Author Archives: Yves Smith

Russia’s Move In Syria Threatens Energy Deals With Turkey

Will the Turkish Stream project be a casualty of Putin’s bold moves in Syria?

Steve Keen: “Mainstream Economics” and Its Deadly Equilibrium Assumption

Steve Keen, one of the very few economists who forecast the crisis, on “What is ‘mainstream economics’ and why has it gone off the rails?”

Links 10/12/15

TPP Intellectual Property Chapter is “A Disaster for Global Health”

Yet another damming take on the TPP.

Payday Lenders Pay Off the System So They Can Keep Ripping Off Borrowers

Paying a visit to payday lenders at one of their conferences.

Links 10/11/15

Mark Blyth: “Austerity Cures Nothing”

This is a bracing, no-nonsene talk from economist Mark Blyth of Brown University, who is the author of Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century and Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea.

Don Quijones: Did the European Court of Justice Just Torpedo the Mother of All US Trade Agreements?

A European Court of Justice’s tough ruling on privacy may have tanked a toxic “trade” deal.

If Only All Reporters Gave News Like This…

If only all reporters had bouts of candor like this…

Links 10/10/15

John Helmer: US Strategy In The Middle East Is Dying, Along With Its Authors, Carter And Brzezinski; Putin, Al-Assad Get To Dance On Their Graves, David Ben-Gurion Too

US experts try to claim the Russians are vulnerable in the Middle East as the window for US intervention closes. A German military analyst: “The Red Army is invigorated to a level that has never been fielded on the Middle Eastern map.”

U.S. Climate Goals: A Reckoning

The current US lifestyle needs to go if the world is to succeed in limiting climate change.

The Financial Sector is Too Big

Has the financial sector become too large, absorbing too many resources, and enhancing instabilities?

Links 10/9/15