Mammon category archive
The Wedding Industrial Complex 0
I also had two weddings, but they were years apart and to different persons.
The Medicine Sham in This New Gilded Age 0
Thom takes a look at how truly inefficient and ineffective America’s health care system industry oligarchy actually is.
The (Corporate) Welfare State 0
At AL.com, John Archibald runs the numbers and concludes that Alabama is happy to pay welfare to rich corporations, but not to poor individuals.
I suspect you can find similar numbers for other states.
Afterthought:
Archibald doesn’t address this in his column, but it occurs to me that persons who can’t afford, say, for example, day care for their children and therefore have trouble finding jobs likely also cannot afford campaign contributions.
This New Gilded Age 0
Methinks Michael in Norfolk has figured it out. Here’s a bit of his post:
All That Is Old Is New Again 0
Emma talks with Kim Kelly about the resurgence of black lung disease. A quotation from Kim Kelly:
… coal bosses would rather make money than follow regulations and Republican politicians would rather cut regulations than help the coal miners they like to drag out for photo ops.
Read Kim Kelly’s article.
They Were Zoned Out 0
Zoned right out of their home, that is.
The Crypto Con 2
It seems the crypto “industry” has found a way to diversify. Here’s a bit from the story at Chron.com:
“August was a landmark month for Riot in showcasing the benefits of our unique power strategy,” Jason Les, CEO of Riot, said in a Wednesday release. Les said the company raked in $31.7 million in energy credits from the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the agency that runs the Texas power grid, by cutting its power use by more than 95 percent during periods of peak demand.
Originalist Sin 0
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse plans to follow the money.
How Far Will Wells-Fargo? 0
Methinks it may not be an overreach to suggest that Wells-Fargo may have redefined the term “stagecoach hold-up.”
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
Der Spiegel has a fascinating interview with MIT economics professor Daron Acemoglu on the effects of advances in technology on society, with a focus on AI. As he looks at the effects of technological changes in history, Acemoglu sees parallels. Here’s a tiny little bit from the article.
DER SPIEGEL: But it is true that humankind has indeed benefited a lot from new technologies.
Acemoglu: That is the reason we have to go so far back in history. The argument that you just gave is wrong. In the past, we’ve always had struggles over the uses of innovation and who benefits from them. Very often, control was in the hands of a narrow elite. Innovation often did not benefit the broad swaths of the population.
DER SPIEGEL: Has the standard of living not risen steadily?
Acemoglu: Today, we are so much more prosperous than the people in earlier ages, that’s true. But there is a tendency to think that the path between must have been a straightforward and inevitable process. We all tend to gloss over the difficulties on the way.
DER SPIEGEL: What do you mean exactly?
Acemoglu: Take medieval windmills, a very transformative technology. It changed the organization of textile manufacturing, but especially agriculture. But you didn’t see much improvement in the conditions of the peasants. The windmills were controlled by landowners and churches. This narrow elite collected the gains. They decided who could use the windmills. They killed off competition.
I commend the complete interview to your attention.
Aside:
You can see this playing out in the current AWG SAG-AFTRA stike.
The Unforgiven 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, Victoria Hugo-Vidal unloads about the fuss over President Biden’s attempts to lift the yoke of student loans from the necks of college students.
I commend her article to your attention.
Aside:
When I went to college, tuition was still within the reach of middle class families. My parents could afford my tuition and I did not need student loans. But that was before Ronald Reagan became president.
Reagon’s toxic trickle-on economics has gutted the middle class, eroded working class incomes, and imposed a crushing burden of debt on college students.
