Reading

Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 23:00
A collection of hysterical whiners The through line is dominance, dominance by those who believe in their bones in their right (or their tribe’s) to sit atop the human pecking order. All their invocations of freedom? It’s their freedom to set the boundaries of what others may do, say, and believe. And when they sense their control being challenged (even if it’s a mirage), hoo-boy, they turn peevish enough to tan their testicles, storm the Capitol, and disrupt school board meetings. One sees it in the conservative need to turn the screws on the unfortunate. Are there no workhouses? Bring back the treadmill. Far-right Republicans in the House grind their teeth “that the work requirements they wanted to impose on food stamp recipients are less cruel than they’d hoped,” writes Greg Sargent.
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 22:00

Dear Breasts,

First off: I see you. I want you to know that. You have tirelessly nourished two demanding infants over countless hours of your existence. They’ve slapped you. They’ve scratched you. They’ve wasted your elixir by popping off at the slightest distraction, just as you were pouring your whole being into the effort. And have they ever taken one moment to say thank you? To say, “O source of my ginormous, thrice-rolled thighs, I appreciate you?” Of course not. They’ve taken you for granted. I can’t imagine what a letdown that must be. (No pun intended).

I hear you when you say you want a raise. I do acknowledge the hours of unexpected overtime you have worked: overnight shifts, sometimes two or three a night. Deeply admirable. I acknowledge your sacrifice, not just of your time, but also what years of hard labor have done to you. You say you are stretched and wasted—not to mention, that you stretch nearly to my waist. I hear you, I really do. No one questions your dedication.

However. I am afraid I must decline your request.

Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 19:08

Once upon a time, the greed of tobacco companies was channeled through libertarian outrage over the restriction of smokers’ freedom to choose cancer. Today, the outrage is serving the interests of bankers panicking at the prospect of central bank digital currencies. ATHENS – When First Republic Bank failed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation organized a […]

The post Who’s Afraid of Central Bank Digital Currencies? Project Syndicate op-ed appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 19:04

Only a comprehensive reconfiguration of property rights over the increasingly cloud-based instruments of production, distribution, collaboration, and communication can rescue the foundational liberal idea of liberty as self-ownership. Reviving the liberal individual thus requires precisely what liberals detest: a revolution. ATHENS – My father was the epitome of the liberal individual, a splendid irony for […]

The post The Strange Death of the Liberal Individual – Project Syndicate op-ed appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.

Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 18:48
But if we have independent reasons to believe that there is more going on in the phenomena under investigation than a mathematical model can suggest – that is, that the phenomena in question are not in fact mechanical in the required sense – then mathematical modeling will prove misleading … Moreover, as will be discussed, […]
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 18:00
Sangyup Choi, Tim Willems and Seung Yong Yoo How does monetary policy really affect the real economy? What kinds of firms or industries are more sensitive to changes in the stance of monetary policy, and through which exact channels? Despite advances in our understanding of the monetary transmission mechanism, existing studies have not reached a … Continue reading What can we learn about monetary policy transmission using international industry-panel data?
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 17:48
Almost anyone can see what a reductive view this is of modern society, even without having read their Rousseau or Rawls. We must not be taken in by the fact that this is called “critical,” that it’s about race, and that it’s titled a “theory.” It is a fragile, performative ideology, one that goes beyond […]
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 11:33
Chomsky: Europe May Face Decline, Deindustrialization by Staying in ‘US-Dominated System’ Noam Chomsky Interviewed by Sputnik  May 31, 2023. Sputnik.  Europe will experience a likely decline and deindustrialization if it chooses to stay within the system dominated by the United States, renowned US academic and philosopher Noam Chomsky told Sputnik. “Europe has a major decision to […]
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 10:00
Here’s a useful quick primer on who won and who lost in this debt ceiling hostage crisis: Don’t say it out loud until the debt ceiling is raised and we can breathe again, but the fact is that the Republicans got rolled. Shhhhh. They’re busy passing around internet memes about how Chik-fil-a is woke and don’t realize that Kevin just put on a very sad little kabuki dance.
Created
Thu, 01/06/2023 - 09:20
Bruno Macaes On Putin And The World Order

Macaes was a Portuguese minister and is now a member of the European Council of Foreign relations. He’s written a few books and at least two of them, on the Belt and Road and on Eurasia in general are insightful, though Bruno is definitely a Eurocrat who sometimes struggles to see the world without Eurocrat lenses. This is particularly true when it comes to Russia (remembering that these books were written before Ukraine, which he did not predict) but there are some points where Macaes “gets it.”

This is primarily when it comes to Putin’s views of the international order: