Category Archives: Banana republic

Salvation Army Slams New Zealand’s Loose Immigration Policy for Hurting Local Workers

Immigration is a hot topic in the antipodes too, for much the same reason as in the US….the impact on jobs and wage rates.

Trump, Clinton, Obama and the TPP

How much-derided “populism” has revealed some ugly truths about the TPP, leading Clinton and Obama to try to reposition themselves.

Important Labor Fights Are Going Down at Ivy League Schools

Labor fights at Columbia, Harvard, and Yale

Why Italy’s Banking Crisis is Spiraling Out of Control

Even by the standards of European kick-the-can-down-the-road exercises, measures to stave of an Italian banking crisis are really slapdash.

How Wells Fargo Exemplifies the Drivers of Big Corporate Fraud

The Wells Fargo fake account scandal illustrates why corporate executives conveniently ignore or even engage in fraud.

Naked Capitalism: Getting Through the Stupids to the Important

How Naked Capitalism is the antidote to media short-termism that otherwise allows powerful interests to control information flows.

Earth to Regulators: If You’re Going to (Hopefully) Ding John Stumpf, Don’t Miss Henry Kravis, Leon Black, et al.

Now that the press is focusing on executives who oversaw stealing, people like Leon Black are even more deserving targets than John Stumpf.

Almost Nobody Is Satisfied With Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf’s Overdue Departure

While John Stumpf has finally departed Wells Fargo, the bank hasn’t made moves consistent with serious change.

Social Democracy, the “Third Way,” and the Crisis of Europe, Part 3

A discussion of why the center-left failed to revive in Europe after the crisis. Some of the reasons apply to the US as well.

Switzerland Seen Backing Down on Supporting Tax Haven USA

The US gets some badly-needed pushback on the tax haven front.

RBS Looted Small Business Customers, Deliberately Driving Thousands in Bankruptcy, While Under Government Ownership

How RBS destroyed thousands of small UK businesses for fun and profit.

Not So Wondrous Drugs? – New Warnings about Severe Adverse Effects of New, Heavily Marketed Drugs for Hepatitis C

Dangerous diseases like hepatitis C make it a bit too easy for drugmakers to peddle wonder cures….

Ham-Handed Theresa May “Hard Brexit” Stance Roils UK Pols, Not Just EU

Theresa May may have thrown a spanner in the Brexit works by pushing for a xenophobic “hard Brexit”. Accident or design?

Private Equity Double Standard: California’s John Chiang, Other State Officials Happily Ding Headline-Grabbing Wells But Look Other Way With PE

State officials like California Treasurer John Chiang eagerly sanction an easy target like Wells Fargo. But private equity? Fuddedaboudit.

Economic ‘Recovery’ Feels Weak Because the Great Recession Hasn’t Really Ended

We are not in a recovery and we’re not really in a traditional recession. People think of a business cycle, which is a boom followed by a recession and then automatic stabilizers revive the economy. But this time we can’t revive.