This is not meant to be a comprehensive analysis but an imagining of some of the features of a post capitalist world. OK lets get this over with first. The first thing we will notice is the numbers we use to measure the success of a capitalist economy, GDP, GNP
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THE FIFTH COLUMN: The stages of corporate social media
Corporate social media essentially goes through three stages. The first is new, free and wonderful, lots of functionality, user friendly and free, or at least pretending to be free. It’s purpose is to build a customer/product base (as the customer is the product). The second stage is monetization. The purpose
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Cory Doctorow examines how private equity systematically loots both the pension funds which provide capital for its acquisitions, and the businesses which it purchases in order to extract transaction and management fees. And Nancy Fraser discusses how capitalism in any guise – not
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Should We Bring Back The Lord’s Day Act
No I am not going all religious on you This would be more of a Day for Humanity, a day that would not belong to the billionaires and millionaires but to the common people and the community. This would be a day where all profit making activities would be banned
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Lost Counterculture
Henry Madison, just some random dude on twitter, wrote an interesting bit on concerts and the enmeshment of generations. I disagree with several of his claims below: Blondie “Imagine a 77-year old favourite of the boomers’ parents, playing at Woodstock in the 1960s. The oldest performer at Woodstock was Ravi
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: How neoliberalism brought down Russia … and nearly us
The economic collapse of the 1930s brought down democracies across Europe unleashing fascism across the continent. Other countries, including Canada and the United States, introduced drastic measures to protect the vulnerable which helped save them from the same fate. Capitalism was failing, rescued by the rudiments of the welfare state.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Symbols of Class
The Titan submersible hasn’t been found yet, and the supply of oxygen is gone. Some think they perished days ago from pressure or another type of malfunction, all horrific to think about. That likely won’t stop anyone from looking for the vessel in order to recover the bodies. It’s my
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Alec Connon discusses how anger is an entirely appropriate response to the capitalist imperative to impose constant costs and burdens on people and the planet. And Alexandra Digby, Dollie Davis and Robson Hiroshi Hatsukami Morgan write that the collapse of First Republic Bank and
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Chris Hedges on Our Current State of Paralysis
Hedges writes on Substack now, if you haven’t been able to find him lately, and his piece today is excellent. He starts by pointing out the growing rich-poor divide that is seeing the top earnings increase by almost 90% in the last decease in the states, while the lowest struggle
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Making Sense of World Events
Making sense of world events is always a challenge. Corporate media reports are usually superficial and misleading, lack historical perspective and are hobbled by ideological blinkers that prevent alternative, critical analyses from surfacing. While alternative voices exist, you won’t find them in the corporate-owned mainstream media because, as the late
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Eric Anderson writes that capitalism has been developed to exploit psychological vulnerability for profit. And Ludvig Weir and Gabriel Zucman highlight how the corporate profits shifted between countries for the purpose of tax avoidance approached a trillion dollars in 2019 (and likely soared past
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: It’s a Social Problem, not a Medical Problem
Carol Dumaine wrote about the Davos safety measures, and how the rest of us are playing Covid roulette. It’s a solid read, but I got totally sidetracked by one of the links she provides: “Infection of Society,” by Antoine Danchin, published in EMBO Reports back in April 2003 – almost
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Politics of Hopelessness
I started posting other people’s twitter threads in part because twitter was (is) threatening to self-destruct, but also because there are some incredible gems that could disappear into the ether even if twitter remains. It’s not set up to easily find that one post you read weeks ago – ever
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Left, Right or Centre – Explainer
In today’s age of populism, with ideology apparently dead, how do you now if you are on the left or right or in the centre. There are indeed some basic philosophical positions that determine if you are on the right, left or in the centre. If you are on the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Philip Aldrick reports on the UK’s belated recognition that long COVID likely bears responsibility for a massive and sustained spike in inactive workers. And Nora Loreto discusses how provinces have stopped reporting on COVID-19 deaths in institutional settings, meaning that we have less
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Melissa Lopez-Martinez reports on the belated effort to get Canadians to resume taking precautions against the spread of COVID-19. And the Guardian is telling the stories of people living with long COVID – and what they’ve lost to a pandemic whose damage
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Aria Bendix and Shannon Pettypiece report on the reality that due to a failure to contain it in its early stages, COVID-19 now stands to be a leading cause of death (and a factor in reduced lifespans) for decades to come. Erin Praiter
Continue readingThings Are Good: Patagonia Billionaire Donates Company to Fighting Climate Change
The family who owned the Patagonia clothing company recently gave the company to a new trust which will take all the profits and dedicate it to fighting climate change. Meaning that the $3 billion company will now spend the $100 million in profits it generates annually on good things. The
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Jim Naureckas discusses the absurdity of the New York Times (among other outlets) criticizing the idea of saving millions of lives from COVID rather than choosing to act in denial of it. Paige Ouimet points out the widespread long-term damage long COVID is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Eric Topol writes that the only sensible response to the increased death and sickness from COVID-19 is to dedicate our efforts to fully containing it. And Jessica Nelson reports on research from the University of Alberta showing the massive health care costs
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