Climate Crisis: Economists have severely underestimated the Financial Hit

By Timothy Neal, UNSW Sydney Scientists say severe climate change is now the greatest threat to humanity. Extreme weather is expected to upend lives and livelihoods, intensifying wildfires and pushing ecosystems towards collapse as ocean heatwaves savage coral reefs. The threats are far-reaching and widespread. So what effect would you expect this to have on the economy… Read More Climate Crisis: Economists have severely underestimated the Financial Hit

Britain, Europe, the New Cold War Finance & Technofeudalism. Talk at the Cambridge Union

Yanis Varoufakis On 7th February 2023, I returned to the Chamber to discuss a wide variety of issues, beginning with a Europe-at-war, post-Brexit Britain, the New Cold War that marks capitalism’s global transition to (what I call Technofeudalism), the state of the Left in Eastern Europe and more. Thanks Cambridge Union! https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2023/03/24/britain-europe-the-new-cold-war-finance-technofeudalism-at-the-cambridge-union/

‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech

We’re now in servitude to the fiefdoms of our new global masters, Lord Zuckerberg of Facelandia and Sir Musk of the rotten borough of X… Technofeudalism feels like an important new book. It’s a big-picture hypothesis rooted in a historical account of how capitalism came into being that describes what is happening in terms of an… Read More ‘Capitalism is dead. Now we have something much worse’: Yanis Varoufakis on extremism, Starmer, and the tyranny of big tech

Halliburton equipment worth $7.1m imported into Russia in past year

US oil and gas multinationals are facing fresh questions over their trade with Russia after customs records revealed that more than $7.1m (£5.7m) worth of equipment manufactured by Halliburton has been imported into the country since it announced the end of its Russian operations. Last September Halliburton, one of the world’s largest providers of products and services… Read More Halliburton equipment worth $7.1m imported into Russia in past year

World Bank spent billions of dollars backing fossil fuels in 2022, study finds

The World Bank poured billions of dollars into fossil fuels around the world last year despite repeated promises to refocus on shifting to a low-carbon economy, research has suggested. The money went through a special form of funding known as trade finance, which is used to facilitate global transactions. Urgewald, a campaign group that tracks global fossil… Read More World Bank spent billions of dollars backing fossil fuels in 2022, study finds

National Westminster Bank boss worked for oil firm under investigation in ‘world’s biggest financial scandal’

The new chairman of NatWest is facing scrutiny over his former role with international oil group PetroSaudi, which is embroiled in one of the world’s biggest financial scandals. City veteran and former MasterCard boss Rick Haythornthwaite worked for PetroSaudi International (UK) Ltd, the oil group’s British arm, for eight years, earning £200,000 a year. The oil… Read More National Westminster Bank boss worked for oil firm under investigation in ‘world’s biggest financial scandal’

The Four Billionaires Who Want to Control the Universe

The gang-of-four powerful oligarchs: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Andreesen, are after increasing profits and world domination — and no one is trying to stop them. In Jonathan Taplin’s new book, The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars and Crypto, the internet innovation… Read More The Four Billionaires Who Want to Control the Universe

Modi-Adani Nexus: बीजेपी की नोटबंदी

NB: The link between India’s political and economic life is explained well in this reporter’s report on th latest revelations of the OCCRP. Behind the mask of Hindutva, sections of the Indian corporate business houieses have taken over the regulatory institutions of the Indian state. The BJP/RSS have become their willing collaborators, hence they have… Read More Modi-Adani Nexus: बीजेपी की नोटबंदी

Adani family secretly invested in own shares, documents suggest / Adani’s reject allegations

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Simon Goodley in London A billionaire Indian family with close ties to the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, secretly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the Indian stock market, buying its own shares, newly disclosed documents suggest. According to offshore financial records seen by the Guardian, associates of the Adani family may have… Read More Adani family secretly invested in own shares, documents suggest / Adani’s reject allegations

How did Australia’s university system get so broken?

Widespread precarity has facilitated a culture of illegal underpayment, with more than $80m in underpayments since 2020 across public universities, according to the National Tertiary Education Union’s wage theft report Jeff Sparrow On Monday, unionised workers at the University of Melbourne (where I teach) will go on strike. In the faculty of arts, the Melbourne law school, student… Read More How did Australia’s university system get so broken?