“”My Lords, I was not on the committee and therefore would like to allow myself a few mild criticisms of a very thought-provoking report. I will touch on three aspects of its central problem: “Who watches the watchdogs?” First, a bit of history might be helpful. In its present form, this challenge was created by the Thatcher reforms of the 1980s, which produced a new dividing line between the state and the private sector. Previously,  the Government owned the public utilities and...

“Skidelsky, a British economist, draws on literature, political philosophy, history, and cultural developments in this brooding meditation on the rise of artificial intelligence. The promise of a better world, he warns, “is open only to a tiny minority”.” –THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Share this:Like Loading...

Letters from an American by Prof. Heather Cox-Richardson Feds trying to convince Florida Governor to take the funding for hurricane Milton damage. Better ask Mikie Johnson if that is ok. He was really having a hissy about the $20 billion setup for failure of aid. Biden just stepped right around him. Not bad for an old guy that can not think . . .. While the Feds are getting ready for the next hurricane (Milton) to hit the US, Florida’s...

Wason Oct 7 Survey 24 New Wason Poll: Harris Leads Trump by 11 points Among Virginia Likely Voters – Christopher Newport University (cnu.edu) NEWPORT NEWS, VA — The Wason Center for Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University today released its first statewide survey for the elections on November 5th. The survey indicates, Democrat Kamala Harris holds an 11-point lead over Republican Donald Trump, with support at 52% to Trump’s 41%. In...

– by New Deal democrat First things first: there’s almost no significant economic news at all this week until Thursday, so don’t be surprised if I play hooky for a day or two. The coincident headline news out of last Friday’s employment report was very positive, so most all observers heaved a sigh of relief. Of course, precisely *because* it is coincident, it could all be reversed next month, or by next month’s revisions to Friday’s data....

Former Bear Bill McBride at Calculated Risk is sharing another of his excellent commentaries. This time his focus is on rising homeowner insurance costs. Timely for sure. Helene has gone through the southern states and another hurricane is coming. Insurance costs were up then and will more-than-likely increase again for states bordering the Atlantic. I have noticed our HO Insurance taking a jump also. CalculatedRisk Newsletter by Bill McBride...

Economist David Zetland at The one-handed economist blog offers up another interesting book review detailing life in Ukraine during the nineties. David Zetland, The One Arm Economist’s Book Review: “Death and the Penguin“ This 1996 novel by Andrei Kurkov tells the story of a failing writer who suddenly finds himself with a full-time job writing obituaries. He also has a penguin, Misha, who he “rescues” from Kyiv’s Zoo when they run out of...

The Road Not Taken We all heterodox economists who have chosen the road ‘less traveled by’ know that this choice comes at a price. Fewer opportunities to secure ample research funding or positions at prestigious institutes or universities. Nevertheless, yours truly believes that very few of us regret our choices. One doesn’t bargain with one’s conscience. No amount of money or prestige in the world can replace the feeling of looking in the mirror and...

Last year, mRNA vaccines won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This morning found RNA once again the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. By the time I finished college, RNA was familiar to me as a family of biopolymers that together specified the manufacture of proteins in cells. Ribosomal RNA made up the platform and enzyme that performed the assembly of amino acids into proteins. Transfer RNAs were the small adapter...

I have expressed an appreciation before of the section in Capital on commodity fetishism. Perhaps this section stands up to a critique of Marx's theory of value. "But Marx had drawn a nightmare picture of what happened to human life under capitalism, when everything was produced only in order to be exchanged; when true qualities and uses dropped away, and the human power of making and doing itself became only an object to be traded. Then the makers and the things made turned alike into...