Robert Urquhart: Capital accumulation as eternal recurrence: theology of the bad infinity

The uneasy cohabitation of science and theology in neoclassical economics is an indication of its ideological character If the lion had consciousness, his rage at the antelope he wants to eat would be ideology: Theodor Adorno; Negative Dialectics. Extract: Neoclassical economics — most notably in the model of general equilibrium — gives an exhaustive quantitative… Read More Robert Urquhart: Capital accumulation as eternal recurrence: theology of the bad infinity

Breaking corporate monopolies is the only way to save democracy

Nick Dearden A few months into his presidency, Joe Biden signed an executive order to promote competition in the American economy saying: “We’re now 40 years into the experiment of letting giant corporations accumulate more and more power […] I believe the experiment failed.” While those might seem unlikely words from the once centrist champion of corporate… Read More Breaking corporate monopolies is the only way to save democracy

French anger spreads after Macron forces pension age rise

Strikes escalate and MPs call for protection as interior minister warns protesters against wreaking havoc Angelique Chrisafis in Paris Refinery strikes have escalated in France as the interior minister spoke of protesters wreaking havoc across the country and some MPs called for police protection, amid anger at the government pushing through a rise in the pension age without… Read More French anger spreads after Macron forces pension age rise

Formula Pinochet: Chilean Lessons for Russian Liberal Reformers during the Soviet Collapse

Tobias Rupprecht Journal of Contemporary History: Vol. 51, No. 1, Special Section: The Dark Side of Transnationalism (January 2016) Numerous references to the Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet run through Soviet and Russian political discourse from the 1970s to the late 1990s. Official representations of Pinochet, a carefully constructed bogeyman of Soviet domestic and foreign… Read More Formula Pinochet: Chilean Lessons for Russian Liberal Reformers during the Soviet Collapse

Food corporations paid shareholders $53.5bn while millions went hungry

Without food sovereignty, private businesses will continue profiteering at the expense of the planet Davi Martins Imagine being able to provide food, shelter, medicine and clean drinking water for the 230 million most vulnerable people on Earth, and still having a cool $2bn in spare change. That’s the equivalent of the entire economic output of… Read More Food corporations paid shareholders $53.5bn while millions went hungry

The Dollar and Empire

How the US dollar shapes geopolitical power Herman Mark Schwartz What does the US dollar’s continued dominance in the global monetary and financial systems mean for geo-economic and geo-political power? In a recent article, Yakov Feygin and Dominik Leusder question whether the United States actually enjoys an “exorbitant privilege” from the global use of the USD… Read More The Dollar and Empire

More than £75bn wiped off FTSE 100 amid Credit Suisse crisis

More than £75bn was wiped off the FTSE 100 on Wednesday, as Swiss authorities stepped in to reassure panicked markets over the health of the embattled European banking giant Credit Suisse. The Swiss central bank and its financial markets regulator issued a joint statement on Wednesday evening, pledging to provide emergency funding if necessary. They… Read More More than £75bn wiped off FTSE 100 amid Credit Suisse crisis

Money as Empire?

Money and Empire: Charles P. Kindleberger and the Dollar SystemBy Perry Mehrling. Reviewed by Herman Mark Schwartz Money makes the world go round, or as Karl Marx put it, Geldgespräche, Quatsch-Spaziergänge. How does this work at the global or international level? Perry Mehrling’s elegantly written biography of the MIT economist Charles Poor Kindleberger illuminates the relationship between… Read More Money as Empire?