Tag Archives: social unrest

The connection could well be found in the great crisis the world entered in 2007–2008. Beyond what most observers remember—the “Great Crash” that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008—the crisis is much deeper and persists to the present day. Because it is not a simple financial or economic crisis: it is rather the crisis of a mode of managing capitalism; that is, neoliberalism, which is based on putting the state at the service of capital, the financialization of...

It is not common for an OECD county to shoot and kill 16 people in two days of socially motivated riots. (Perhaps only Turkey, in its unending wars against the Kurdish guerilla, comes close to that level of violence.) This is however what Chilean government, the poster child of neoliberalism and transition to democracy, did last week in the beginning of protests that do not show the signs of subsiding despite cosmetic reforms proposed by President Sebastian Piñera.The fall from grace of...

The signals of unrest in Chile mounted for years amid corruption scandals, rising inequality, and new monopolies. The tax increase on public transport that sparked the protests was only the final straw. ProMarket — The blog of the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of BusinessHow Economic Concentration and Crony Capitalism Led to the Chaos in ChileDaniel Matamala | Host of 360 and CNN Prime at CNN Chile

This is no longer marketable as a non-violent protest. It is turning into open revolt. The Chinese leadership is unlikely to put up with this escalation indefinitely, only long enough for the protestors to discredit themselves. The West is unlikely to intervene directly, and imposing more sanctions won't matter much either. The decision seems to have been taken to decouple.  In the long run, this bodes ill for Hong Kong. It will be replaced by similar facilities and operation on the...

Only a short blog post today – in terms of actual researched content. Plenty of announcements and news though, a cartoon, and some great music. I have been meaning to write about the household income and wealth data that the ABS released in July, which showed that real income and wealth growth over a significant period for low income families has been close to zero, while the top 20 per cent have enjoyed rather massive gains. These trends are unsustainable. A nation cannot continually be...

The school children who have been protesting to stop climate change every Friday have understood a basic truth: They are being betrayed. By politicians. By business leaders. And by an entire generation of denialists. I would add "yet" to "the kids aren't nearly angry enough." It's coming. It took a long time for the growing rage about the Vietnam to surface in the media.Spiegel Online The Kids Aren't Nearly Angry EnoughA Commentary By Christian Stöcker

LinkedIn Why and How Capitalism Needs to Be Reformed (Part 1) Ray Dalio See also by Ray Dalio Productivity and Structural Reform-Why Countries Succeed & Fail, and What Should Be Done So Failing Countries Succeed

The story is widespread on social media but the Daily Mail is the only corporate medium that a search turns up a day later. News suppression? Daily Mail (13 Jan 2019)French riot police are now using semi-automatic weapons with live ammunition against Yellow Vest protestors as Macron's law and order crisis spirals Sophie Law On Twitter. Click the link for a video. Largest yellow Vest protest yet. This is growing and spreading. The French people will not let the globalist government...

According to the Western narrative, the "Iranian people" are opposing "the Islamic dictatorship." This article tells a different story.The Western media will not tell you, but the workers' protests in Iran are similar to the Yellow Vests in France, which is spreading internationally. Workers are getting fed up with capitalism as usual and are demanding socio-economic justice.Longish, but it tells the story in some detail. Nothing about this being a political protest against the Islamic...

I would be skeptical of this if I had not witnessed it in France and the United States in the past. In fact sort of behavior has a name in law enforcement and criminal justice. It's called "punitive" enforcement. On the one hand, it is mindset of some that join law enforcement, and it is also a result of a punitive culture in some departments that is at least condoned by superiors and supervisors. So, there are two factors operative. One is sadistic disposition, and the other is...