Author Archives: Yves Smith
Gaius Publius: A Primer – What’s in a “Tar Sands” Pipeline?
In the wake of renewed interest in the Keystone Pipeline project and the likelihood that Obama will eagerly approve it unless we stop him, there’s a lot of interest in what actually flows through those pipes.
Read more...EU Antitrust Authorities Sue 13 MegaBanks Over Credit Default Swaps Collusion to Stymie Exchanges
Ooh, here we thought bank reform was dead, and an unexpected front opens up.
Read more...Is Europe Recovering?
By Delusional Economics, who is determined to cleanse the daily flow of vested interests propaganda to produce a balanced counterpoint. Cross posted from MacroBusiness
Manufacturing and PMI Data out for Europe overnight and, much like the flash data, the news is getting better but with some serious caveats.
Read more...Satyajit Das: The Truth of the Matter
Satyajit Das reviews three books about our current economic and political woes.
Read more...Will Snowden Revelations About Spying on Foreign Governments Undermine the European and Pacific Trade Talks?
Despite all the consternation in the US about Edward Snowden’s revelations about the extent and intensity of snooping in the United States, it isn’t clear that the surveillance industry is even breaking a sweat. But the government and public uproar in Europe about US snooping on its supposed allies may change that pronto.
Read more...Has the U.S. Reached Peak Car?
Yves here. This post is a workmanlike compilation of trends in the driving habits of Americans. Some of the data shows that use of public transportation has been rising faster than population growth…yet budget stresses mean those services are regularly targeted for fare increases and schedule cutbacks.
Read more...Links 6/29/13
Congrats Digg for Rescuing Me From Feedly! Gets Google Reader Replacement in Just Under the Wire and It WORKS!
I know it probably sounds really really REALLY silly to be happy that Digg’s replacement for Google Reader is up and was a total snap to get running and have import my feeds from Google Reader (which officially dies as of July 1).
To understand why I am so pleased, you need to appreciate several things:
Read more...Advocates Oppose Senate Immigration Bill Over Escalation of Border Militarization
This segment focuses on some elements of the Senate bill that appear to be under the radar as far as media coverage is concerned. First is that the bill does not provide a path to citizenship for a significant portion of the current illegal immigrant population (frankly that’s been a feature of past immigrant “reform” bills too; the Hispanic community may have been promised more than it was ever going to have delivered on this front). Second is that is includes a large budget to militarize the border with Mexico.
Read more...Links 6/28/13
US Mortgage Rates Skyrocket
Yves here. So what is the Fed going to do, now that it has delivered a big blow to the nascent housing recovery? Risk its credibility by beating a serious retreat on taper talk, or keep whistling in the dark and wait and see what happens to July and August home sales (and remember, most housing market data is reported with a nearly two month lag…)?
Read more...How Much Are the NSA and CIA Front Running Markets?
Given what has already been revealed about the NSA’s data gathering, if you were a clever trader and had access to this information, how would you mine it? How would you go about finding patterns or events to exploit?
Read more...James Boyce: Limits to Growth – of What?
Average national income is a notoriously imperfect measure of the average person’s well-being.
Read more...Gaius Publius: Obama’s New Climate Plan: Less Coal, More Fracking
There’s speculation on whether we are being prepped for a Yes to Keystone.
Me? I think we’re being set up for a Yes, but I’ve thought that since the subject came up. If the baby keeps grabbing for the candy, you have to conclude s/he wants it. Same with this.
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