To the degree that serfdom is political powerlessness and near-zero access to the processes of accumulating productive capital, super-welfare guaranteed income for all is simply serfdom institutionalized into a Hell devoid of purpose, pride, meaning, community and positive social roles.
The Powers That Be have gone to extraordinary lengths to prop up housing by whatever means are necessary since the collapse of the housing bubble in 2008: the Federal Reserve has pushed mortgages...
If we're going to dig our way of what lies ahead, we need people who can work hard and start/operate new businesses. Simply put, job growth is not keeping pace with population growth—specifically, the growth of the labor force...
What worked in the post-global financial meltdown era of 2008-2014 will not work the same magic in the next seven years. I am often amused by the Western media's readiness to attribute godlike powers of long-term...
Don't rely on the declining value of credentialing signals: demonstrate you have the skills. My recent conversation with Max Keiser on Summer Solutions (25:45) included three bits of advice: 1. Stop financializing the human experience...
What we may be witnessing is the first phase of a new era of widespread non-state currencies. It was easy to predict the eventual collapse of the one-currency-fits-all euro: indeed, many analysts explained why it was doomed...
Jun 4 – US healthcare costs are now close to 20% of our entire economy and are climbing steadily. Cris welcomes Charles Hugh Smith, writer of the Of Two Minds blog, who discusses why healthcare costs are out of control, why Obamacare...
US healthcare is unsustainable. That it will break in the next decade is predictable. That good health is insanely unprofitable was highlighted by a staggering statistic in the recent research paper The Concentration of Health...
As it stands now, US healthcare will bankrupt the nation and doom it to permanent stagnation and recession. That healthcare alone is dooming the U.S. economy is not news to Of Two Minds readers, as I have been...
The costs and consequences of Greece exiting the Eurozone may well dwarf the financial losses triggered by Greece's default. The term Jingle mail originated in the great popping of the housing bubble 2008-2011.
Collaboration, innovation and risk are all intrinsic to adaptation. Without adaptation, every system eventually perishes once conditions change. One feature of capitalism that is rarely discussed is the premium placed on...
An entire new feedback loop of accreditation is needed, and fortunately that feedback is within our control: it's a process I call accredit yourself. Economist Michael Spence developed the job market signaling model of...
As the global economy slides into recession and the U.S. economy catches a cold, the blueprint for raising taxes will be dusted off in every state. The blueprint for raising taxes in the modern era was first established in 1913...
When we look back from 2025, it will be painfully obvious that central bank policies exacerbated the systemic crises that brought down the global financialization machine.
There is an undeniable internal logic to the idea that Greece should jettison the euro and adopt the U.S. dollar as its national currency. Several astute readers pointed out that for Greece to renounce...
As the dollar soars, so does the real yield on bonds denominated in dollars. As central banks rush to depreciate their currencies and push yields into negative territory, what's becoming scarce globally is real yield in...
After two years of bubble-type price increases, the big question for housing in 2015 is: will the Echo Bubble continue expanding, or will it follow its 2002-2007 sibling's epic bubble pop and decline? To answer the question, we first need to identify the key trends...
As unemployment topped 10%, the January 1975 cover of Ramparts magazine blared: The End of Affluence: The Last Christmas in America (TLCIA). The government responded to the high unemployment, rampant inflation and rising budget deficits...
Nov 4 – Cris Sheridan welcomes Charles Hugh Smith, author of the Of Two Minds blog. Charles notes that the Federal Reserve has been seen as all-powerful, but believes that perception is now waning. The Fed’s monetary policy is seeing diminishing returns since it only helps increase the wealth of a very small minority of the public.
A stronger dollar encourage foreign capital to flow into the U.S., as it makes more sense to shift money into appreciating dollars (that are gaining purchasing power) than leave it in currencies that are depreciating (losing purchasing power compared to the dollar).
