Author Archives: Yves Smith

Worrying About the Deficit Is So 17th Century

Deficit hawks have been wrong for even longer than you thought.

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.

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?

Links 6/6/18

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….

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.

Tuscon Meetup 2.0 Report

NC regular Arizona Slim recaps the discussion from last week’s Tucson meetup.

More US and China Jousting Over South China Sea

The US-China conflict over the South China Sea keeps getting hotter.

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.

Links 6/5/18

Wall Street Journal: Why Bashing Chinese Steel Dumping Results in Bashing Allies

Why combatting Chinese steel dumping is harder than it seems.

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.

China Rx: How the US Depends on China for Its Drugs

Why does China need a military? It could bring the US to its knees in months by withholding shipments of drugs and drug ingredients.