Author Archives: Yves Smith

Data Center Boom Sparks Utility Spending—But How Real Is the Demand?

In an unexpected break for the environment, might much-hyped data center energy demand fall short of projections?

Trump’s Additional 50% Tariff Against China and China’s Tit for Tat Retaliation: Trump Own-Goals Himself Into Where China Would Want Him

Some further thoughts on the radical US-destructiveness of the Trump tariff regime.

Links 4/9/2025

Longer-Dated Treasuries Sell Off Sharply, Increasing Interest Rates: The Exact Opposite of What Trump Says He Wants

Mr. Market, in the form of longer-dated Treasury yields, is not on board with the Trump tariff scheme.

Trump Thinks Tariffs Can Bring Back the Glory Days of US Manufacturing. Here’s Why He’s Wrong

More on the false premise that Trump can restore the US as a manufacturing powerhouse.

‘We’re Turning Into a Dictatorship’: Trump Tariffs Seen as Ploy to Further Consolidate Power

Senator Chris Murphy called President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs “a political weapon designed to collapse our democracy.”

Links 4/8/2025

Why America Is Acting This Way on Trade: A Globotics Shock, a Failed Social Policy, and Middle-Class Fury

An attempt to divine the political roots of Trump’s trade and tariff policies.

Blockbuster Deal Will Wipe Out $30 Billion in Medical Debt. Even Backers Say It’s Not Enough.

A program that purchased medical debt at a deep discount, while effective, still reinforces a predatory system.

Focus on Market Rout from Overvalued Levels Diverting Attention from Real Economy DOGE, Particularly Social Security and Depth of Tariff Damage

The focus on the market rout pervesely distracts attention from Trump’s massive and probably durable real economy destruction.

Trump Tariffs Run Over Already-Desperate Car Industry; Higher Prices, Job Cuts, and Supplier Closures Baked In

The tariff situation has developed not necessarily to the advantage of the car industry.

Links 4/5/2025

Trump’s Tariffs Are Extremely Dumb, Just Not For The Reasons You Might Think

The massive Trump tariffs are a con on a global scale. Trump is not rejecting the corporate trade model. He’s weaponizing it.

Trump’s Non-Cooperative Game

Game theorists do not take a kind view of how Trump is going about things.

Private Equity Shares Tank Based on Trump Tariffs; Private Equity and Credit Crises Coming?

How the Trump tariffs will whack private equity, and even more so, investors like CalPERS and other public pension funds.