He’s turned it into a political propaganda unit to the point that it is unable to deal even with a major outbreak within our own borders. The U.S. is beginning to exhibit the features of a failed nation state.
Subjects Archives: Political Economy
Engagement for environment
ALL conscious citizens know the state of the Bangladesh environment. Bangladesh’s courts of law regularly rule in favour of the environment.
COVID-19 economic crisis snapshot
Workers in the United States are in the midst of a punishing COVID-19 economic crisis.
Chart of the day
U.S. billionaires have recouped all of their wealth—and more—during the Pandemic Depression. Meanwhile, since May, the number of poor Americans has grown by about 8 million.
Mainstream economics then: classical political economy
Marxian economists have been quite critical of contemporary mainstream economics. As we saw in Chapter 1, and will continue to explore in the remainder of this book, Marxian economists have challenged the general approach as well as all of the major conclusions of both neoclassical and Keynesian economics.
The political economy of intellectual property
The dramatic expansion of intellectual property rights represents a new stage in commodification that threatens to make virtually everything bad about capitalism even worse.
Venezuela’s ability to fight COVID-19 is badly hamstrung by the 31 metric tons of gold stolen from its treasury
On October 5, 2020, the England and Wales Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision from July that denied the Venezuelan government access to 31 metric tons of its gold stored in the Bank of London.
Exposing Trump’s deadly sanctions on Venezuela
KEN LIVINGSTONE looks in-depth at the story of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.
Limits of mainstream economics today
Keynes’s criticisms of neoclassical economics set off a wide-ranging debate that came to define the terms of—and, ultimately, the limits of debate within—mainstream economics.
Amidst pandemic, while billions struggle for survival, billionaires’ wealth tops $10 trillion
Billionaires are “smart” enough. Their wealth now, in this pandemic, tops trillions of dollars.
It’s all work and no pay for most women in India
The NSSO’s time use survey reveals striking facts about how men and women in India spend their time very differently, with women hugely burdened by unpaid work
Marxism and intersectionality
Ashley Bohrer has provided this important piece of scholarship with her new book, Marxism and Intersectionality: Race, Gender, Class and Sexuality under Contemporary Capitalism.
Mainstream economics today: Keynesian
Once it was created as a new theory of capitalism, neoclassical economics expanded its influence—in its original countries as well as elsewhere.
Performative economics
The relation between economic theories and economic systems is even more dynamic. The various economic theories of capitalism are not just different ways of making sense of that particular economic system. They emerge, develop, and change over time as capitalism itself changes—and, in turn, they have effects back on capitalism.
When confronted by us hungry bellies, the imperialists reach for their guns
The United States government was furious about the ‘irresponsible extravagances’ in Nkrumah’s book and decided to punish him by refusing to allow $300 million in short-term aid to cover the costs of importing food.
“Quad” alliance holds summit as U.S. pushes for more aggression vs. China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Japan today to attend a high-profile summit of top diplomats from the countries involved in the “Indo-Pacific Quad.”
Why America’s economic war on China is failing
U.S. President Donald Trump—supported by most of the U.S. establishment—deepened the U.S. government’s assault on the Chinese economy.
Mainstream economics today
Readers today will be more familiar with contemporary mainstream economics than with the mainstream economics of Marx’s day. So, let’s start there.
From Paul Wolfowitz (2005-2007) to David Malpass (2019-…): the U.S. President’s men control the World Bank
In 2020, the World Bank (WB) and the IMF are 76 years old. These two international financial institutions (IFI), founded in 1944, are dominated by the USA and a few major allied powers who work to generalize policies that run counter the interests of the world’s populations.
Economic theories and systems
In the previous chapter, we saw that Marxian economics represents a two-fold critique: a critique of mainstream economic theory and a critique of capitalism, the economic and social system celebrated by mainstream economists.
