Simon-Wren Lewis at Mainly Macro is on target with the term ‘privatization’ as a way to ‘save’ money and add ‘efficiency’. Of course no slogan making the claim can begin with ‘it depends…’: Privatisation and government debt Possibly the worst argument for privatizing part of the public sector is a supposed ‘need’ to reduce public […]
If you have been watching the ongoing saga unfolding in Wisconsin on Governor Scott Walker and his recall election and election shenanigans, it probably comes as no surprise there was fire where there was smoke. “Prosecutors allege Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fund” raising among conservative groups […]
Warming slowdown? WHAT warming slowdown? A result of discussions at: Part one was mentioned at Angry Bear a few weeks ago. Here is Azimuth…part 2
The mortgage servicing abuses continue: by Yves Smith Repeated Foreclosures on an On-Time Borrower Demonstrates Failure to Fix Servicing and Fallacy of “Save Banks at All Costs” Policy It was obvious at the time of the various mortgage “settlements” that the Administration’s policy was to make only cosmetic fixes in a badly broken servicing […]
This is the companion first post to the Emperor Hadrian quote (lifted from comments h/t BW) here: Not Mincing Words In today’s USA Today, James Webb (“Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, and a Marine platoon and company commander in Vietnam”) leads with some harsh criticism of Kerry, paticularly Kerry’s involvement with Vietnam […]
Uh-oh, hedge fund managers and Goldman Sachs partners. Obviously, few of you are evangelical Christians. So this guy, who wants good markets, has his sights set on you. But, luckily not on that carried-interest tax-benefit thing y’all get to use, praise the Lord. So maybe you hedge-fund types can skip church again this Sunday, after […]
In the past, I have written about the “cholesterol con” (part 1), the widespread belief that high levels of “bad (LDL) cholesterol” can cause heart attacks. As I have explained (part 2), the myth has generated enormous profits for many commercial interests, including companies that peddle statins. (Please read both parts of the post.) No […]
The stock market has reached stall speed. What is a stall speed? “An aircraft flying at its stall speed cannot climb, and an aircraft flying below its stall speed cannot stop descending. Any attempt to do so by increasing angle of attack, without first increasing airspeed, will result in a stall.” (wikipedia) What does it […]
28% of US Labor is expected to hold low-wage jobs in 2020 according to the EPI and is the same percentage as what existed in 2010. While real median hourly wages on average dropped 2.8% for all occupations between 2009 and 2012, lower wage occupations saw a much larger drop of 5% or more for […]