Reading

The advent of military Keynesianism is a warning against complacency about the moral superiority of the West in defending Ukrainian democracy.

The war in Ukraine features in our consciousness as resistance to invasion, with the West playing a leading part in supplying military hardware and imposing sanctions on Russia, consequently breaking down international free trade, regulating international payments, and boosting food and energy price inflation. But the war is also changing us with the emergence of a new role for the state in the countries supporting Ukraine’s resistance.

Banking is an ongoing area of controversy in popular discussion of economics and finance. What sets it apart from other areas of economic controversy is that it is not seen as contentious by the mainstream. This has meant that arguments are largely done at the fringes, and generally ignored by conventional economists. I see two main drivers of the difficulties in dealing with the subject: ideology and theoretical intractability.

Editorial note: this article is meant to be an introductory section of a chapter on banking in economic theory. I am going to make a bunch of wild assertions that are supposed to be dealt with later in the chapter. I expect that I will have follow up articles filling in details later....

Friends, administrative coordinators, benefits-eligible staff: lend me your ears.

There comes a time in every hero’s journey when they must face their worst fear. I sought an office job, and the gods granted my wish. But this wish came with a cursed stipulation. My new employer cannot see how they have crushed my dreams of glory. Still, I must soldier on; I cannot keep myself alive whilst maintaining my dignity, and I cannot resist the call. If I want to keep this perfectly fine, well-paying job in administration, I must confront my worst enemy, my prophesized foe—the greatest of all evils.

I must write the department newsletter.

When I graduated, I swore to myself upon the grave of my degree that I would never fall into the clutches of marketing or editing. My peers each donated their youth to the beast, as they found work only in social media management and copywriting. Somehow, though, I evaded it. I had worked in libraries for years, narrowly avoiding the fate my peers undertook—by scanning returned books and answering reference questions.