First posted April 11, 2012 By Colin Leys and Barbara Harriss-White The dominant process underlying the transformation of life in all societies, since at least the mid-nineteenth century, is the conversion of things and activities into commodities, or commodification. In advanced capitalist countries this process is now outstripping our political and social capacity to adjust… Read More Commodification: the essence of our time
Brett Christophers Coming up with economic policy is a difficult, unforgiving task. To make the best of it, it helps to work with an accurate model of how the economy works. If you use a misleading model and act on it, you can’t reasonably expect good outcomes: in that scenario, we end up, as JM… Read More Look at what hedge funds really do – and tell me capitalism is about ‘rewarding risk’
Pankaj Mishra Early in January, Gautam Adani, an Indian businessman and associate of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was the world’s third richest man. By the end of the month he had lost much of his fortune, after being accused by the US-based research investment firm Hindenburg Research of pulling the ‘largest con in corporate… Read More The Big Con: Modi’s India and the New World Order
United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) decried the massive profits of the pharmaceutical industry during a House hearing on Tuesday, arguing that the public should be given the option to buy into government programs like Medicare. “I believe that the profit-seeking motive in the pharmaceutical industry is out of control, and I think that… Read More Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez torches Big Pharma’s ‘out-of-control’ and ‘predatory’ profiteering
Marina Prentoulis New Democracy’s victory was not unexpected, but the eye-watering share of the vote the party received is a different matter. The conservative government often points to its record of growth and investment, backed by European Commission forecasts, but the proceeds of this have not been felt evenly: a growing number of Greece’s population over… Read More Centre-left politics has been dealt a crushing blow in Greece. What can we learn from it?
Madhu Sudan Chatterjee The word ’Sir’ in some areas of West Bengal represents officers of microfinance institutions (MFIs) who come to collect money from low-income families. If these families cannot pay, they are allegedly met with continued threats. In some ways, this was depicted in a 2017 movie by Nila Madhab Panda called ’Kadvi Hawa’.… Read More Microfinance Institutions in West Bengal: A Death Trap?
NB: This is an excellent portal for regular political/economic commentary on world affairs. This one has many essays on South Asia. The generalised implosion of political institutions is a symptom of the endemic unsustainability of global capitalism. Unfortunately this state of affairs will continue (ie the ruling establishments will carry on with their ‘austerity economics’; violent… Read More CADTM-Newsletter: Indian labourers, France’s mobilisations, Illegitimate debts, Vulture funds…
Pakistan is facing one of the worst economic and political crises at present. The political crisis is best manifested by the fact that almost half the members of the National Assembly (the lower house of the parliament) have resigned, while two of the four provincial parliaments were dissolved a year before the elections otherwise due… Read More Pakistan Collapsing
Helena Horton Microbes that can digest plastics at low temperatures have been discovered by scientists in the Alps and the Arctic, which could be a valuable tool in recycling. Many microorganisms that can do this have already been found, but they can usually only work at temperatures above 30C (86F). This means that using them… Read More Microbes discovered that can digest plastics at low temperatures
John Naughton Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember the metaverse, which was quietly laid to rest a few weeks ago by its grieving adoptive parent, one Mark Zuckerberg. Those of you with long memories will remember how, in October 2021, Zuck (as he is known to his friends) excitedly announced the arrival of his… Read More A moment’s silence, please, for the death of Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse
After the truth-shower 