Ambivalence Published in 1821, The Source and Remedy of the National Difficulties was a major influence on Marx's analysis of ‘disposable time.’ In an 1851 notebook, Marx logged a 1000 word summary of the pamphlet. He also discussed it extensively in volume 3 of Theories of Surplus Value. His discussion of disposable time in a section of his Grundrisse notebooks that came to be known as the ‘fragment on machines’ has inspired rethinking of Marx's mature work by authors ranging from Raniero...

Unsurprisingly, the debates leading up to the 2024 European elections were marked by geopolitical issues: the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, growing tensions between the West and the China-Russia bloc, which intends to increase its influence in the South and increase members of the BRICS+ group [Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran]. Some say the cause is clear: Europe’s future will be more kaki-oriented. Faced with the Russian threat, the...

If you are driving a big behemoth SUV thinking you are safer, maybe you should think about another vehicle. Here are some results. Logan Carter at Jalopnik gives us the break down. It is picked up in Quartz Business News. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) just released new crash test results for three full-size, three-row SUVs. The Ford Expedition, Chevrolet Tahoe, and Jeep Wagoneer were reviewed. These family haulers had...

Some background on Joyce Vance: Presently: Law Prof, MSNBC/NBC Legal Analyst, Podcaster Previously: US Atty, Fed’l prosecutor Always: Wife, Mom, Dogs, Cats & Chickens, Knitting One has to wonder if Justice Sam Alito ever learned to shut up and not discuss what he believes in or his thoughts on the court. He gives all the wrong answers when he believes the person also agrees with what he thinks. There is a take on Chief Justice Roberts...

Gambler’s ruin — a Markov process analysis (student stuff) .[embedded content] Below you will find a little Python script yours truly made to simulate a betting scenario as a Markov process and visualise how the total amount of money changes over time. This model highlights that, due to a higher probability of losing, the total money will generally trend downwards over a large number of bets. import numpy as np # Define the transition matrix B B =...

from Edward Fullbrook Humankind urgently needs a new discipline.  Our very survival may depend on it.  Natural science tells us that the economy now threatens humanity with calamity and potentially with extinction; and the daily news tells us that the economy’s forty-year upward redistribution of wealth, income and power threatens democracy and social order.  But meanwhile the only discipline that directly engages with today’s economy is the one whose “wisdom” has guided it to its present...

 – by New Deal democrat As per usual, the Monday after jobs report Friday does not update any significant data. So let me return to the deep divergence between the Household and Establishment Surveys in the jobs report. With Friday’s data for May, the two have now diverged 1.9% over the past year, adjusted for the size of the prime working age population: This big a divergence has only happened previously twice in the 1960s, and one month...

Fed says it is “puzzled“ as to why it’s policy is not having an effect. 

from Lars Syll Recognition of the speculative value of counterfactualizing provides the grounding for a defense of theoretical pluralism in economics. The existence of multiple contending theories in economics is inconvenient, of course. It casts doubt on the truth content of the counterfactual scenarios generated by the predominant approach and challenges the predominant causal claims … But that is precisely the virtue of contending theoretical perspectives in economics. They serve to...

1.0 Introduction I wrote this decades ago. Here is a simple parable. Consider an island with a particularly simple society with two people, Robinson and Friday. Robinson and Friday live on one good, call it corn. At the start of our story, Robinson and Friday have just finished a feast. Both Robinson and Friday have each eaten food baked out of 50 bushels of corn. Also, Robinson has 50 bushels corn remaining. Friday, perhaps because he's newly arrived, has none. 2.0 The Initial Deal...