Socialdem. 21st Century

Note well: I am all in favour of the welfare state – a generous, decent, and humane one. But there is a terrible threat to the welfare state under the current system of neoliberalism and open borders.Take Europe as an example.The threat comes from the following factors:(1) market economies do not automatically adjust to full employment. The governments of Western Europe – in thrall to neoclassical economics and neoliberal insanity – refuse to use fiscal policy to create full employment. The...

An important interview on the ongoing attempts to create conflict between the US and Russia:[embedded content]Realist LeftRealist Left on Twitter @realistleftRealist Left on RedditRealist Left BlogRealist Left on YouTubeLord Keynes on FacebookSocial Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern LeftAlt Left on the Internet:Alternative Left on FacebookAlt-Left on Google+Samizdat Broadcasts YouTube ChannelSamizdat: For the Freedom Loving LeftistI’m...

Here:[embedded content]It doesn’t seem like the Trump tape hurt him much, if we go by this.I couldn’t help notice the favourable references to Bernie Sanders by Trump. Part of a strategy to placate the Bernie Bros??But I have to laugh at Trump from 34.58 bashing Canadian single payer health care, given how he was *in favour of something like it* until (apparently) just a few years ago:[embedded content]What Trump would put in Obamacare’s place is unclear, but he does seem to be making noises...

This one from a private speech she gave at a Goldman-Black Rock event in February 2014, in which she happily admits how out of touch she is:“Hillary Clinton: “I'm Kind Of Far Removed” From The Struggles Of The Middle Class “Because The Life I've Lived And The Economic, You Know, Fortunes That My Husband And I Now Enjoy.” *“And I am not taking a position on any policy, but I do think there is a growing sense of anxiety and even anger in the country over the feeling that the game is rigged....

A brief description of the new releases:[embedded content]Some of the latest WikiLeaks releases on Clinton are pure gold. Finally, we are seeing how elites speak in private.In one of the more revealing ones here, she gives her vision for the United States:“My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere.”...

The story that is far more important than Trump’s scandals, the US drive to create direct conflict with Russia in Syria:[embedded content]More here, here, and here.

Verdoorn’s law and Kaldor’s growth laws are important theories in Post Keynesian economics.Nicholas Kaldor’s foundational work on these laws can be found in these works:Kaldor, Nicholas. 1966. Causes of Slow Rate of Economic Growth of the United Kingdom: An Inaugural Lecture. Cambridge University Press, London.Kaldor, Nicholas. 1967. Strategic Factors in Economic Development. Ithaca, New York.In brief, Kaldor’s growth laws and Verdoorn’s Law can be summarised as three empirical...

Trump’s leaked lewd conversation:[embedded content]Pretty bad, but I have to say not as bad as I was led to believe from watching the news.Trump released this apology soon afterwards:[embedded content]Will this cost him big? Maybe, but then Arnold Schwarzenegger was guilty of misconduct even worse, and then he went on to win two state elections in California.I have a suspicion that as this is picked up by the Clinton campaign this may badly backfire on the Clintons. Why? Because: (1) I...

Thirlwall’s law was formulated by Anthony Thirlwall.Here is a basic statement of the law:“Thirlwall’s law (named after Anthony Thirlwall) states that if long run balance of payments equilibrium on current account is a requirement, and the real exchange rate stays relatively constant, then the long run growth of a country can be approximated by the ratio of the growth of exports to the income elasticity of demand for imports (Thirlwall, 1979).If the real exchange rate varies considerably, but...

The philosophy of Postmodernism and its outgrowth called the Regressive Left have been an absolute disaster for the modern political left.The ideas of Postmodernism and the Regressive Left are false, fraudulent, irrational and are contributing to the political defeat of the left in nation after nation, and, even worse than this, are a threat to Western civilisation itself.Postmodernism and the Regressive Left have to be utterly defeated as the pre-condition for any new and sane left-wing...