Political Economy category archive
Supply Change 0
Thom and Professor Steve Keen explore the true causes of the recent inflation and find it is related to the long-term supply chain change.
Afterthought:
Remember, China did not “take” American jobs.
American businesses moved them there so as to avoid paying American wages to American workers.
Opportunity Cost 0
Gabriel Young points to news reports that the two decades the United States spent accomplishing almost nothing in Afghanistan (aside from the capture of Bin Laden) suggests that, as a society and a government, the United States is incapable of rational cost-benefit analysis. Here’s a bit; follow the link for his ideas about what might have been more effective use of those trillions.
(snip)
In addition to the immeasurable human toll, the Associated Press reports that the US spent over 2 trillion dollars on direct costs of the Afghanistan war alone (Knickmeyer, 2021). The AP points out that because the funds for the war were borrowed, the total cost of merely the war itself could easily exceed 6.5 trillion dollars, in addition to 2 trillion more on future care for veterans and 6 trillion on top of that already spent on other aspects of the War on Terror, which will also incur spectacular interest if not paid off. All told, the cost of the Afghanistan war and related efforts could easily add up to between 10 and 20 trillion dollars.
Budget Buster Blather 0
PoliticalProf runs the numbersEx.
Exports 0
At The Roanoke Times, Nancy Liebrecht reminds us that American manufacturing jobs didn’t go overseas on their own.
American companies moved them there.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
Sam and his crew skewer the glibertarian gibberish of Elon “Drivers Can Play Video Game on Their Touch Screens” Musk.
Words fail me.
A Consumerist Economy 0
Werner Herzog’s Bear makes a convincing argument that our society is suffering from a case of consumption. A snippet:
We are a broken society.
Misdirection Play, Supply Change Dept. 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Nick Gier cuts through the caterwauling and continues to the crux. A nugget:
Follow the link for the complete article.
Monster Mash-Up 0
At The Roanoke Times, Robert F. Boyd muses on what led our polity to its present state, which he refers to as a “Trumpenstein” monster. Here’s a bit:
Follow the link to see how he answer that question.
Overblown 0
Methinks Jason330 has a point.
Calling It Quits 0
Thom and Professor Richard Wolff discuss what’s behind the shortage of workers.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
A self-proclaimed “ex-objectivist” tries to differentiate between Randian “objectivism” and “libertarianism.” Sam suggests that that’s a distinction without a difference.
“The Pedagogy of Repression” 0
David and Professor Henry Giroux discuss the destruction of the concept of the common good.
The Common Good
0
Robert Pawlicki takes a look at the tales we tell ourselves to rationalize the perpetuation of privacy and deprivation and at the consequences thereof to the polity. Here’s a little bit of the article; follow the link for the rest.
- “We worked hard for our wealth, and those who aren’t well-off are either inferior or lazy.”
- “We live in the land of the free, and anyone putting their nose to the grindstone can make a good living.”
- “Too many poor people are living off of the government because they want to.”
- “Giving money to the poor is socialism.”
Such beliefs, and many more, contribute to political policies that prevent the government from additional funding of public schools, offering government-paid preschool education and national health care, thereby preventing all citizens a necessary platform from which to move forward. Instead, the threat that the poor will have additional assistance to raise out of poverty grows the fear that some portion of American society will get something for nothing — or that we’d have to pay more taxes.
Trickle-On Economics 0
It’s been a long time since I studied economics in college, though I’ve never abandoned my interest in the topic, and, I must say, I’ve seen no better explanation of Reaganomics than the one offered by the character Quark as he refuses the post of Grand Nagus of Feringinar in the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
