How Trump has defaulted on his MAGA promises.
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Thursday, December 4, 2025
The Anti-MAGA Economics of the Second Trump Administration
Topics: Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, Technology and innovation, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | No Comments »
Links 12/4/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 27 Comments »
Blockbuster San Francisco Lawsuit Targets Food Industry Giants Over Ultraprocessed Foods, with Extensive Documentation of Health Damage and Success in Producing Addiction
A case by the San Francisco attorney documents Big Food’s use of ultraprocessed food to create addicts in a repeat of the tobacco playbook.
Topics: Free markets and their discontents, Health care, Income disparity, Regulations and regulators, Ridiculously obvious scams, Science and the scientific method
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:48 am | 8 Comments »
Report Shows How Recycling Is Largely a ‘Toxic Lie’ Pushed by Plastics Industry
More confirmation that recycling is no solution to relentlessly rising plastics use and health damage.
Topics: Environment, Guest Post, Health care, Politics, Ridiculously obvious scams
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:13 am | 6 Comments »
How Wage Increases Became the Fed’s Red Line
How the Fed’s use of wages as a key inflation measure started as a war on labor and continues to operate that way.
Topics: Dubious statistics, Economic fundamentals, Federal Reserve, Guest Post, Income disparity, Pandemic, Politics, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 12:23 am | 2 Comments »
Coffee Break: Trump Insider Deals Hitting the Rocks?
Trump insider deals in crypto, AI, and drones appear to be taking a hit, mirroring his rapidly declining public support. What will this mean for AI czar David Sacks, Anduril’s Palmer Luckey, the Lutnicks and especially Don Junior and Eric?
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Nat Wilson Turner at 2:00 pm | 17 Comments »
Is Male Infertility Contributing to Falling Birth Rates?
RFK, Jr. is exercised about falling birth rates and depicts falling sperm count as a major contributor. How sound is this view?
Topics: Economic fundamentals, Guest Post, Health care, Politics, Social policy, Social values
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 30 Comments »
Links 12/3/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 107 Comments »
The Meaning of Freedom in These United States
Nicholas Buccola is a historian of the United States who will still be read 30-40-50 years from now. I regret that I will not be here to see where he takes us. In 2019 he published The Fire is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate Over Race in America. This […]
Topics: Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Politics, Social policy, Social values
Posted by KLG at 6:45 am | 13 Comments »
Trump Goes Full Biden, Insists No Inflation, Affordability a Con as Strained Consumers Know Better and Trump’s Polls Sink Further
Trump’s failing about, now on inflation and affordability, is becoming more desperate.
Topics: Dubious statistics, Economic fundamentals, Globalization, Media watch, Politics, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 5:55 am | 40 Comments »
Trump Administration Supporting Bayer at Supreme Court Over Monsanto/Roundup Deal, Savaged by Investors for Wealth Destruction in the Name of Executive Preservation
Bayer saddled itself with the Monsanto/Roundup garbage barge over fierce investor protest, and is now seeking Supremes relief.
Topics: Guest Post, Legal, Politics, Regulations and regulators, Science and the scientific method
Posted by Yves Smith at 3:25 am | 9 Comments »
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – How DARPA Lost Its Mojo
DARPA once defined the frontier of U.S. technological power, developing the foundations of stealth, networking, and precision-guided warfare. Today its most capable prototypes routinely die in the “valley of death,” casualties of political caution, industrial consolidation, and perverse incentives that punish programs for succeeding. This article examines how DARPA went from the nation’s most creative engine of capability to an agency whose breakthroughs are celebrated but rarely fielded—and what this reveals about America’s broader institutional decline.
Topics: Coffee Break, Guest Post
Posted by Haig Hovaness at 2:00 pm | 21 Comments »
Internet of Beings: The Dream of Digitising Human Bodies for Healthcare (and the Nightmare)
The logical conclusion of the intensive health monitoring fad: an internet of beings of continuous tracking and daily intervention.
Topics: Dubious statistics, Guest Post, Health care, Ridiculously obvious scams, Surveillance state, Technology and innovation
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 13 Comments »
Links 12/2/2025
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 106 Comments »
The Lies Being Used to Justify the US’ War Against Venezuela (and Latin America in General) Are Unravelling Before Our Eyes
The war narrative is so disjointed and so contradictory that even the legacy media are picking it apart.
Topics: Guest Post
Posted by Nick Corbishley at 6:48 am | 22 Comments »



