Why Ellicott City’s flood didn’t have to be the disaster it was.
Recent Items
Saturday, August 2, 2025
A 1,000-Year Flood in Maryland Shows the Big Problem With So Much Asphalt
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Environment, Global warming, Guest Post, Social policy
Posted by Yves Smith at 5:25 am | 53 Comments »
McKinsey’s and CalPERS’ Ignorance and Sleight of Hand on Private Equity
McKinesy and CalPERS appear to be kidding themselves at least as much as the general public on the subject of private equity.
Topics: CalPERS, Private equity, Ridiculously obvious scams
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:45 am | 14 Comments »
A Hard Look at the Mini-BOT, the Parallel Currency Idea of Italy’s New Ruling Coalition
The mini-BOT has only been sketched out at a high level. How might it work and more important, would it succeed as a parallel currency?
Topics: Banking industry, Currencies, Europe, Guest Post, Macroeconomic policy, Payment system, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:43 am | 47 Comments »
2:00PM Water Cooler 6/6/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: Steel, China and Oil, Schultz boomlet, Sanders on the trail, 2018 midterms, Cuomo v Nixon, trade, productivity, leading indicators, single payer, labor and the supply chain
Topics: Water Cooler
Posted by Lambert Strether at 2:00 pm | 114 Comments »
The Political Significance of LSD
LSD is back in vogue. Is that a good thing?
Topics: Guest Post, Social policy, Social values
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 126 Comments »
Links 6/6/18
Topics: Guest Post, Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 182 Comments »
More Brexit Insanity: Corbyn Proposes Dead-on-Arrival, Misbranded “Soft” Brexit; Auto Part Makers to Take Huge Hit; Irish Border Groundhog Daze
Brexit madness is only getting worse….
Topics: Brexit, Doomsday scenarios, Europe, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Politics, Regulations and regulators, UK
Posted by Yves Smith at 5:00 am | 51 Comments »
Italy’s New Prime Minister Conte Says Euro Exit Off the Table, But Mr. Market Pouts About Spending Talk
Italy’s new government makes some opening moves.
Topics: Banking industry, Currencies, Economic fundamentals, Europe, Income disparity, Macroeconomic policy, Politics, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:14 am | 25 Comments »
Tuscon Meetup 2.0 Report
NC regular Arizona Slim recaps the discussion from last week’s Tucson meetup.
Topics: Notices
Posted by Yves Smith at 1:43 am | 10 Comments »
More US and China Jousting Over South China Sea
The US-China conflict over the South China Sea keeps getting hotter.
Topics: China, Commodities, Doomsday scenarios, Globalization, Guest Post
Posted by Yves Smith at 1:38 am | 13 Comments »
2:00PM Water Cooler 6/5/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: NAFTA negotiations kaput, China trade, today’s primaries, 2020 trial balloons, Democrats and economics, services, JOLTS, the hellscape that is Tesla’s Fremont plant, evictions, the Mac
Topics: Water Cooler
Posted by Lambert Strether at 2:00 pm | 88 Comments »
Jim Chanos on Fraud: “Cryptocurrency Is a Security Speculation Game Masquerading as a Technological Breakthrough”
The legendary short seller Jim Chanos in a wide-ranging discussion of financial frauds, starting with cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin is the last thing he’d want to own in the event of a catastrophe.
Topics: China, Credit markets, Currencies, Doomsday scenarios, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Moral hazard, Payment system, Regulations and regulators, Ridiculously obvious scams
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 26 Comments »
Links 6/5/18
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 179 Comments »
Wall Street Journal: Why Bashing Chinese Steel Dumping Results in Bashing Allies
Why combatting Chinese steel dumping is harder than it seems.
Topics: China, Commodities, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 4:12 am | 18 Comments »
Richard Murphy: Why the Swiss Referendum Proposal of Giving the Central Bank Complete Credit Control is Dangerous Folly
Correcting some misunderstanding about proposed monetary reforms that are the subject of a referendum this weekend.
Topics: Banking industry, Economic fundamentals, Federal Reserve, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Macroeconomic policy
Posted by Yves Smith at 12:47 am | 50 Comments »