Latest Greece Talks End in Confusion, Dissent
It’s hard to fathom Greece’s approach to its dealings with its oppressors, um, creditors.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
The Coming China Crisis
A high private debt to GDP ratio is a strong indicator of a coming financial crisis. China is well into the danger zone.
Read more...What Happened to the “Feel Good” Economy?
Even though this video is from December (hat tip Philip Pilkington), it gives an informative and nuanced explanation of the rise in income inequality and consumer debt levels, and how they play into our unimpressive “recovery”. The interview of Steve Fazzari and Barry Cynamon by Marshall Auerback discusses how the rise of inequality has many drivers, but the biggest appears to be financialization which is so pervasive and well-protected politically as to make it hard to roll back. It also put focus on key metrics that often get lost in conventional coverage. For instance, inflation and productivity adjusted wages would now need to be over $20 to match the levels of the 1960s.
Read more...Links 3/20/15
Bank Super Lawyer, Rodgin Cohen of Sullivan & Cromwell, Says Regulatory Capture is a Myth
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a credulity-straining account of how Rodgin Cohen, the dominant bank regulatory lawyer in the US, was trying with a straight face to convey a line that legitimates his role: move along, there is no such thing as regulatory capture.
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: Of Greeks and Germans: Re-imagining our Shared Future
Varoufakis addresses the need for Greeks and Germans to stop the blame game and work together.
Read more...Michael Hudson: Europe Tilts East Towards China
The sudden rush of countries joining China’s infrastructure bank, including supposed US allies like the UK, Germany, and France, demonstrates the desire of not just emerging but also advanced economies to have access to international institutions that are not dominated by the US. Whether the infrastructure bank actually winds up being better, as opposed to simply different than existing institutions remains to be seen. But as Hudson describes, the World Bank sets a low bar.
Read more...Who Owns the Post Office?
This article describes how the creation of a misguided corporatized governance structure and undermining of public-interest-related objectives undermined the Post Office. The very fact that offices are being shuttered in rural areas that depend on the Post Office as a local anchor, leading to the death of communities, shows how far the modern Post Office deviates from its founders’ objectives.
Read more...Stanford Law School Covers Up SEC’s Andrew Bowden’s Embarrassing Remarks by Deep-Sixing Conference Video
Stanford Law School Covers Up SEC’s Andrew Bowden’s Embarrassing Remarks by Deep-Sixing Conference Video
Read more...Rob Parenteau: “Goebbelnomics – Austerian Duplicity and the Dispensing of Greece
A case study in Goebbelnomics, here used by austerians to justify the class and economic war against Greece.
Read more...Links 3/19/15
Bill Black: What Does it Take to Get Fired from the SEC?
Why the SEC should demand the resignation of examination chief Andrew Bowden after he fawned over private equity, an industry he oversees.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Investors Crushed as US Natural Gas Drillers Blow Up
The carnage in natural gas drillers that Wolf called early has arrived.
Read more...Meetup in Paris on Friday April 10?
Are NC readers up for a meetup in Paris on Friday April 10?
Read more...IMF Labels Greece “Most Unhelpful Client in its History”
This report does not bode well for Greece Prime Minister Alex Tsipras’ efforts to resolve what he regards as an impasse over negotiating process, but the IMF and possibly the ECB regards as a more fundamental outtrade.
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