For Climate and Livelihoods, Africa Bets Big on Solar Mini-Grids
Nigeria pioneers in mini-grid installations to bring reliable electricity to remote communities — a model for other African countries
Read more...Author Archives: Yves Smith
Links 4/12/2025
Trade in the Time of Trump
Trump promised in 2016 and 2024 to undo deindustrialization from globalization and free trade, with tariffs as his main tool. Can it work?
Read more...For Health Apps, Questions Over Privacy and Efficacy
Apps that track health data or help provide care may be beneficial, but experts worry about the lack of regulation.
Read more...US-Iran Negotiations: Why an Agreement Looks Unlikely
Happy endings look remote with the US attempt to escalate against Iran and bully them into a “deal”.
Read more...More Trump Punishment of the Poors: HHS Eliminates Office That Sets Poverty Levels Tied to Benefits for 80 Million People
Yet another Trump gutting of a whole swathe of programs, here by eliminating the experts who knew how to determine poverty thresholds.
Read more...International Trade Suppression and the Demand for US Treasuries
On how lower foreign government appetite for Treasuries might affect the status of the dollar as reserve currency.
Read more...Trump Tariff Climbdown: Consumer Impact Worse Due to China Retaliation; Who Wins Aside from Trump’s Ego
Some further observations about the Trump tariff train wreck.
Read more...Top Trade Expert Says Trump Tariff Pause Lays Bare ‘Just One More Con on Working People’
Do Trump’s trade flip flops, destructive to everyone save perhaps insider traders, show that he has entered a Mad Ludwig phase?
Read more...Food Banks Tighten Their Belts as Federal Cuts Keep Coming. Patrons Don’t Know Where Else to Turn.
Yet more Trump Administration cruelty: cutting support to food banks.
Read more...Data Center Boom Sparks Utility Spending—But How Real Is the Demand?
In an unexpected break for the environment, might much-hyped data center energy demand fall short of projections?
Read more...Trump’s Additional 50% Tariff Against China and China’s Tit for Tat Retaliation: Trump Own-Goals Himself Into Where China Would Want Him
Some further thoughts on the radical US-destructiveness of the Trump tariff regime.
Read more...Links 4/9/2025
>Longer-Dated Treasuries Sell Off Sharply, Increasing Interest Rates: The Exact Opposite of What Trump Says He Wants
Mr. Market, in the form of longer-dated Treasury yields, is not on board with the Trump tariff scheme.
Read more...Trump Thinks Tariffs Can Bring Back the Glory Days of US Manufacturing. Here’s Why He’s Wrong
More on the false premise that Trump can restore the US as a manufacturing powerhouse.
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