Author Archives: Yves Smith

Blockbuster Deal Will Wipe Out $30 Billion in Medical Debt. Even Backers Say It’s Not Enough.

A program that purchased medical debt at a deep discount, while effective, still reinforces a predatory system.

Focus on Market Rout from Overvalued Levels Diverting Attention from Real Economy DOGE, Particularly Social Security and Depth of Tariff Damage

The focus on the market rout pervesely distracts attention from Trump’s massive and probably durable real economy destruction.

Trump Tariffs Run Over Already-Desperate Car Industry; Higher Prices, Job Cuts, and Supplier Closures Baked In

The tariff situation has developed not necessarily to the advantage of the car industry.

Links 4/5/2025

Trump’s Tariffs Are Extremely Dumb, Just Not For The Reasons You Might Think

The massive Trump tariffs are a con on a global scale. Trump is not rejecting the corporate trade model. He’s weaponizing it.

Trump’s Non-Cooperative Game

Game theorists do not take a kind view of how Trump is going about things.

Private Equity Shares Tank Based on Trump Tariffs; Private Equity and Credit Crises Coming?

How the Trump tariffs will whack private equity, and even more so, investors like CalPERS and other public pension funds.

Medicare Advantage Is Covering More and More Americans − Some Because They Don’t Get to Choose

Another layer of the ongoing campaign to get more Americans to use private and generally inferior Medicare Advantage over Traditional Medicare

Another Trump Big Lie: “Reciprocal Tariffs”

Further discussion of the delustions and misrepresentations of the Trump tariffs.

Trump Deploys His Tariff Wrecking Ball; How Much Will the US Suffer Along with Most of the Rest of the World?

The latest Trump tariffs kick up the destructiveness of his administration up to a whole new level.

Iran Lacks the Leverage For a Fair Deal With the US

The US seems intent on bludgeoning Iran into a very unfavorable agreement.

Another “Covid Brain” Cognitive Impairment: Checklists?

Are difficulties with mental checklist another manifestation of “Covid brain”?

What Will Tech Moguls Do With Their Wealth?

Tech billionaires are embedding themselves in U.S. economic systems while experimenting with new ways to manage their fortunes

New Gallup Poll Finds Health Care Affordability Falling: One-Third Cannot Afford Care

More bad, if predictable, news on the US health care front.