Category Archives: Doomsday scenarios

All Guns, No Butter: Military Contractors as Welfare Queens

The Trump budget is particularly shameless in providing more pork to the military despite the absence of any genuine pressing need.

Corbyn’s Brexit Challenge: From the Frying Pan into the Fire?

Unfortunately, Corbyn finally stepping into the Brexit fray looks like different cherry picking and potentially even more political upheaval.

Melting Ice Could Release Hazardous Waste from Abandoned Cold War Site

Melting Greenland ice will release chemical and some radioactive nasties from an old US Cold War base. Expect more of this sort of thing.

Dire Consequences of Ignoring Trade in Climate Change Targets: On Track to 3.5 C Temperature Increase by 2100

Astonishingly, climate change accords like Kyoto and Paris ignore the impact of trade. That omission means our collective goose is cooked.

Dr. Strangelove in the Pentagon: Lowering the Nuclear Threshold and Other Follies of the New Nuclear Posture Review

New Pentagon Nuclear Posture Review makes nuclear war more likely, as a logical extension of policies launched by Trump’s predecessor.

Bill Black: Once a Poster Child for Austerity, Latvia Becomes a Hotbed of Corruption

Bill Black discusses how in two years Latvia has morphed from poster child for austerity for the financial press to a nest of banking corruption.

Tories Double Down on Brexit Fantasies as EU Again Says “Nein”

Yet another Groundhog Day in Brexit land…

Treasury Proposes Dubious, Untested Chapter 14 Bankruptcies for Too Big to Fail Banks

Treasury released an ideologically-driven proposal to change Dodd Frank’s resolution authority.

Another Brexit Mess: “Grandfathering” Existing Free Trade Agreements Looks Unlikely

Another item on the Brexit problem list: what to do about free trade agreements that will cease to apply to the UK on Brexit day.

How Hunter-Gatherers May Hold the Key to our Economic Future

Their relaxed approach to work stemmed from their faith in the providence of their environment and confidence in their ability to exploit it

Polar Ice Is Lost at Sea

An update on polar ice loss and its implications.

Financial Markets Have Taken Over the Economy. To Prevent Another Crisis, They Must Be Brought to Heel.

A detailed and well-argued explanation of how the growth in the role of financial markets has become destructive.

Government Shutdown Once Again Shows the Lies Behind Deficit Hysteria

How the wealthy use deficit scaremongering to keep wages down and stave off calls for more investment and social spending.

Gaius Publius: More on the Cape Town, South Africa, Water Crisis

Cape Town is becoming ground zero of water scarcity….a future that will arrive for many more in the coming decades.