This is no recovery, this is a bubble – and it will burst | Ha-Joon Chang | Comment is free | The Guardian. According to the stock market, the UK economy is in a boom. Not just any old boom, but a historic one. On 28 October 2013, the FTSE 100
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The Progressive Economics Forum: Why the Minimum Wage Debate Isn’t Going to Go Away
Yesterday I tweeted this: <blink> Gap will raise minimum hourly pay Walmart “looking” at support of min wage raise In honour of the momentum, I am posting the piece I wrote for Economy Lab a while back, and including the numbers that drive the chart that attracted quite a lot
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Britain’s, Not France’s, Middle Class Is Being ‘Run Into The Dust’
http://www.social-europe.eu/2014/02/middle-class/ Filed under: Capitalism Tagged: Britain, Capitalism, France, investment, productivity
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Questions for robots
Eighty years ago, Keynes famously predicted that within a century people would need to work no more than three hours per day. High living standards aided by technological breakthroughs would give human beings satisfying, minimal work and plentiful leisure, while robots and machines took over menial and repetitive labour. Less
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: A Response To The Globe’s Jeffrey Simpson
A “dream palace,” The Globe and Mail’s Jeffrey Simpson calls it. Inside that dream palace, the First Nations allegedly live in a fairytale land of sovereignty, respect and healthy relations with the Canadian state. Well, in fairness, Simpson describes the perks of living inside his so-called dream palace a touch more
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: A Response To The Globe’s Jeffrey Simpson
A “dream palace,” The Globe and Mail’s Jeffrey Simpson calls it. Inside that dream palace, the First Nations allegedly live in a fairytale land of sovereignty, respect and healthy relations with the Canadian state. Well, in fairness, Simpson describes the perks of living inside his so-called dream palace a touch more
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World. – NYTimes.com
The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World. – NYTimes.com. In Manhattan, the upscale clothing retailer Barneys will replace the bankrupt discounter Loehmann’s, whose Chelsea store closes in a few weeks. Across the country, Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants are struggling, while fine-dining chains like Capital
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Coke advert unleashes the bigots, racists and xenophobics because the world sings, “America is beautiful”?
There are a million and one reasons why you should dislike coke – most of which involve taking advantage of sugar addiction and capitalist monopoly on beverages that are made […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Capitalism: Swing Your Sledgehammer
It’s all about vision and hope, in an effort to envision how economics and markets can exist after the toxicity of capitalism is gone, gone gone. Are you up for it? Last night, John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism, was the SFU Institute for the Humanities‘ guest lecturer, skyped in
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The more things change… Amazon’s “anticipatory shipping” and the village square
Media outlets recently publicized Amazon’s patent for what it calls “anticipatory shipping.” The premise is as simple as it is creepy: Amazon will charge and ship items before customers have the chance to buy them themselves. In other words, Amazon knows what you want and is happy to spare you
Continue readingCapitalism—an irrational system in an age of climate change
Capitalism is generally recognized as having one great strength. That, of course, is as a creator of wealth. Aided by the remarkable advance of technology (some would say inspired and facilitated by capitalism) it has created wealth unknown before in human history. Capitalism is also generally recognized as having one
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Left’s Approach to Reform
Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Left’s Approach to Reform. Leo Panitch on Syriza’s radical approach to ‘reform’ in Europe. Filed under: Austerity, Capitalism, Social Democracy, Socialism Tagged: Europe, Syriza, the Left
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Economic history in the present: Potlatch and tax
This post inaugurates an occasional series I’m calling, “Economic history in the present”. This series will look at vignettes from global economic history with an eye to current phenomena or particular events. Some will be more speculative, drawing on anthropology and philosophy; some will be more rigorous. Hopefully, both aspects
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Europe’s left has seen how capitalism can bite back | Leo Panitch
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/12/europe-left-capitalism-social-democrats-reforms Filed under: Europe Tagged: Capitalism, Socialism, the Left
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Transformations in profit and possibilities of resistance: A reply to Sam Gindin
Several weeks ago, I published a series of blog posts on profitability and investment in Canada since the financial crisis of 2007-8. These were republished as a single long article on Socialist Project and given the title, “Canada’s Profitability and Stagnation Puzzle”. Since them, Sam Gindin has published a reply
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Economic Growth? I Prefer Steady State
Economic growth suggests that infinite growth is possible. Even with a growing earth population and increasing climate breakdown, people still think we can continue growing. I like using the seasons analogy to describe that human economic activity ought follow the cycle of seasons, with a steadying imperative. This is why
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Finance’s hold on our everyday life must be broken | Costas Lapavitsas
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/01/finance-hold-everyday-life-broken-capitalism Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Austerity, Capitalism, crisis, finance
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How the Occupy Movement is Enriching People’s Lives
Imagine an eco-community of micro-homes designed as a first step out of homelessness. Housing, easy to get into, if people care. Occupy Madison in Wisconsin has come up with an innovative first step of a solution [see below]. These 96 square foot homes are no long term solution, at all.
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Solving Christmas conundrums with New Year’s resolutions
I know I promised to not post until the New Year. Clearly the holidays have gotten the better of me. This, however, will be a short reflection and at once a New Year’s resolution. Christmas is a time of large get-togethers for my family and this year was no different.
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: An Industrial Policy for Europe | The Bullet No. 918
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/918.php Filed under: Capitalism, Europe
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