Socialdem. 21st Century

An interesting interview below with Steve Keen on economics and the ideology of neoclassical theory.[embedded content]

Hysterical screaming and whining about cultural appropriation is the latest rubbish from the regressive left. It refers to the borrowing or adoption of elements of one culture by people from another. But typically – as in so much regressive left nonsense – there is a blatant double standard: apparently it is only evil White people, Western civilisation or “dominant cultures” that are to blame for this, because such “appropriation” supposedly oppresses, insults or disrespects the minority...

Bill Mitchell has written a great post here about the Eurozone’s threat to democracy: Bill Mitchell, “Democracy in Europe requires Eurozone Breakup” Billy Blog, January 6, 2016. It is a pity that more professional Post Keynesian economists do not take this view, for it is so obviously true.

The late Edward Said (1935–2003) is an icon of the modern left. His book Orientalism (1978) has been very influential indeed in modern intellectual life, and not just on the left.But does he deserve the great reputation he has? Let me be clear: everyone sensible knows that a lot of shameful racism, imperialism and colonialism has come out of the West. This is not in dispute.But what is in dispute is Edward Said’s “Orientalist” thesis which is just another branch of the Postmodernist rot that...

The relationship is a favourite of Marxists and even other leftists, and the usual line is: capitalism is inherently imperialistic.But is it? There are different forms of capitalism, and, above all, laissez faire ideology is not monolithic, and it comes in different forms.And it’s rather obvious that some of the most vehement capitalist ideologues are also the most vehemently anti-imperialist. Just think of Murray Rothbard or Ron Paul.For instance, just take Ron Paul’s comments in the videos...

This is lecture 6 of Steve Keen’s course on economics at Kingston University in the UK. It concerns the theories of Hyman Minsky, financial instability, the Great Depression and the global financial crisis of 2008.[embedded content]

Marx’s Value, Price and Profit was a series of lectures he delivered in 1865, even though it was first published in 1898.In this work, Marx has the following to say about the determination of wages in capitalism: (1) “I might answer by a generalization, and say that, as with all other commodities, so with labor, its market price will, in the long run, adapt itself to its value; that, therefore, despite all the ups and downs, and do what he may, the working man will, on an average, only...

You really can’t get someone more left-wing on the American political spectrum than Ralph Nader – that is, without going to communism or Marxism.And yet here he is below giving us a badly-needed left-wing perspective on why open borders and mass immigration are a bad idea. And he is perfectly right too. I put forward a similar case here.Yet another thing to add is this: with open borders, Keynesian fiscal policy and policies to create full employment are badly thwarted and disrupted, because...

This is an interesting point about Marx’s economic theory: he rejected the orthodox Classical “iron law of wages.” Nevertheless, there are still severe problems with Marx’s theory of wages.In essence, the Classical “iron law of wages” was derived from (1) the wage fund theory in Classical economics and (2) Malthusian population theory. The “iron law of wages” was, then, in view of (2) a kind of “law of nature.”By contrast, Marx rejected Malthusian population theory (Baumol 1983: 304, 305),...

Here is the passage and it concerns the rural social and economic organisation of India in the 19th century: “... we must not forget that these idyllic [sc. Indian] village-communities, inoffensive though they may appear, had always been the solid foundation of Oriental despotism, that they restrained the human mind within the smallest possible compass, making it the unresisting tool of superstition, enslaving it beneath traditional rules, depriving it of all grandeur and historical...