Tourette’s Adventure of the Mind
By a regular reader of Naked Capitalism who has asked to remain anonymous
A few days after surgery I got Tourette’s syndrome.
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
How the Budget Deal Perpetuates Austerity Policies
Yves here. This Real News Network segment provides an overview of the budget deal, cutting through the hype to lay bare its impact on ordinary Americans. It’s not a pretty picture.
Read more...Links 12/14/13
Gaius Publius: `Liberalism Doesn`t Carry the Critique of Capitalism that Progressivism Does`
I’ve been fascinated lately with the meaning of the terms “liberal” and “progressive.” It’s clear that what we now call “liberalism” is really a variant, a side branch of the real thing, and should be more properly named “FDR liberalism” or “social liberalism.”
Read more...“Can Societies Be Commodities All the Way Down?”
Get a cup of coffee while you settle down to watch this video of Nancy Fraser discussing the crisis as a joint problem of ecological, financial, and social systems.
Read more...Links 12/13/13
Why Obamacare Cannot “Insure” for Pre-Existing Conditions
Why “insurance” for existing conditions is a bit of a misnomer, and why that matters in terms of health care policy.
Read more...Is Krugman Running on Brand Fumes? (TransPacific Partnership Edition)
It may seem a bit de trop to take on a Paul Krugman blog post yet again, but the reason for focusing on his post yesterday on the TransPacific Partnership is less for its substance and more as a political zeitgeist indicator.
Read more...The Eurozone: If Only It Were the 1930s
Yves here. This post looks at the strictures of the Eurozone (debt to GDP and deficit limits) and not surprisingly concludes that the supposedly independent ECB is making matters worse that a more “political,” as in growth oriented one, would. But depicting central bank independence as detrimental is a novel and important argument.
Read more...Bill Moyers: The Great American Class War, Plutocracy Versus Democracy
Moyers describes how the social contract in America is being dismantled in order to further enrich what he calls a “mercenary class”.
Read more...Links 12/12/13
Will Opposition in the US and Overseas Derail the Toxic TransPacific Partnership?
Given the extreme measures the Obama Administration has gone to to keep the pending trade deal known as the TransPacific Partnership under wraps, it’s hard to be certain where things stand. But like the Administration’s failed effort to have the US intervene in Syria, this has the potential to be one of those rare cases where the interests of ordinary citizens prevails.
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: Confessions of an Erratic Marxist in the Midst of a Repugnant Eurozone Crisis
Yves here. Even though Yanis Varoufakis has savaged the Trokia’s austerity policies that are driving Greece and other periphery countries into economic and social distress as well as fueling the rise of extreme right wing parties, some readers of this blog have criticized him for advocating reforms to pull the Eurozone out of its nosedive […]
Read more...America’s Descent into Third World Status: Tropical Diseases Rise Among Poor (Update)
To the extent that middle class and more affluent people think about poverty in America, they likely have blurry, partial images due to distance and lack of direct experience. Their remedies might include better education and training, higher minimum wages, more affordable housing.
New Scientist thinks otherwise. Its headline for a blistering editorial: Want to fix US inequality? Begin with worming tablets.
Read more...Philip Pilkington: Hjalmar Schacht, Mefo Bills and the Restoration of the German Economy 1933-1939
Yves here. I’m a big fan of economic history (and mystified that contemporary economists so rarely take interest in it). Pilkington describes an illuminating and oft-neglected chapter.
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