Dégringolade

  Posted on   September 29, 2021   by  Yves Smith Source:   Naked Capitalism Yves here. I very much hope you will enjoy this extended discussion between Thomas Piketty and Micheal Hudson, introduced by David Graeber’s widow Nika and moderated by Lynn Parramore of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Steve Keen, who joins at the end, points out that it’s unusual for mainstream economists like Piketty, despite his long-standing work on inequality, to participate in talks with heterodox economists like Hudson. If you watch the video, don’t be put off by the opening graphic sequence. Nika: Hi, I’m Nika. I’m David’s wife. This is an event in the honor of the first anniversary of David Graeber’s passing, and then the spirits of his rejection of academic arrogance, and our urgent need to get out of the crisis we are in. We set up the Art Project, so welcome to the first one of the series. Today, we are talking about “What is debt.” The next one will be about the na...

 22/01/2020 by: Julio Publius  Julio Publius Source:  AREO There’s recently been an unexpected growth of anti-capitalist sentiment in conservative circles. The relationship between capitalism and conservatism is not as harmonious as many suppose. Conservatives embraced libertarian economics largely because, following World War II, free markets seemed like the only valid alternative to the failing model of the Soviet Union, and a prerequisite to countering the threat of socialism. In the second half of the twentieth century, enthusiasm for small government came to be seen as one of the core ideological principles of conservatism. But the marriage between conservatives and libertarians—known as  fusionism— is not as inevitable as it might seem. For example, while libertarians think liberty is about permitting completely free trade in goods and services, traditional Christians think of freedom as power over our own desires—something that can only be achieved through per...

Source:  Wrong Kind of Green Oct 07, 2021 By Elizabeth M. Renieris   In February, 2021, ID2020 launched  Good Health Pass Elizabeth M. Renieris is a technology and human rights fellow at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, a fellow at Stanford University’s Digital Civil Society Lab and an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. In May 2020, Renieris, an adviser to the  ID2020  Alliance, which aims to bring digital identities to billions of people, resigned over the organization’s direction on digital immunity passes and COVID-19. In her resignation Renieris cited ID2020’s opacity, “techno-solutionism” and corporate influence along with the risks of applying blockchain to immunity passes. [Source:  CoinDesk ]   As the world looks to slowly emerge from the grip of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and more than a year of associated border closures, travel restrictions, widespread shutdowns and...