Category Archives: Free markets and their discontents

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.

“Cash Must Not Be Made the Scapegoat”

The ECB isn’t keen about the war on cash.

Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind US Productivity Gains

Larry Summers and Anna Stansbury challenge the idea that workers getting a smaller cut of the productivity gains pie is due to technology.

Law Professor Proposes Bringing Back Indentured Servitude

Indentured servitude is the new idea for how to get immigrants to come to American at less than minimum wage pay.

Davos: Alive or Dead?

Politicians and economists are meeting at Davos, but as times change, does neoliberalism retain its cachet?

The Free Market Threat to Democracy

Democracy is not under stress – it’s under aggressive attack, as unconstrained financial greed overrides public accountability.