Positive Thinking is Bad for You
As readers may have guessed, I’ve never been a fan of positive thinking.
Read more...Category Archives: Social values
Open Borders: A Morality Play by the 1%
Beware of conservatives arguing from a moral position, at least when it comes to proposals that they claim will help the poor, like open borders.
Read more...Yes, Virginia, You Pay Subsidies Not Just to Banks but to Flood-Prone Homes of the Rich
You are supporting the habits of the rich in more ways than you know, including their love of water views.
Read more...Skunk Party and the Barriers to Entry to Effecting Social/Political Change
So why haven’t we said more about the Skunk Party?
Read more...Ireland, Europe, and the U.S. and the Financial Crooks: Interview with Michael Hudson
Michael Hudson discusses austerity in Ireland, how US economic policy has affected Ireland, Europe and the rest of the world as well as how the various political parties in Ireland have mishandled the economic crisis.
Read more...How To Make Higher Education Free Without New Taxes Or More Government Spending
The headline sounds too good to be true, right?
Read more...Economics is Applied Morality
The ignorance of many highly experienced economists to the moral foundations of their work is quite alarming.
Read more...James Surowiecki Promotes Myth of Consumer Empowerment in the Face of the Crapification of Almost Everything
There’s nothing like getting a missive from the alternative reality where neoliberalism works and all consumer problems can be solved by more diligent shopping (and remember, since we are all consumers first and citizens second, the corollary is that pretty much any problem can be solved by better shopping).
Read more...Washington’s Military Aid to Israel: Fake Peace Process, Real War Process
Yves here. Chase Madar describes the curious phenomenon of how, on an economic and military basis, Israel should be regarded as a client state, yet operates as an equal partner and even tries to dictate US policy. America’s involvement in the Middle East is one of the big drivers of our ongoing military commitments (which increasingly look like overreach) and our ties to Israel help keep the US mired. This in turn has implications for domestic policy, since high levels of military spending compete with other uses, most notably, social programs.
Read more...Jealous The New Republic Takes Potshot at The Onion for Being….Marxist!
When Lambert sent me the link to a New Republic article, “The Onion Has Become America’s Finest Marxist News Source,” I first assumed that TNR was engaging in a bit of humorous flattery, as in taking a page from The Onion’s own book in highlighting its success. But on further inspection, I could be wrong. Readers, please help!
Read more...Martin Wolf Sounds Cautionary Note on Rise of Robots
Martin Wolf, the highly regarded chief economics editor at the Financial Times, has roused himself to take up the topic of whether robots represent a threat to the economic and social order. He takes the case for concern seriously and lays out a set of potential dangers.
Read more...Tom Engelhardt: Ending the World the Human Way – Climate Change as the Anti-News
Here’s the scoop: When it comes to climate change, there is no “story,” not in the normal news sense anyway.
Read more...Nate Heckmann: Peter Schiff is Wrong About Everything
Yves here. I’m of two minds about featuring a post about Peter Schiff, since criticizing him treats him as being a more legitimate commentator than he is. But some targets ask so hard for a debunking that it’s hard to resist.
Read more...Ignacio Portes: How the Left Underestimates Chile’s Right-Wing Keynesians
Yves here. Please welcome Igancio Portes to NC. He’s a sophisticated young writer who has a sharp eye for power dynamics and is keenly interested in why the left (the genuine left as opposed to the fake version we have in the US) so often fails to achieve its intended results when it gets control of a government. He’ll be providing posts from time to time on Latin America, which is too often covered in a cursory and propagandized manner in the mainstream English language press.
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: War Spikes in the Eve Online Universe – A Political Economist’s Account
Yves here. I must admit to being mystified and intrigued by Eve Online, which I have to confess I’d never heard of before today. First of course is the large number of people who find it appealing to spend significant amounts of leisure time in a realm designed to be ruthless and savage. Don’t they get enough of that at their day jobs? It used to be the most common narrative of entertainment was the hero’s journey. We now see rising popularity of amusements that celebrate ruthlessness and a breakdown or lack of social norms (such as the Game of Thrones)
The second curiosity is that 500,000 people have spent real money in meaningful amounts and invested time in a pseudo-economy where the funds are stranded. And now to add insult to injury, some have taken really big losses.
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