Lambert here: The rich are different. They hide their wealth. Sadly, does not name names! By Neil Cummins, Associate Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics. Originally published at VoxEU. Sharp declines in the concentration of declared wealth occurred across Europe and the US during the 20th century. But the rich may have been […]
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Yves here. Quelle surprise! Economic decline is a big driver of populist discontent in the EU. By Lewis Dijkstra, Head of Economic Analysis Sector, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission; Hugo Poelman, Senior Assistant, DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission; and Andrés Rodríguez-Pose Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics. Originally […]
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Yves here. This article is a bit geeky but very much worth your attention. It shows how pharmaceutical companies are flat out lying when they say they need higher drug prices to support R&D. Their profits go almost entirely to buybacks and dividends. And this analysis does not incorporate another unflattering fact: that Big Pharma […]
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I haven’t quite worked through my reaction to some recent pieces in the Financial Times that seem to merit comment, so forgive me for picking out a just a couple of tidbits that still might serve as grist for discussion. One thing that has long bothered me is the worship of innovation. Relatively early in […]
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In a bit of synchronicity, Lambert gave a mini-speech tonight that dovetails with an important Tucker Carlson segment about how hedge funds are destroying flyover. As UserFriendly lamented, “It is beyond sad that Tucker Carlson is doing better journalism than just about anywhere else.” That goes double given that Carlson has only short segments and […]
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Yves here. It is frustrating to see how often seemingly new ideas need to be repeated, like “The earth is not flat,” or “The Federal government does not need to tax or go into debt to spend” for them merely to get a hearing, let alone for their ramifications to sink in. So here is […]
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By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. I hope everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving and no one’s still struggling to dig out from under a mountain of turkey leftovers and various vegetables that only appear on our dining tables […]
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Yves here. Note that the deterioration in subprime loan repayments is at odds with cheery stories at Bloomberg like Even Low Earners Have Money to Spend. By Wolf Richter, editor of Wolf Street. Originally published at Wolf Street This is the transcript from my podcast last Sunday, THE WOLF STREET REPORT: OK, we’ve got a […]
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By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Federal prosecutors have initiated an investigation into whether six drug companies have intentionally allowed opioids to flow into communities, Federal Prosecutors Launch Criminal Probe of […]
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By Jake Johnson, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams Former President Barack Obama reportedly told advisers behind closed doors earlier this year that he would actively oppose Sen. Bernie Sanders if the progressive senator from Vermont opened up a big lead in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race. “Publicly, [Obama] has […]
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Yves here. It is exciting to see Lynn Fries, a Geneva-based film-maker that we know from her days at The Real News Network, featuring important stories independently. OpenDemocracy presented this segment, on the corporate infiltration of the UN, and hence international governance. Lynn speaks with Harris Gleckman, Senior Fellow at the Center for Governance and […]
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By Lynn Parramore, Senior Research Analyst at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website Political theorist Wendy Brown’s latest book, In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Antidemocratic Politics in the West, traces the intellectual roots of neoliberalism and reveals how an anti-democratic project unleashed […]
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Private equity is finally getting some long overdue official scrutiny via a series of Congressional moves. One is the full House Financial Services Committee meeting today, at 10:00 AM, America for Sale? An Examination of the Practices of Private Funds. You will find the live webcast at that link, as well as links on that […]
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Yves here. While this article raises an important question, as in why don’t Americans revolt, its analysis leaves a lot to be desired. For instance, its authors Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies make the bizarre claim that Occupy failed because it “failed to transition from a rallying point and a decentralized, democratic forum […]
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Yves here. I’m sure most of you are gobsmacked that anyone would ask the question in the headline, and even worse, perceive or actually find that enough people were puzzling this deep matter over to merit an agony aunt answer. Steel yourselves because this wee discussion of where aspiring upper class anthropologists need to go […]
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You thought deaths of despair were an affliction of deplorables. Silly you. In case you weren’t paying attention, young people are under a lot of stress too and many don’t have reason to think their state will get much better. Short job tenures and the rise of McJobs mean not just uncertain incomes, which are […]
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Yves here. Wolf Richter gives an important, granular take on the way the top 1% is pulling even further away from everyone else in wealth accumulation, enabled by the Fed. There’s a lot of anecdotal confirmation for his view that even the top 10% ex the 1% aren’t really doing all so well. For instance, […]
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Yves here. It really is perverse that Democrats have become the party of spending scolds and fiscal worrywarts. But this post suggests that this behavior has become typical of left parties…which given how far right the Overton window has moved everywhere, means “liberal”. Note that this post fails to distinguish between currency issuers and currency […]
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By Thomas Neuberger. Originally published at DownWithTyranny Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (Mary Schwalm / Reuters) One of the more likely outcomes of this season’s primary race is that either Warren or Sanders will be the nominee. Not because either will get a majority of first-ballot votes at the convention, though that’s possible, but because […]
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By Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, where he is a senior economist. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. His blog, Beat the Press, provides commentary on economic reporting. Produced by […]
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By Sahil Jai Dutta, a lecturer in political economy at the University of Goldsmiths, London and Samuel Knafo, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the University of Sussex. Originally published at the PERC blog In the late 1960s, a young banker named Joel Stern was working on a project to transform […]
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By Marshall Auerback, a market analyst and commentator. produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute National industrial policy was once something you might read about in today’s equivalent of a friend’s Facebook post, as hard as that might sound to believe. It was in newspapers; it was on the radio. […]
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Yves here. Hahaha! While you were distracted by the impeachment drama, the Trump Administration soldiered on with launching more corporate gimmies, this one in the form of another tax break. By Jake Johnson, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams President Donald Trump’s Treasury Department on Thursday took the first step toward […]
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