Fearless commentary on finance, economics, politics and power

~ Today’s Water Cooler, featuring the Biden inaugural ~

Not your grandmother’s “yield curve control.” Only one thing that could force this ECB absurdity to end: a big bout of inflation.

Sadly, the CDC’s new head does not look up to turning around the agency, even before getting to bizarre plans to expand its mission.

Low-quality anonymous “editors” combined with a Google tie-up turned an interesting experiment into an overlooked but destructive monopoly.

The economy is likely to be crippled for months and fiscal rescue on a large scale, once again, is very much necessary.

By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Bird Song of the Day Sadly, the state bird of Delaware, the Blue Hen, is not a distinct species. #COVID19 At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. I feel I’m engaging in a macabre form […]

Yves here. Many associate sweatshops in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with “fast fashion,” aka the close-to-disposable frocks made by the likes of H&M. As this article explains, the use of ultra-cheap labor extends much further up the fashion food food chain. And these poorly-paid workers get thrown to the curb when orders fall off. By […]

The causes for concern surrounding Italy are growing, even as the ECB keeps a tight lid on its bond yields, pushing its debt servicing costs lower as its debt explodes higher.

How Covid is extending the reach of crapification.

North Korea is in even more of an economic mess than before. Will that lead to more brinksmanship?

A self-funded, petite bourgeoisie riot?

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s true legacy.