Problems of Knowledge and Survival: Democracy, Reason and the Anthropocene
If democracy is apt to lead to rational outcomes, why are we insanely marching toward ecological catastrophe?
economic growth
Kim Jong-un and the Intellectuals: Scientific Socialism with North Korean Characteristics and Reform from Within
The intelligentsia forms an important stratum in any society, and the so called socialist societies have had a peculiar fascination with intellectuals as a class. This probably has much to do with Marx as intellectual, and with the positivist progeny of the authoritarian strand of socialism sometimes known as “scientific […]
Corporate Power and the Failure of the Australian Labour Market
The Australian labour market increasingly exhibits the classical signs of market failure due to positive externalities. The best approximation to Paul Krugman in Australia is the economic correspondent for The Guardian Greg Jericho. Economic literacy is a critical component of citizenship in capitalist society, and the great value of Jericho’s […]
The Road to Denuclearisation in Korea: Strategic Stability and Minimum Deterrence Now, Denuclearisation Through Economic Leverage Later
Rather than focus on denuclearisation the emphasis for now should be on mutual and balanced conventional force reductions on the Korean peninsula. Washington’s economic clout gives it leverage to demand denuclearisation thereafter. Denuclearisation continues to dominate the airwaves, with President Trump indicating that he is prepared to put denuclearisation on […]
What Kim Jong Un and Ronald Reagan Share in Common: Supply Side Economics Nuclear Style
Pyongyang has told us to look more closely at the resolution of April’s Central Committee plenum. Doing so sheds much light on Kim’s supply side economics. North Korea just keeps pulling you in even amidst a desire to write of more lofty matters. Doubtless we have been observing the meandering […]
Who Lost Korea? The Third Inter Korean Summit
The much anticipated Third Inter Korean Summit, this time between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, has concluded amid much fanfare and some quite spectacular imagery. The first two Inter Korean summits proved, ultimately, to be failures and whether it will be third time lucky to no small degree depends upon […]
Of Reform and Revolution: The Case of John Maynard Keynes
To imagine the ideal society is easy, to bring it about is hard. That is as true as it is cruel, and it is a dilemma that revolutionaries have faced from time immemorial. One aspect of that dilemma is the brute fact, neglected as brute facts often are, that one […]
Economic Growth and the Doomsday Argument
Say there are two lottery urns, one containing 1000 balls each numbered from 1 to 1000, and the other containing 10 balls each also numbered from 1 to 10. We have two individuals, one Alice the other Bob. Alice will reach into one of the lottery urns, out of sight […]
An Association of Ecological Socialists?
I am thinking of helping to form a small affinity group of ecological socialists. The group could engage in political actions in solidarity with those conducting traditional forms of class struggle, most especially those possessing as their objective the emancipation of the working class, and ecological activism in solidarity with […]
How Sure Can We Be of Nuclear Fusion?
How solid is the case for nuclear fusion? Most of us would say, in principle at least, that it is rock solid. Bloomberg has an article on the Trump administration and funding for nuclear fusion efforts, that is funding associated with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The article quotes […]