Saturday, April 20, 2024

Diplomatic Blowback Begins in Latin America, As Ecuador Violates One of the Oldest Rules of International Law

As if by clockwork, diplomatic tensions intensify in Latin America as the US tries to reestablish its strategic stranglehold over the region.

Tilting at Windmills: Bernanke and Blanchard’s Obsession with the Wage-Price Spiral

The obsession of big-name economists with defending a bad model has consequences, here, a policy aim of whacking wages.

Real Energy Transition Costs Could Spell Danger for EU

The EU is belatedly confronting the costs of their much-touted energy transition. Pols and voters are balking at the bill.

2:00PM Water Cooler 4/8/2024

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, pandemics, Democrats and the working class, “Starry Night” updated, and P. Diddy: a second Epstein? ~

Links 4/8/2024

Interview: Puncturing Misconceptions About Vaccine Hesitancy

“Vaccine hesitancy” less pervasive than some say

No Exit: Western Imperialism, Capitalism, and Industrialization

Is industrialization the original sin of both capitalist and Communist/socialist economic systems?

The Economy Finally Doomed Erdogan in Major Defeat in Turkish Local Elections. What Comes Next?

Will the opposition be able to capitalize going forward, and what would that mean for the New Cold War? 

BRICS Enlargement – a “Non-Event” or a Stage Victory Against the West?

What does BRICS want to be when it grows up?

The Medicare Maze

Eileen Appelbaum takes a critical look at Medicare Advantage, exposing how it falls short of its cost-saving and quality-enhancing promises.

Will Human-to-Human Bird Flu (H5N1) Be the Long-Awaited “Disease X?”

A Bird Flu round-up, mostly from an institutional perspective.

Links 4/7/2024

ACA Plans Are Being Switched Without Enrollees’ OK

Unauthorized enrollment or plan-switching is emerging as a serious challenge for the ACA, also known as Obamacare.

Links 4/6/2024

The Duran: US Economic Decline and Rise of Greater Eurasia – Michael Hudson, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen

Some Naked Capitalism favorite experts, Michael Hudson, Alexander Mercouris, and Glenn Diesen, ponder the implications of the rise of Eurasia.