Category Archives: Dubious statistics

Negative Rates, Negative Reactions

A new survey suggests that negative rates will be counterproductive. Consumers will not spend more, as central banks wish, but will hoard.

Wolf Richter: Is This the Beginning of the Next Recession?

A sustained contraction in manufacturing historically has been a harbinger of recession. Be warned.

Satyajit Das: Age of Stagnation or Something Worse?

In The Age of Stagnation, author Satyajit Das has shifted from his usual wry detachment to a sense of foreboding.

Wolf Richter: Financial Chaos, Junk Bond Edition

Junk bonds are at 2008 bottom levels by some measures. But are they a bargain, or a falling safe?

Eurobanks: The Probable Point of Failure as Systemic Stress Rises

Why Eurobanks are the most likely fracture point if current economic stresses continue.

Dean Baker Exposes How CBO Cooks Inflation Forecasts to Promote Deficit Scaremongering

Yet more funny forecasts from the CBO telling you why you can’t have nice things, like a better job market.

Stock Market Investors Abandon Private Equity, Expect No Profits Overall From Current Deals

Equity investors think private equity funds will show no profits on their current deals, which contrasts sharply with portfolio company valuations.

Tom Engelhardt: The U.S. Military Bombs in the Twenty-First Century

The US military is not exceptional, save in sheer scale. It’s bad enough that the public is repeatedly told otherwise, but worse, the officialdom has fallen for its own PR.

Bill Black: How Many Lies Can the WSJ Pack into a Chart on Liar’s Loans?

Bill Black is not happy about the revisionist history on liar’s loans. And separately, this piece is a useful exercise in the critical reading of narratives.

Explaining Why Federal Deficits Are Needed

Why you should expect and applaud federal deficits.

Central Counterparties: The New Locus of Systemic Risk?

Central counterparties, also known as central clearinghouses, were supposed to reduce systemic risk. That story is not playing out according to its script.

Chinese Slowdown and the World Economy

China’s slowdown started years ago, not last year. And the impact on the US is likely to be lower than news reports would lead you to believe.

Flint: Let Them Drink Pollution?

Why the crisis in Flint, Michigan is about race and class, and the American nightmare of metastasizing inequality of wealth and power.

Are Economists in Denial About What’s Driving the Inequality Trainwreck?

Today’s richest Americans may soon blow past the tycoons of the Roaring Twenties.