficultly of maintaining currency pegs, most important the renminbi and riyal versus the dollar, will put even more stress on financial markets.

Our Richard Smith Speaks on Taxcast

Our Richard Smith discusses his international fraud gumshoe work on Scottish limited partnerships on the Tax Justice Network’s Taxcast.

CalPERS CEO Anne Stausboll to Retire June 30

CalPERS’ CEO Anne Stausboll unexpectedly announced her plan to retire. The most probable explanation does not reflect well on her.

Bloomberg Spotlights Poor Private Equity Returns From Last “Peak of Cycle” Mega Deals

Buying at the peak rarely works out, as private equity’s pre-crisis mega deals confirm. Yet general partners fared really well.

Links 1/22/16

Some Experts, Like Krugman, Supported Single Payer Until Bernie Sanders Put It in His Platform

Funny how many Democrats supported single payer until someone outside the party mainstream started backing it full bore.

The Failure of the Iraqi Army: America’s $25 Billion Paper Tiger

The Iraqi army fiasco as a study in imperial collapse.

The World Is Not Running Out Of Storage Space For Oil

The implications of the fact that there is still more oil storage capacity for prices.

Flooded Cities

Major cities are often located in low-lying areas that are flood-prone. Worse, after being flooded out, people and businesses tend to return even when relocating is the better choice.

Why Bitcoin is Not Disruptive

Get a cup of coffee. This is a deep dive into how Bitcoin works from a payment systems perspective, and why the failure of promoters and journalists to look at it in those terms has led them to greatly overestimate its significance.