Michael Hudson: Socrates on Debt and Ibn Khaldun on the Cyclical Rise and Fall of Societies
Socrates described how the use of debt by the elite to strip the lower orders of their property sets up revolutions.
Read more...Category Archives: Dubious statistics
The Global “New Normal” Is Not New– But It Is Still a Real Concern
Why the “new normal” is a sign that capitalism is running out of options.
Read more...Enforcement of Puerto Rico’s Colonial Debt Pushes Out Young Workers
Yves here. This post corrects some of the misleading accounts of the history of the Puerto Rico’s debt crisis and describes how the neoliberal remedy is producing an Ireland-style exodus of the young. By José A. Laguarta Ramírez. Originally published at Triple Crisis At least 23 of the 49 people killed in the mass shooting […]
Read more...Corruption of FDA Clinical Trials Reports: The Problem and a Proposed Remedy
Big Pharma lies via medical publications, and the FDA shuts its eyes to this ruse in clinical trials. Time to put it to a stop.
Read more...William Astore: Air Supremacy Isn’t What It Used to Be
American air supremacy is touted as key to delivering low cost victories. It’s hasn’t been working out that way for quite a while.
Read more...Brexit Risk and Nigel Farage: We Know Where His Mouth is (“England”), But is His Money Offshore?
Is Nigel Farage’s wealth offshore? Is that why he’s so calm about Brexit?
Read more...The New Education Reform Lie: Why Denver Is a Warning Sign, Not a Model, for Urban School Districts
The charter school movement ‘s claims of better results are marketing hype, as Denver demonstrates.
Read more...Hensarling’s “Market Regulation” Replacement to Dodd Frank Proves He Does Not Understand Banking
Yves here. Steve Waldman wrote a definitive post in 2009, Capital can’t be measured, on a core issue that Black discusses here. A key section: So, for large complex financials, capital cannot be measured precisely enough to distinguish conservatively solvent from insolvent banks, and capital positions are always optimistically padded. Given these facts, and I […]
Read more...Wolf Richter: What Makes This Jobs Report So Truly Ugly?
Last week’s job report was not only disconcerting in and of itself, but it also bodes ill for labor market prospects.
Read more...Steve Keen: Zombie-to-Be Economies and the Walking Dead of Debt Include China, South Korea, Canada, Finland
Steve Keen’s macroeconomic model allows him to identify zombies-in-the-making. It’s not pretty.
Read more...Investment Case Study: Some Oxford Dons Take Skeptical Look at Yale and Canadian Investment Fads, Um, Models
Believe it or not, a case study on major approaches to investing that is both informative and fun to read.
Read more...Michael Pettis: China – How Much Investment is Optimal?
If China’s very low level of social capital has long ago made its investment strategy obsolete, that suggests that China has overinvested beyond its capacity to utilize these investments economically. Thus there are hidden losses on bank balance sheets created by the failure to write down physical capital to its true value. In this case Chinese growth cannot help but drop significantly as these losses are finally recognized and as investment levels are sharply curtailed.
Read more...Andrew Bacevich: The US in the Middle East – “There Is No Strategy”
At best, the US is waging a war of attrition in the Middle East. And we ignore the fact that people in that part of the world hold grudges for centuries.
Read more...CalPERS Uses Unqualified “Expert” to Validate Its London-Whale-Style Deficient Risk Management
CalPERS tells its board that the very same lax risk management oversight structure that led to the London Whale fiasco is “best practice” when it clearly isn’t.
Read more...New IMF Paper Challenges Neoliberal Orthodoxy
A new IMF paper takes on some neoliberal sacred cows.
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