Science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson joins Money on the Left to discuss his Modern Monetary Theory-inspired “cli-fi” novel, The Ministry for the Future (2020).
Subjects Archives: Political Economy
“I felt an urgency the publishing industry did not share”: Michael Mark Cohen and cartooning capitalism
I spent a tremendous amount of time digging around in old socialist and union newspapers, journals, magazines and pamphlets where I expected to read the work of earnest revolutionaries discussing socialist strategy and news from the latest strikes around the world. Of course, I found all that and more. – Michael Mark Cohen
ExxonMobil versus Chevron: Fight for second-to-last place among fossil fuel companies has begun
As the weather grows warmer, bears, birds, and corporate America begin to emerge from their respective hibernations. Bears will awaken hungry with thoughts of berries; birds will fly north, reversing their southern migration; corporate America will prepare their proxies and ballots. Soon it will be annual general meeting (AGM) season.
Amazon plays dirty in Bessemer Union Drive: Mass solidarity needed
Everyone knew that Amazon would fight the union drive in one of its fulfillment centers in Bessemer, Alabama. But the company’s union-busting tactics are drawing more scrutiny as the final days for workers to mail in ballots draw near.
The Historical Challenges Facing the Socialist Movement
The ‘crisis of politics,’ which cannot be denied today even by the system’s worst apologists represents a profound crisis of legitimacy of the established social metabolic mode of reproduction and its overall framework of political control. This is what has brought about the historical actuality of the socialist offensive, although the pursuit of its own […]
What you call love is unpaid work
Women around the world spend an average of four hours and twenty-five minutes per day on unpaid care work, while men spend an average of one hour and twenty-three minutes per day on the same kind of work.
Food Justice files PLANET FARM
As industrial agriculture encroaches into the last wild places of the Earth, it’s unleashing dangerous pathogens. Time to heal the metabolic rift between ecology and economy, suggests Rob Wallace.
Review – ‘Bank Job’
Jake Woodier reviews a new documentary film that brings heist aesthetics to a story of debt activism
Who are the 10 biggest pandemic profiteers?
One year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, U.S. billionaires have made out like gangbusters at the expense of workers.
On 10th Anniversary of the U.S.-NATO attack on Libya: Powerful perpetrators have yet to face justice
Three Powerful American Women—Hillary Clinton, Samantha Power and Susan Rice—Pushed Obama into Destroying the Wealthiest, Healthiest and Happiest Nation in Africa.
Jack Ma is not the problem
Broadly speaking, beneath these diverse incidents lies a single force. A great teacher and his generation warned of and suppressed it, but it has sprouted once more since the 1980s. After 40 years, it has taken root in multiple facets of our lives, including thought, society, reality and power.
Financial press fears Brazilians will be allowed to elect president of their choice
The Brazilian Supreme Court this month dismissed all charges against former President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva. A towering figure in national politics, Lula was the country’s president for eight years between 2003 and 2011.
The Paris Commune of 1871, banks and debt
150 years ago, on 18 March 1871, the Paris Commune was born.
Jason Hickel introduces Degrowth – book review
Degrowth has arrived. It makes appearances in mainstream newspapers, radio discussions and even the blog pieces of mainstream economists. In the last year several books have appeared, one of them published in the UK, by Penguin no less.
Interpreting contemporary imperialism: lessons from Samir Amin
Samir Amin’s life and work left behind many important legacies, which can continue to enrich us if only we recognise them adequately. He brought an indefatigable ‘optimism of the will’ to complex processes of political, social and economic change, involving an energy that was not deterred at all by the ‘pessimism of the intellect’ that […]
Thomas Piketty and Karl Marx: Two totally different visions of Capital
In his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty has gathered his data meticulously and provided a useful analysis of the unequal distribution of wealth and income, yet some of his definitions are somewhat confusing and even questionable.
February revolution in Burma
The shell of the old Burmese society is cracking under the nationwide street protests against the military dictatorship, sparked by the small group of Mandalay protesters on February 6, 2021.
Prioritise pandemic relief, recovery: No time for debt buybacks
Developing country governments are being wrongly advised to use their modest fiscal resources to pay down accumulated debt instead of strengthening pandemic relief and recovery. Thus, debt phobia risks deepening and extending COVID-19 recessions by prioritizing buybacks.
![“In the sixteenth and partly still in the seventeenth, the sudden expansion of trade and the creation of a new world market had an overwhelming influence on the defeat of the old mode of production and the rise of the capitalist mode.” — Karl Marx[1]](https://mronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/boat-200x200.png "Newfoundland = New found fish")
Newfoundland = New found fish
While treasure fleets carried silver to Spain, far more ships were carrying men, fish and whale oil across the North Atlantic.
The political economy of COVID-19 vaccines
Vaccine grabs, the refusal to relax patents to enable mass production, and the use of vaccines for diplomacy run the risk that poorer nations may not be protected against Covid-19 quickly enough. This will prolong the pandemic, even for the richer nations.
