Category Archives: Free markets and their discontents

Monetary Policy and Fiscal Discipline: How the ECB Planted the Seeds of the Euro Area Crisis

How the ECB did Euro-area member states a dirty when it tried to act as deficit enforcer.

Trump’s Steel and Aluminum Tariffs: How WTO Retaliation Typically Works

A review of some of the permitted counter-moves under WTO rules if Trump imposes tariffs.

Why Trump Is So Clumsy About Fighting ‘Free Trade’

Why what looks like a trade problem is really a financialization problem, and therefore there are much better solutions than using tariffs.

European Court of Justice Nixes “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” Intra EU, Raising Doubts About Its Future

Is it the beginning of the end for “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” clauses that have undermined democracies, and specifically, labor and environmental protection?

Crash Out Brexit Now the Defender Position

Brace yourselves! Why a “crash out” Brexit is now the most likely outcome.

Elizabeth Warren Slams Democrats for Helping Gut Financial Regulations

The financial services industry is about to get even more unnecessary, risk-feeding breaks, thanks in no small measure to Democrats.

So Bad the DoJ Woke Up: Saline Bag Makers Look to Have Endangered Patients Via Illegal “Tying” and Price Gouging

Saline bags are a new example of medical industrial complex rent extraction that also put patients at risk.

Even McKinsey Gets It: High Wages Improve Economic Performance

McKinsey is turning on neoliberal orthodoxy by advocating high employment, high wage, high demand policies.

Stock Buybacks Hurt Workers and the Economy. We Should Ban Them.

The Reagan Administration ushered in stock buybacks as legalized manipulation. Time to put it to an end.

Trump’s Tariff Threat to Kick Off Trade War?

Trump is threatening to kick off a trade slugfest via tariffs on steel and aluminum. Will he follow through?

With Official Unemployment This Low, Why Are Wages Rising So Slowly?

Why has wage growth been lousy in a supposed recovery? Thank your politicians for fostering the growth of the precariat.

Money: The High Cost of Betrayal

The misrepresentation of how the US money system works is worse than mere economic malpractice, which is already pretty common.

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.

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.