Neoliberalism is more than an epithet. It’s more than an economic program, or another name for globalization. It may be all of these, but most importantly, it’s a political practice. The dominant political practice of our overlords.
The problem, however, is that neoliberalism as politics rarely has a bright light shown on its shadowy manipulations.
A review of Cooperatives Confront Capitalism (Zed, 2016) by Peter Ranis, Platform Capitalism (Polity, 2017) by Nick Srnicek and Ours to Hack and to Own (O/R Books, 2016) by Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider, eds.
Worker Cooperatives
For almost two decades various pundits, activists and developers have been shoehorning worker cooperatives into a mainstream narrative usually based on the notion of ownership – of course, “democratic” ownership.
In Search for a Better Life
There is a widely held assumption about the economy: it must keep expanding or we are in trouble. When questioned those holding this view are less assured that growth can go on indefinitely. So, while continued growth of the economy amounts to “common sense” for many, there is considerable hesitancy to believe this without qualifications.
The Museum of Capitalism
(This pop-up closed in August, 2017)
If you think that’s a good idea, you should visit the Museum of Capitalism (MOC) in Oakland, California.
Some might object that this is an outlandish idea, that capitalism is hardly material for a museum in the way communism or apartheid may be.
Book review of Buddhist Economics by Clair Brown and Zen Economics by Rob Urie
The opposition to the pillaging by the founders of what came to be called capitalism took many forms: from utopian colonies and secret societies of craftsmen to dissenting religious congregations, among other insurgent formations.
Scientists sometimes design a research project to study one thing only to discover something unexpected. Primatologists studying animal behavior may not have been expecting to find that captive apes are more creative than their cousins in the wild, but in fact, that is exactly what they did discover.
No More Work: Why Full Employment is a Bad Idea by James Livingston
To refer to economists as a priesthood has become a commonplace. Economists practice “a religion couched in the language of mathematics and statistics,” say Yanis Varoufakis. Their church, to carry the symbolism further, has a magnificent gold and marble altar where they offer praise to Capital.
Our Postwork Future
A Prospect to Win or to Lose?
by Peter Frase
It borders on a disservice to characterize Four Futures: Life After Capitalism as a
primer on contemporary political philosophy, since Peter Frase, the author,
explodes any expectation of pedantry in his prose, or more importantly, in his
approach to political theory, which he calls “social science fiction.”
1.
The first thing that needs to be cleared from the decks is all the bullshit about the motives of the white working class (WWC). Beyond the fact that it is a dubious term, I have no idea why people voted the way they did, beyond the most obvious assumptions.