Why Don’t Americans Take More Vacations? Blame It on Independence Day
On Independence Day’s roots as an “Americanization” propaganda project to increase acceptance of immigrants who competed with native-born workers.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Old Economic Thinking is the Problem, Says BIS
The BIS shellacks Bernanke’s savings glut hypothesis and stresses that financial fragility is still a big risk.
Read more...Links 7/3/15
Sacramento Bee Reports on CalPERS’ Fee Lapses
CalPERS is in even more hot water as the influential Sacramento Bee raises its eyebrows about CalPERS’ lack of attentiveness about fees.
Read more...Proof that Fraud is the Biggest Business in America
Fraud is an even bigger force in the US economy than you imagined.
Read more...Elizabeth Warren Reams Private Accreditor Who Certified Corinthian College Up to Its End
Elizabeth Warren confronts a more-pathological-than-usual industry shill in the form of a college accreditor. He denies that there was ever a problem with Corinthian or his organization’s processes.
Read more...The Washington Consensus and Long-Term Austerity in Latin America
Most Latin American countries—including those, like Chile and Brazil, where democratically elected leftist governments were overthrown in the 1960s and 1970s. reversed course to adopt “neoliberal” economic policies. How well did that work?
Read more...Links 7/2/15
CalPERS Scrambles to Get Private Equity Carry Fee Info After We Break Story That They Had No Clue What They Were Paying
CalPERS takes some steps to clean its private equity house by getting carry fee information, but only by virtue of feeling serious external pressure. And the way it responded show that the rot runs deep.
Read more...Bill Clinton, Paid to Speak to Biotech Conference, Extolled $1000 Pill to Prevent “Liver Rot,” Despite Lack of Evidence that It Does
What won’t the Clintons do if the price tag is high enough? Now Bill is playing drug detailman.
Read more...Oil Faces Steep Downside Risk From China’s Stock Market
A drop in demand from China was one of the big causes of the oil price plunge in 2008. How do stock prices play into current demand weakness?
Read more...Tsipras Accepts Most Creditor Terms as Merkel Insists on Referendum
Post-bailout expiration dynamics are likely to produce even worse outcomes for Greece than it had on offer from the creditors last month.
Read more...Links 7/1/15
Michael Klare: Russia v. China – Washington Debates Who Should Be Public Enemy Number One
Yves here. It’s mind-boggling to think that the US is confronting China as a hostile power. We are deeply integrated with them economically, so it’s hard to see how this makes any sense. And it reveals classic American short-sightedness, since by letting them become our preferred vendor (as in exporting US jobs to them), we […]
Read more...Affordable Housing Crisis Grows Across the Country as Apartment Rents Skyrocket
An update on where and how tenants are being squeezed by rising rents versus stagnant to low wage growth.
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