Imperialism benefits imperialist governments and corporations, but also the mass of the populations in the powerful countries. The marxist perspective explains how.
Subjects Archives: Political Economy
“There is no alternative” to managing the economy and the climate
The United States is the country most easily positioned to address climate change but it has done likely the least out of any rich country. China, a country significantly less wealthy than the United States, has likely done the most. In fact, a recent study provides some evidence that China’s carbon dioxide emissions peaked in […]
Why so hostile? Busting myths about heterodox economics
Does accepting the term heterodox economics mean we accept our marginal disciplinary status? No. On the contrary, we use the term in order to challenge this marginalization. If people find the heterodox label confusing, we should be able to clarify where we are coming from.
Making excuses for unemployment: The myth of a “skills gap”
The current labor force participation rate of prime age workers, those 25-54 years, is a case in point. It remains below the previous peak rate in 2008, and even further below the peak rate at the turn of the century. We would need an additional 1.2 million employed prime age workers to match the 2008 […]
A Climate Emergency Manifesto to avert climate catastrophe
The panic button needs to be hit to declare climate emergency. We need serious action now; there is no more time to waste.
Pasqualina Curcio: ‘Hyperinflation is a Powerful Imperialist Weapon’
“Unilateral coercive measures…[directed by the U.S. against Venezuela] affect the entire population in a deliberate and systematic manner. That is why, in accordance with the Rome Statutes [of the International Criminal Court], they are crimes against humanity.”
The Atlantic illustrates everything that’s wrong with media coverage of Venezuela sanctions
“Trump’s Venezuela Policy: Slow Suffocation,” an Atlantic report (4/17/19) by Uri Friedman and Kathy Gilsinan, passed up a rich opportunity to expose the humanitarian pretexts for economic intervention, and instead exhibited the worst tendencies of corporate media coverage of U.S. policy in Latin Ame
Seven theses on the Capitalist Democratic State
What is the capitalist democratic state and how should it be confronted? This question has bedevilled the left for generations. On the one hand, a social democratic conception of the state as a neutral institution that needs to be occupied and captured by bureaucrats with the right ideas has lead to experiments in socialist governance […]
Beholden to corporatism: how The Guardian sold out the working class
A lot of companies and entities folded, vanished or ended up in severe trouble in 2008. Bear Sterns, Alfred McAlpine, Virgin Megastores, Merrill Lynch. But perhaps one of the more overlooked and important disestablishments was the Scott Trust.
PepsiCo and Monsanto’s bogus court cases are war on Indian farmers
At the heart of the struggle is capital’s need–Monsanto and Pepsico’s–to continuously enclose spheres and generate surpluses from creating a monopoly over something that it does not actually own.
We thought it was merely a stone, but it carried away our wealth
n Venezuela, the political leadership of the oligarchy beg for the men in green to set aside the Constitution, as Juan Guiadó and the Venezuelan right-wing opposition attempted a military coup in Venezuela this Tuesday.
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)—A Response to Henwood
Neither a Job Guarantee nor a Green New Deal will be won without brave, strong social movements. When it comes to building these movements, we joyfully follow the leadership of more capable community organizers and politicians.
The racist dawn of capitalism
The centrality of slavery to capitalism is not new, as any serious student of WEB Dubois is aware.
They’re at it again: selling the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement
The headlines once again misrepresent the aims and consequences of a U.S. free trade agreement, in this case repeating the International Trade Commission’s claim that President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) will boost U.S. growth and employment.
If war is an industry, how can there be peace in a capitalist World?
On 26 April 1937, twelve bombers of the German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria flew low over the Basque country of Spain in the midst of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). They tore down over the small town of Guernica, where they let loose their fiery arsenal. Almost two thousand people died in […]
