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Ian Welsh2 days ago
When The Profit Motive Is Unnecessary Or Harmful[image: When The Profit Motive Is Unnecessary Or Harmful]
Markets are good for some activities, but for others they are actively
harmful. There are a lot of jobs that people want to do, and all you have
to do is give them a decent salary and whatever tools are necessary and
they’ll work hard. A good example is curing cancer, or, indeed, most
medical research. People love the idea of helping people and saving lives.
As long as they know that if they do cure whatever it is they can move on
to curing something else (ie. their economic welfare is not dependent on
not solving the proble... read more
Goverment that is democratic is social.
Oligarchy tends toward aristocracy.
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Ian Welsh2 days ago
Spring Of A Down, By Stirling Newberry, Chapters XIII-XV[image: Spring Of A Down, By Stirling Newberry, Chapters XIII-XV] Невідомі
води[lv]
They watched the world wake-up from history, there was no place they wanted
to be.[lvi]
Pockmarks over the sea air. Wisps and black cinders grew up, up, up to the
air billowing мистецтво. The mill was the last refuge of Ukraine. Junk was
the line. Z Goliath lined up tanks and self-propelled rocket launchers for
rent, while the David took the underground. Close to the unknown waters the
day the music died.[lvii] Spires multiple of factory smokestacks rising
towards the tumble rubble dark air in spac... read more
Stirling Newberry thinks of war in Ukraine.
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Ian Welsh3 days ago
Are Our Elites Starting To Get It?[image: Are Our Elites Starting To Get It?]
Back in May in Sri Lanka:
Recently they also burned down the President’s home.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government:
The tax will apply to new cars and aircraft with a retail sales price over
$100,000 and to vessels over $250,000. It will be calculated at the lesser
of 20% of the value above a set threshold ($100,000 for cars and personal
aircraft, and $250,000 for vessels) and 10% of the full value of the item
subjected to tax.
And the US Senate’s Climate bill, which Manchin approved:
The bill includes $60 billion to boost domestic clean... read more
Self selected elites never get it until the mob arrives.
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Ian Welsh4 days ago
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 31, 2022[image: Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 31, 2022]
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 31, 2022
by Tony Wikrent
*Strategic Political Economy*
*Will elites be allowed to “cull the herd”?*
Lambert Strether [Naked Capitalism Water Cooler 7-27-2022]
We’re engaged in a massive social experiment to see whether an elite
(ruling + governing classes) can “cull the herd” in six-figure quantities,
and still retain hegemony (TINA); the Covid pandemic is only the latest and
most obvious example. So far, the answer seems to be yes, or even “Hell,
yeah!” Viewed in that light, is “t... read more
Tony Wirkrent is insufficiently pragmatic.
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Purity has no place in democracy.
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Ian Welsh6 days ago
Open Thread[image: Open Thread]
Use to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp LinkedIn
read more
Sooner is better. As soon as you can is best.
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Ian Welsh6 days ago
Correct Priorities In China’s Response To the Mortgage Boycott[image: Correct Priorities In China’s Response To the Mortgage Boycott]
So, China’s construction market has a problem, and vast numbers of Chinese
have stopped paying mortgages on stalled out or behind construction
projects.
The government’s likely response?
a typical scenario would involve seizing land from a distressed developer
and giving it to a healthier rival, which would in turn provide funding to
complete the distressed developer’s stalled projects
And there is this:
The focus on completing projects is the latest sign that policy makers are
prioritizing homeowners over bo... read more
Worthy of note.
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Ian Welsh1 week ago
BA.5 Covid Is Incredibly Virulent and MonkeyPox Is In Exponential Growth[image: BA.5 Covid Is Incredibly Virulent and MonkeyPox Is In Exponential
Growth]
Yeah…
BA.5 has 3x the hospitalization rate as its predecessor. In one of the most
highly vaxxed countries. https://t.co/ifiZN6w25B
— Scam Likely (@mattcornell) July 27, 2022
Remember that even a mild case of Covid can do organ damage without you
knowing, or can give you Long Covid with symptoms, sometimes extremely
severe symptoms and that daliticsmage can accumulate each time you get Covid.
Meanwhile, two days ago, from WHO:
Don’t assume that because you aren’t gay or don’t have a lot of partners
you... read more
People get sick.
Small pox vaccination prrevents Monkey Pox.
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Ian Welsh1 week ago
China Chip Sanctions Backfire[image: China Chip Sanctions Backfire]
Faster than most expected:
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) has likely
advanced its production technology by two generations, defying US sanctions
intended to halt the rise of China’s largest chipmaker.
The Shanghai-based manufacturer is shipping bitcoin-mining semiconductors
built using 7 nanometer technology, industry watcher TechInsights wrote in
a blog post on Tuesday.
That would be well ahead of SMIC’s established 14 nanometer technology, a
measure of fabrication complexity in which narrower transistor widths hel... read more
Secrets in technical fields have short lives.
Once it is known to be possibible the details are obvious.
"Let the buyer beware."
Intelectual property needs a full court.
Patent laws are presently counter-productive.
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Ian Welsh1 week ago
Politics Series: Government[image: Politics Series: Government]
(Previous: Power)
(Introduction and Table of Contents)
Government is the people who make choices about law and policy, plus those
who implement the policies and enforce the laws.
The strength of a government can be measured by how much they can implement
those policies and enforce those laws, and by how many non-approved actors
are running shadow governments. It is normal for apparently
non-governmental organization to implement the will of government.
In our society large firms actually enforce or fail to enforce most tax
law, private compani... read more
This is a functional description of government. .
Most need a legal system to set some limits and the appearance of balance.
There are fewer riots and revolts
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Ian Welsh1 week ago
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 24, 2022[image: Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 24, 2022]
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 24, 2022
by Tony Wikrent
*Global power shift as USA self-destructs*
Alfons Mais: “Russia has resources that are almost inexhaustible”
[Handelsblatt, via Naked Capitalism 7-20-2022] Original here.
[Twitter, via Naked Capitalism 7-21-2022]
Primary goods and industrial manufacturing:
Coal, Iron, Steel, Motor vehicles
Energy:
Gas, Oil, Electricity
Food and Timber:
Lumber, Wheat, Meat.
Data gathered primarily from Wikipedia, CIA World factbook, and google
search, some country s... read more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_COVID
There seems something there. Failure to vaccinate is self correcting.
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Ian Welsh1 week ago
Open Thread[image: Open Thread]
Use the comments to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp LinkedIn
read more
Sooner is better. As soon as you can is best.
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Ian Welsh2 weeks ago
The European Position At The End Of The Unipolar World[image: The European Position At The End Of The Unipolar World]
It’s hard to remember now, but in the early 2000’s the EU appeared to be
the onrushing power. It was gaining new members, who clamored to join, its
economy and the EUro was strong, and it had avoided entanglement in Iraq.
Its prestige was very high (having nations begging you to let them in tends
to do that.)
What I suggested the Europeans do, at the time, was try and make the Euro
into an alternate reserve currency. They also should have increased their
military, making them non-reliant on the US in the guise of NATO.... read more
Russia is not a good neighbor.
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Ian Welsh2 weeks ago
Russia Turns Up The Pressure (And off the Gas) on Germany and the EU[image: Russia Turns Up The Pressure (And off the Gas) on Germany and the
EU]
Well, well…
Russia’s Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas
supplies because of “extraordinary” circumstances, according to a letter
seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the west
over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dated 14 July, the letter from the Russian state gas monopoly said it was
declaring force majeure on supplies, starting from 14 June.
Known as an “act of God” clause, a force majeure clause is standard in
business contracts and spells out extre... read more
I have not found victory conditions for Ukraine.
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Ian Welsh2 weeks ago
As The Sun Sets On The United Kingdom[image: As The Sun Sets On The United Kingdom]
In Peter Hall’s “Cities in Civilization” there’s a long chapter on the
destruction of London Port. Hall doesn’t call it that: he is impressed by
the change from a decaying port which was close to a slum, and which was
losing importance to a new neighbourhood, headlined by the huge Canary
Wharf complex, which is 97 acres with 16 million square feet of indoor
space.
The port of London had been the greatest port in the world in the 19th
century, but had slipped into decline in the 20th century, especially after
WWI and II. The problems s... read more
Great Britain is mercantile.
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Ian Welsh2 weeks ago
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 17, 2022[image: Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 17, 2022]
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 17, 2022
by Tony Wikrent
*Stunning new Webb images: baby stars, colliding galaxies and hot
exoplanets *
[Nature, via Naked Capitalism 7-13-2022]
*Strategic Political Economy*
*The Power Game *
W. J. Astore (Lieutenant Colonel USAF ret.), [Bracing Views, via Mike
Norman Economics 7-10-2022]
A book that shook my world was journalist Hedrick Smith’s “The Power Game,”
published 35 years ago in 1987. It was about “How Washington really works,”
and what I remember about it is how ... read more
https://spectrum.ieee.org/intel-i860
Microsoft went with the 486. HP has ended support for this computer hardware.
The U.S. government has been pragmatic. It isa good thing.
Ian Welsh3 weeks ago
The Debt Trap That Helped Take Down Sri Lanka Was Not Chinese[image: The Debt Trap That Helped Take Down Sri Lanka Was Not Chinese]
Let’s put an end to this nonsense:
The Asian Development Banks is essentially a US proxy and the World Bank is
mostly controlled by the US. Market borrowings are almost entirely from
Western sources.
The article goes into more detail:
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who spent a significant part of
his life working in the United States, entered office in 2019 and
immediately imposed a series of neoliberal economic policies, which
included cutting taxes on corporations.
These neoliberal policies decreas... read more
Western Banks are not altruistic.
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Ian Welsh3 weeks ago
How Standard Media Skews Public Understanding[image: How Standard Media Skews Public Understanding]
I recently had a long conversation with a fellow Canadian about current
events, especially Covid and the economy. He read a lot of newspapers: he’s
well informed by normal standards.
But over the course of the conversation I realized he was terribly informed.
For Covid, he was convinced both that China had only controlled Covid thru
very long lockdowns and that they were lying about results. In particular,
he remembered Shanghai well, but didn’t realize Shanghai was an exception.
Most Chinese cities have locked down much less o... read more
A stupid society looks good to the stupefied.
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Ian Welsh3 weeks ago
How To Think Clearly About Political and Social Issues[image: How To Think Clearly About Political and Social Issues]
One of the most useful things you were probably made to do in school is
argue for points of view you disagree with. Make the choice case if you are
pro-life, make the pro-life case if you’re anti-abortion.
Write the Palestinian case or the Israeli case, whichever you oppose.
Make the best case you can that Russia was right to invade, or the best
case you can that Russia was wrong. Make the case that NATO was
responsible, then make the case it had nothing to do with it. Make the case
Ukraine is Nazi-infested, make the ... read more
Rhetoric has been abandoned by the educational establishment.
Society misses the study.
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Ian Welsh3 weeks ago
Week-end Wrap – Political EconBothomy – July 10, 2022[image: Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 10, 2022]
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 10, 2022
by Tony Wikrent
*Strategic Political Economy*
*Our Entire Civilization Is Structured Around Keeping Us From Realizing We
Can Do This*
Caitlin Johnstone [via Mike Norman Economics 7-9-2022]
Thousands of protesters outraged by the deteriorating material conditions of
the nation’s economic meltdown have stormed the presidential palace of Sri
Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and I guarantee you the aerial footage as
they poured into the building en masse has made every gov... read more
The Republican party and the Socialists advocate purity.
Government is a pragmatic process.
Purity is destructive as theories are built on error.
Results are to be judged relatively.
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