King Coal, Dethroned, and Its Aftermath
The history the coal industry is tragic and its collapse is its grim final act.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Louis Proyect: A Brief Response to Joe Firestone on IT/Grexit
Why believing that there must be an easy way for Greece to pull of a Grexit does not make it so.
Read more...Links 8/25/15
Wine and Water Watch (WWW) Challenges Northern California’s Invasive Wine Empire
Northern California activists opposed to the land and water use practices of the wine industry are stepping up their efforts.
Read more...Robert Reich: In the New Economy, Workers Take on All the Risk
More Americans than ever don’t know what they’ll be earning next week. That’s why we need income insurance.
Read more...Bill Maher, New York Times Op Ed on the “Post Greed is Good Economy”
Bill Maher has a devastating short segment on the “post greed is good” world, as exemplified by the “sharing economy.” In a bit of synchronicity, a New York Times op ed by a former high-end restaurant captain covered similar themes.
Read more...Perry Mehrling: No One Has a Good Idea of How to Keep the Fed From Having to Rescue Mr. Market Again
Perry Mehrling’s post on the Fed’s progress in dealing with future market crises is damning, despite its “give everyone credit for what they have done” recap.
Read more...Links 8/22/15
Picking Apart One of the Biggest Lies in American Politics: “Free Trade”
How the Founding Fathers and successful advancing economies steered clear of manufacturer-destroying “free trade”.
Read more...German Wage Repression: Getting to the Roots of the Eurozone Crisis
How Germany’s wage repression, a war against its own workers, has been exported to the rest of the Eurozone.
Read more...As QE Wanes, Real Costs of “Employment” Subsidies Surface
As the QE prop is removed, it will become more difficult to ignore the fact that “employment” subsidies were often simply “employer” subsidies.
Read more...Links 8/21/15
“How Complex Systems Fail”
Complex systems are prone to catastrophic failure. Have we come to embrace policies and values that increase the odds of failure?
Read more...How Medical “Misbranding” Puts Patients at Risk
How the anodyne term “misbranding” covers conduct which can, and too often does, lead to higher patient death rates.
Read more...VICE News: “Why Pay Your Taxes?”
This Vice News segment makes the normally dry and daunting subject of taxes (really tax policy) accessible and entertaining. Plus it features Lee Sheppard.
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