The Growing China-Latin American Energy Relationship
China has made a concerted effort to expand energy links in Latin America, especially in form of oil-backed loans.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Caymans Exposed: Tax Havens Lucrative for Big Finance, Leave Only Crumbs for Locals
Being a tax haven isn’t all it is cracked up to be.
Read more...Links 6/25/15
Greece Bailout Deal Looks Even More Remote
Greece’s creditors made a remarkably harsh proposal after the ruling coalition crossed some of its red lines. Is this a plot to break the government?
Read more...Cringley on How the Bogus Shareholder Value Theory is Wrecking the Computer Industry (and America Generally)
Why the bogus idea that managers should focus on “maximizing shareholder value” is driving the American IT industry into the ditch.
Read more...What if the Euro Area Falls into Serious Deflation?
Why structural reforms will not ward off deflation in Europe.
Read more...Economists, Wall Street Upset About Stingy Millennials
Stingy spending and investing behavior by millennials is a part of the New Normal that the officialdom would like to ignore.
Read more...TPP: 13 Democratic Senators Invite Republicans to Make Them Laughing Stocks and More Serious Matters
Despite the Obama victory in the Senate yesterday on the TPP, the bill still has some remaining hurdles to surmount. Can it be beaten?
Read more...Links 6/24/15
View from the Past: Banks Preferred Lending to Businesses, Not Collateral
Why the rise of collateral-based lending has been bad for our economic health.
Read more...“A Bad Man’s Guide to Private Equity and Pensions”
A bad man’s guide to how private equity ditches pensions in bankruptcy—legally.
Read more...Some Pointers on How to Catch the Dubious Use of Statistics
A long standing pet peeve is how the use of figures has been fetishized in political discourse and in our society generally, to the point where many people too easily swayed by argument that invoke data (I discussed this phenomenon at length in the business context in a 2006 article for the Conference Board Review, […]
Read more...Deal With Greece Still Looks Wobbly
Negotiations with Greece remain fraught. Only a narrow path has been opened to getting a deal done, and it is far too easy for the parties, for reasons good and bad, to stray from it.
Read more...Links 6/23/15
New Study Debunks Myth That Exorbitant CEO Pay Results from “Talent”
In the last month or so, I’ve seen some remarkably dubious studies flogged around what Lambert calls the Innertubes, all ringing changes on the same themes: outsized pay for those at the top is a reflection of a state of nature. Fortunately, a new study from Lawrence Mishel and Alyssa Davis of the Economic Policy Institute has done the heavy lifting of shredding new, creative defenses of out-of-control CEO pay.
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