Marx’s distinction of “social labour”, as opposed to plain vanilla labour, reveals that he was a closet subjectivist. Economists should have stood vigil at his deathbed to see if he would renounce his LTV the same way nuns stood vigil at that of David Hume in relation to his atheism.
Collective Preferences in Democratic Politics: Opinion Surveys and the Will of the People by Scott L. Althaus
In all competitive markets profits are bid down to zero. If you hate profits you should love the free market, the most competitive market of all.
Economists today focus solely on growth as a mechanism for job creation. But for much of the industrial age, falling hours have been roughly as important a contributor to employment as market growth.
The grueling schedules of the 19th century undermined health and prevented people from achieving what we now call quality of life. Hours of work in the United States began to decline after about 1870—from about 3,000 a year to 2,342 by 1929. In 1973 annual work hours stood at 1,887 (fewer than 40 hours per week, on average). If hours hadn’t fallen, unemployment would have grown even before the 1930s Depression.
(via alternet-working)
We need a revolution. When will people learn economics??
I agree with a lot of analysis here. Particularly, “there is no reason to believe that anything he passes will not, in some way, be aimed at helping only the business leaders of our country” The incentive structure works in a way that encourages strongly this type of behavior.
However, we must always remember that the state is the mechanism by which the political class are able to exploit the rest. Immediate abolition of the state must be advocated. Without the state, property rights, as we know them, would be left without state protection.
themarxistmind:
Obama is not the friend of the working man and there is no reason to believe that anything he passes will not, in some way, be aimed at helping only the business leaders of our country. Obama’s speech was just another way of trying to make us believe that he’s back to his old-combative self….
Oh my god, even just the first 20 seconds. Talk about propa-fucking-ganda.
I love @airkfrost’s eloquent arguments in response to this video.
Reminds me of this quote: “A great way to tell if someone has anything to add to a political conversation is to determine if they are thinking in terms of human action. When they describe some event, a news event, are they talking in terms of people responding to incentives, human action, or are they talking about nebulous social forces?” - Ryan Faulk
Communities to Study
Kapauku Papuans and their non-authoritarian law
Piaroa and their non-hiearchical institutions
Zapatista Army of National Liberation and their relationship with the state that claims the geographical region in which they operate
Legal Scholar Michelle Alexander on “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”
A new book by legal scholar and civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander argues that although Jim Crow laws have been eliminated, the racial caste system it set up was not eradicated. It’s simply been redesigned, and now racial control functions through the criminal justice system.
Part II of our interview with legal scholar, civil rights advocate and author Michelle Alexander. Her book is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander argues that although Jim Crow laws have been eliminated, the racial caste system it set up was not eradicated. It’s simply been redesigned, and now racial control functions through the criminal justice system.
Ask not what your McDonalds can do for you - ask what you can do for your McDonalds
If it is the case that JFK was conflating country with Government (which he almost undoubtedly was) the absurdity of this famous passage as a part of his inaugural address is more clear when the government is looked at for what it is, a provider of goods and services— and a terrible one at that.
I just wanted to emphasize that controls aren’t necessarily regulations and that regulation isn’t solely the domain of the government. People regulate eachother’s behaviour all the time. Sometimes a dirty glance is enough to do the trick.
