20% of Obamacare Enrollees Failed to Make First Payment
Robert Pear of the New York Times has an important story today on the actual, as opposed to heavily-spun, state of play with Obamacare take-up.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Michael Klare: In the Carbon Wars, Big Oil Is Winning
Listening to President Obama’s State of the Union address, it would have been easy to conclude that we were slowly but surely gaining in the war on climate change. Of course, by now, you should know that when Obama claims to have made progress, a reality check is very much in order.
Read more...Joe Firestone: Dear Dr. Krugman – Please Let Me Explain
Paul Krugman can’t explain why the deficit issue has suddenly dropped off the agenda. Perhaps I can help.
Read more...Links 2/13/14
PBS Pimps Itself Out to Billionaire Who Campaigns Against Pensions for Gov’t Employees to Produce Scaremongering Series About Government Pensions
Now we know how much it takes to buy PBS programming: $3.5 million.
Read more...Money Makes People Right-Wing and Inegalitarian
Rich people typically lean right politically. Are they motivated by deeply moral views or self-interest?
Read more...Economics is Applied Morality
The ignorance of many highly experienced economists to the moral foundations of their work is quite alarming.
Read more...Obama Lame Duck Watch: Pelosi Puts Another Nail in Toxic Trade Deal Coffin, Says She Opposes Giving Administration “Fast Track” Authority
Obama now has another hurdle to overcome if he is to get his toxic trade deals, the TransPacific Partnership and the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, passed in time for him to take credit for handing the keys to America over to multinational corporations and turning out the lights.
Read more...Links 2/12/14
Versailles Watch: John Mack Whines About How Badly Wall Street CEOs are Treated
You cannot make this stuff up.
Read more...Pimco, Blackrock Mulling Suing Ocwen Over Abusive Servicing
Funny what a difference a few days makes.
Read more...Money and Elections in Washington: Pro Wrestling, but With More Respectable Clothes
kayfabe: Term in pro wrestling. Kayfabe was the unsaid rule that the wrestlers should stay in character during the show and in public appearances in order to maintain a feeling of reality (albeit suspended) among the fans.
Read more...Governments and Activists are Fighting the Corporate “Right” to Sue Governments
This post contains several troubling examples of how investors have used provisions in existing trade deals to attack the laws of nations that attempt to enforce environmental, labor, and consumer protections, or simply discipline bad-faith behavior.
Read more...Links 2/11/14
How Obamacare Raids the Assets of Low-Income Older Americans
One feature of Obamacare that Lambert has mentioned in passing in his posts is that individuals over 55 who are enrolled in Medicaid are subject to having expenses like being in a long-term care facility, home services, and related drugs and prescriptions clawed back from their estates. A must read post at Paul Craig Roberts details how pernicious and sneaky these provisions are.
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