Q: And you had to sit in the hall in elementary school? A: So little was known about those conditions back in those days, and I think it was just seen as I was distracting everyone in the class with my silliness. I couldn’t stay in my chair and keep my mouth shut. So the teachers from […]

Yves here. Note that for at least the past decade, there has been a significant divergence between the IMF’s research arm, which has regularly criticized neoliberal policies, and its program arm, which acts as an enforcer for moneyed interests. During the Greek bailout negotiations, even some members of the program staff were clearly opposed to […]

Authored by Peter Koenig via GlobalResearch.ca, For close to 40 years the IMF has weaponized its handle on the western economy through the dollar-based western monetary system, and brutally destroyed nation after nation, thereby killed hundreds of thousands of people. Indirectly, of course, as the IMF would not use traditional guns and bombs, but financial […]

From agrarian economy to global superpower in half a century – China’s transformation has been an economic success story unlike any other. Today, China is the world’s second largest economy, making up 16% of $86 trillion global GDP in nominal terms. Furthermore, as Visual Capitalist’s Imam Ghosh points out, if you adjust numbers for purchasing power parity […]

Authored by Irina Slave via OilPrice.com, Climate has inarguably become a hot topic of discussion in developed economies over the last decade, and it is getting hotter by the day as study after study warn we are close to doomed if we don’t change our ways urgently. Yet climate on Earth is not the only […]

Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) historic blackout plunging hundreds of thousands of customers into darkness last week was a massive communication breakdown that sparked criticism over the two-day blackout that was designed to avoid wildfires, reported The New York Times. PG&E officials said over the weekend that most of the power had been restored to everyone […]

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Saker blog, Deciphering who’s behind the violence leads to a long list of possibilities… “If we burn, you burn with us.” “Self-destruct together.” (Lam chao.) The new slogans of Hong Kong’s black bloc – a mob on a rampage connected to the black shirt protestors – made their first […]

China’s producer prices deflated for the 3rd straight month, slumping 1.2% YoY – the biggest deflationary impulse since July 2016 – but, thanks to the explosion in pork prices (as ‘pig ebola’ spreads), Chinese consumers are facing the worst inflation since 2013. Source: Bloomberg “The return to PPI deflation since July is not only acting […]

Submitted by Eric Hickman, president of Kessler Investment Advisors, Inc., an advisory firm located in Denver, Colorado specializing in U.S. Treasury bonds. It isn’t just how much the Fed cuts rates that matters; it is how soon they do it. You don’t have to go far to hear calls for the Federal Reserve to not […]

Only a bit over five hours are left in the Naked Capitalism fundraiser. Show your support of sharp analysis, relentless pursuit of captured officials and lame pundits, demystifying finance, exposing looting, lively phrasemaking, and cute animal pictures. In the last two hours, we’ve gotten 25 more donations, so we’ve just beaten our donor target! Thanks […]

It isn’t just WeWork’s now-pulled IPO that’s toxic at the company: according to a Business Insider report, the company emailed its tenants on Monday telling them that there was “potentially elevated levels of formaldehyde” in phone booths throughout WeWork offices in the U.S. and Canada. Why they used the word potential is unclear – according to the […]

by Calculated Risk on 10/14/2019 09:16:00 PM

Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, Forbes faced ridicule and condemnation after the media outlet encouraged women to travel alone to Pakistan, including to areas where the Taliban is active. “Pakistan. It’s not exactly on every solo female traveler’s bucket list. But that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be,” states the article, which […]

Billionaires could be slapped with an effective tax rate of 97.5% if Bernie Sanders wins the 2020 presidential elections, reported Bloomberg, who spoke with two economists advising both the Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren Presidential Campaigns. Sanders’ effective tax rate of 97.5%, includes an income tax, but also a wealth tax that is aimed at breaking […]

Readers have responded generously to our final appeal, to meet our last goal of $35,000 for more original and to beat our new donor target of 1750 contributors. Since our last update, only five hours ago, you’ve blasted through our financial target. We are now $3,815 over our goal! This is very exciting for all […]

Listening to the speech William Barr, the attorney general, gave last week at the University of Notre Dame Law School, I found myself thinking of the title of an old movie: “God Is My Co-Pilot.” What I realized is that Donald Trump’s minions have now gone that title one better: If Barr’s speech is any […]

The partial trade agreement between the U.S. and China has caused relief among officials in Beijing, one of President Donald Trump’s outside advisors told CNBC on Monday. “I would say they’re relieved more than happy,” said Michael Pillsbury, director of the Center for Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute whom Trump has called the “leading […]

This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1696 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser and […]

The Naked Capitalism community has spoken!. You’ve said you want this site to have more in-depth coverage and impact. You’ve provided tangible backing for your desire to have us demystify finance, call out chicanery in high places, parse propaganda, to become more effective in our activism, and in our small way, help promote the creation […]

Via S&P Global Platt’s ‘The Barrel’ blog, Natural gas is top of our editors’ picks of unfolding commodity trends this week, with Europe’s market responding to oversupply and solid US production giving rise to ample storage. Elsewhere, low US power prices, Germany’s latest plan to step up emissions reductions and soaring nickel prices all feature. […]

Undercover whistleblower organization Project Veritas has done it again – after CNN insider Cary Poarch secretly recorded his colleagues. Poarch reveals CEO Jeff Zucker’s “personal vendetta” against President Trump, including orders to focus on impeachment, as well as a mandate that employees cut ties to Republican lawmakers, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Jeff Zucker, whistleblower Cary Poarch Via Project Veritas: A brave […]

With WeWork’s IPO – perhaps indefinitely – postponed, WeWork founder and former CEO Adam Neumann and his wife Rebekah Paltrow-Neumann now find themselves in a difficult predicament: Using a combination of loans against Neumann’s WeWork shares, as well as sales of some of his shares on the secondary market, the couple has accumulated a portfolio […]

Authored by Tim Draper via Medium.com, The Startup Government Preface. Tribalism to globalism. The Startup Religion. We have a particularly diverse student body at Draper University, and in the program, the students are asked to do challenging projects in teams. As a result, they build extraordinarily tight bonds with each other. Most of them overcome […]

A new report by The Wall Street Journal indicates about 100 of the 425 Sears and Kmart stores that financier Edward Lampert acquired out of bankruptcy are set to close by year-end.  Lampert, who was chairman and chief executive of parent Sears Holdings Corp., decided in late 2018 to file for bankruptcy protection.  Lampert provided the parent […]

Authored by Kelli Ballard via LibertyNation.com, The second Monday in October is celebrated across the nation – with a few exceptions – as Columbus Day. It’s a time to honor Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who mistakenly landed on American soil and started the migration of Europeans and the colonization of a previously occupied land. The […]

Out of the destruction of the Post-World War economies, began the rise of the economists. Beginning in the United States, then going global, economists created new ideas about deficits, monetary and fiscal policy, that slowly gained traction. By the late 20th century, the influence of economists impacted every corner of the modern world, including trade, […]

ABC News was just busted using two year old gun range footage while reporting on Turkey ‘slaughtering’ the kurds in the wake of a US withdrawal from the region.  This video right here appearing to show Turkey’s military bombing Kurd civilians in a Syrian border town. The Kurds, who fought alongside the US against ISIS now horrific reports […]

Over the past several weeks there has been an ongoing tit-for-tat between visas granted by China and the United States for each others citizens. One of the more significant, we found out Sunday in the Wall Street Journal , is that China barred a bipartisan delegation of American lawmakers over their planned stop in Taiwan.  ​​​​​​Chinese paramilitary police march […]

John Hope Bryant wants Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to know that he would not have been successful without capitalism.

by Calculated Risk on 10/14/2019 11:44:00 AM

To Alex’s excellent treatment I will add a short discussion of Kremer’s work on deworming (with co-authors, most of all Edward Miguel), here is one summary treatment: Intestinal helminths—including hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, and schistosomiasis—infect more than one-quarter of the world’s population. Studies in which medical treatment is randomized at the individual level potentially doubly underestimate […]

Authored by Ted Rall via The Unz Review, Some Republicans see the Ukraine/Biden impeachment inquiry as a deep-state coup attempt against President Donald Trump. Some progressives are beginning to scratch the surface of an alternative — but equally cynical — analysis that I think leftists ought to consider: Trump’s impeachment is a DNC/centrist coup attempt […]

On Thursday, just as stocks were set to explode higher on “trade deal optimism” we reported that “world renowned commodity guru” Dennis Gartman had issued his latest bearish recommendation, saying that “we are sellers today of the December S&P… at or near to $2916… We’ll “do” one unit of each and will risk 2% on […]

I first contacted Esther (and Abhijit) in 2006, when I wanted to write a New York Times column on their RCT work in India, specifically Hyderabad.  They were both extremely welcoming of my inquiries and did everything possible to give me a chance to observe their work up close. I ended up traveling to Hyderabad, […]

Abhijit and I were in the same first year class at Harvard, and I have two especially strong memories of him from that time. First, he was always willing to help out those who were not as advanced in the class work as he was.  Furthermore, that was literally everyone else.  He was very generous […]

This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1696 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser and […]

by Calculated Risk on 10/14/2019 09:24:00 AM

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he told libra representatives that he would take action if libra didn’t meet regulatory standards.

The Libra Association is meeting in Geneva to review a charter and appoint a board of directors.

However, he says, that doesn’t mean it won’t cause harm. “You can’t inhale something into the lungs on a repeated basis and not cause some damage.”

Dave Nadig, managing director of ETF.com, stops by The Compound to discuss how fee-free trading is changing the investment landscape with Ritholtz Wealth Management Chairman and CIO, Barry Ritholtz. EVERYTHING’S FREE: The Impact of Zero-fee Trading[embedded content] You can subscribe to The Compound here. See also: Brokers Profit From You Even If They Don’t Charge […]

“But I expect we’ll have a deal,” Mnuchin tells CNBC.

The Treasury secretary expresses optimism that the U.S. and China have a workable first-phase agreement.

This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1696 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser and […]

Thanks to the generosity of many loyal readers, we’re within closing in our targets. We’re at 1696 donors and closing in on our new goal of 1750. And at $33,330, we are also just a wee bit away from our final fundraiser target of $35,000 for original reporting. Be one of the people that makes […]

Source: World Economic Forum The annual Global Competitiveness Report has been released, and its chock full of great data and analysis: “Ten years on from the global financial crisis, the world economy remains locked in a cycle of low or flat productivity growth despite the injection of more than $10 trillion by central banks. The […]

The Nobel Prize goes to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer (links to home pages) for field experiments in development economics. Esther Duflo was a John Bates Clark Medal winner, a MacArthur “genius” award winner, and is now the second woman to win the economics Nobel and by far the youngest person to ever […]

This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1696 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser and […]

Apologies readers, but I’ll be speaking at OECD in Paris exactly when the Nobel Prize for economics is announced.  I do believe Alex plans coverage, but for catching this topic I will have to wait until next year… In the meantime, if Alex’s post isn’t up yet, you can offer your opinion on the pick […]

This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1696 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser and […]