Category Archives: Guest Post

2:00PM Water Cooler 3/19/2021

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

We May Be Living in a Moment of Misplaced Optimism

The current bout of optimism looks too close to giddy for my comfort. And yours?

Links 3/19/2021

Scoring the $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Plan and Earlier Covid Relief Programs

How to do a better job of getting relief to those who need it.

Stock Market Leverage Spikes in Historic Manner: Another WTF Chart of a Zoo that Has Gone Nuts

In an investment environment where nothing matters anymore – until old fasioned worries like leverage suddenly do.

Links 3/18/2021

Patent System Often Stifles the Innovation It Was Designed to Encourage

Why the US patent regime is broken and what could be done to fix it.

The Free Press versus Facebook and Google

Are Facebook and Google the new ‘public square’? Or are they publishers swiping content from others?

The Full Case Against Ultra Low and Negative Interest Rates

Why unprecedentedly low and negative nterest rates will probably not stimulate demand and may even threaten financial stability.

Michael Hudson and Paul Craig Roberts: It Is Time To Remove The Debt Barrier To Economic Growth

Why it’s time for a widespread debt writedown.

Yanis Varoufakis: Draghi’s Outrageous Deployment of McKinsey, Europe’s Predicament, DiEM25’s Proposals

Yanis Varoufakis decries how McKinsey is undermining democracy in a putative first world country, a big step up from South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

The Long Term Damage of Economic Downturns

As the well off sail on, either unaffected by or profiting from Covid’s impact, for many, the economic damage is severe and lasting.

Spain’s Labor Office Hit by Massive Ransomware Attack As Unemployment Hits Four-Year High

The victims of this latest ransomware attack are among the most vulnerable in society — those who have lost their jobs or whose jobs have been furloughed.