Category Archives: Regulations and regulators

Are the BRICS and Their New Development Bank Offering Alternatives to the World Bank, the IMF?

An assessment of how far BRICS has gotten in creating new monetary arrangements and institutions. The short version is “not very”.

After Much Posturing, US Imposes (So Far) Underwhelming Sanctions Against China for Russia Trade

After sending Yellen and Blinken to China to make threats, the Administration has imposed some strikingly weak sanctions

TaxCast #142: Blockchain Havens

How blockchain/crypto tax havens are displacing traditional tax havens.

AC, Power Banks, Mini Fridges: Oregon Equips Medicaid Patients for Climate Change

Health insurers like Oregon’s Medicaid find it cost effective to give patients equipment to protect them from heat as well as wildfire smoke

With US Workers on the March, Southern States Take Aim at Unions

Governors in the region are “truly astonished that workers might not trust their corporate overlords with their working conditions, pay, health, and retirement,” said one critic.

How Banks and Investors Are Fueling a Global Biodiversity Crisis

Commercial financial flows to the forest-risk commodity sectors are driving the majority of tropical deforestation and biodiversity loss.

Grocery Store Consolidation: Manipulating Supply Chains and Manufacturing, for Corporate Influence and Profit . . . Redux

More squeezing of the poors and shrinking middle class sought, via a US grocery store merger creating combined company market share of 22%

FTC Chief Says Tech Advancements Risk Health Care Price Fixing

The FTC’s Lina Khan is loaded for bear and targeting potential (as in probable) tech-facilitated price collusion in health care.

James Galbraith: Industrial Policy Is a Good Idea, but So Far We Don’t Have One

Industrial policy, despite recent lip service, is out of favor because doing ambitious things isn’t lucrative enough for the right people.

Boeing and Baltimore Bridge Scandals: Monopolization and Criminal Negligence?

On how recent administrations enabled Boeing’s industry takeover and covered up safety deficiencies at Boeing and in the shipping industry.

US Firms Have Little Financial Incentive to Comply with the Minimum Wage

More on “American hates the poors”: companies face hardly any downside in cheating on disgracefully low minimum wages.

Medicare’s Push To Improve Chronic Care Attracts Businesses, but Not Many Doctors

A Medicare scheme to lower costs of chronic care patients gets a thumbs down from most MDs, perhaps because it was designed for middlemen?

Standard Chartered Says Peak Oil Demand Is Not Imminent

The much predicted peak oil is running behind schedule, to the detriment of the planet.

5 Things to Know About the Global Land Rush and How to Stop It

A recent conference in Colombia assessed the extent of land grabs and how to organize against them.