The Economist on Piketty May 6, 2014
Posted by Tomboktu in Books, Capitalism, Economics, Inequality, Journalism, Marxism, Taxation Policy, The political discourse, The Right.55 comments
I bought the Economist because the cover said it has an article about Piketty. (Reading articles about his book, Capital in the Twenty-first Century, is quicker than reading the book!)
The headline on the actual article is weird: “Bigger than Marx”. That is true neither of the physical heft of the book nor, if everything I have read about it so far is valid, of the contents.
And then the content of the Economist’s review: 13 paragraphs: two are neutral; four approving; seven critical of the book. The Economist cites five critics of his thesis or aspects of it and zero supporters.
Not that I’m terribly surprised at their overall view, but they might have been subtler. Or maybe I should applaud their transparency.
I misinterpreted this on first reading… March 29, 2014
Posted by WorldbyStorm in The Left, The Right.add a comment
“Right exists to be bigots, debate on Australia racism Act hears”
…or maybe not.
Thatcherism. Lest we forget… April 8, 2013
Posted by WorldbyStorm in British Politics, Irish Politics, The Left, The Right.6 comments
What Planet Are These People On? Part the Second. July 27, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in Capitalism, media, The Right.6 comments
Interesting, and depressing, article in the Guardian about the latest idea from the US economist Paul Romer. So what is this idea? Charter cities. And what are those? Simple.
Charter cities offer a truly global win-win solution. These cities address global poverty by giving people the chance to escape from precarious and harmful subsistence agriculture or dangerous urban slums. Charter cities let people move to a place with rules that provide security, economic opportunity, and improved quality of life. Charter cities also give leaders more options for improving governance and investors more opportunities to finance socially beneficial infrastructure projects.
All it takes to grow a charter city is an unoccupied piece of land and a charter. The human, material, and financial resources needed to build a new city will follow, attracted by the chance to work together under the good rules that the charter specifies.
Action by one or more existing governments can provide the essentials. One government provides land and one or more governments grant the charter and stand ready to enforce it.
This idea of one ruler ceding territory to another government that then preceeds to build its own city there according to its own rules sounds vaguely familiar. I think it used to be called colonialism. As the Guardian article describes it,
What they need to do, he argues, is give up a big chunk of their land to a rich country. Policy experts from Washington can take over a patch of Rwanda, and invite along GM and Microsoft and Gap to come and set up factories. Poor countries give up their sovereignty in return for the promise of greater prosperity.
They’ve made such a success of this tactic in Iraq and Afghanistan that I can see why Romer wants more of it. Ah, but he has an historical example of his own. Hong Kong.
Q: Are there historical precedents for a charter city?
A: Hong Kong is one obvious example in which two countries worked together to create a new city. In effect, China supplied the land and the people; Britain supplied the rules for a market-based economy together with basic rules such as sanitation, building codes, and civil codes that made the place where the market operated livable. Of course, this did not arise from a voluntary agreement between the Chinese and the British. But looking back, it turned out so well that a country wishing to follow China’s lead might well want to start by cooperating with a foreign country to build a Hong Kong.
The British established the legal and social system in Hong Kong long before most Chinese moved there, but they did not codify this system in a formal charter. A better example of a newly created region with a clear charter is Pennsylvania. William Penn was given Pennsylvania as a dominion. He wrote a charter that included a legal guarantee of freedom of religion. For many migrants, this made Pennsylvania more attractive than other more restrictive colonies in North America.
Romer managed to persuade the former leader of Madagascar to run with his idea, but his being overthrown put a stop to that. Romer’s response?
“Anything that involves land can be manipulated by people who want to rise up against a leader,” he began. “You have to find a place where there’s a strong enough leader with enough legitimacy to do this knowing that he’s going to get attacked. It narrows the options quite a bit. But we shouldn’t give up without trying a few more places.”
Anything that involves a cession of terrritory to a foreign power and/or corporation can upset people. All you need is a leader with enough legitimacy to do this – does legitimacy in this case mean the Weberian take on the state – the unique ability to exercise force? I suspect that it might.
Romer’s big thing is the importance of rules – he seems to be convinced that the right rules can produce prosperity. So build the city, have the right rules, and prosperity will follow, people will move there, and hey presto – global poverty is well on its way to being solved. To say that this seems incredibly simplistic is an understatement. One of the rules that is certainly missing from his account his politics – are these places to be democracies? It certainly doesn’t seem so. And how could they be? The example he likes to use to support his case is a photo of a bunch of teenagers in Guinea doing their homework underneath street lights as there is no electricity at home. His explanation of this?
Q: What kinds of rules keep people from having light in their homes?
A: Here are some simple examples of rules that can keep people in the dark:
Electricity is provided only by a government-owned firm.
Government employees can’t be fired, regardless of how poorly they do their jobs.
The low subsidized price of electricity for the lucky consumers who have access is determined by political considerations.
Under good governance, the people who want electricity in their homes can easily match up with the utilities that want to provide it to them.
Except, of course, if you read the news report he has taken the photo from, you will find that none of these things are the reasons why there is no electricity in the homes of these teenagers. The real reason is in fact something else entirely.
The change is due to the deterioration of power supplies, which started in 2003 when the country’s economy went into freefall.
Anyway, to return to Aditya Chakrabortty in the Guardian.
With a bit more history, Romer might acknowledge that mainland China had other areas that were so dominated by foreigners they too might be described as Charter Cities. Shanghai in the early 20th century had signs reading: No Dogs, No Chinese – and yet it didn’t boom like Hong Kong did. He might also agree that there remains a big debate about how China has got so rich, with World Bank economists recently arguing that it is farming that has done most to reduce poverty, rather than industry.
One result of the great economic crisis is that academic practitioners are finally acknowledging that economic policy is not just a series of equations applied to the real world, but questions that ultimately have a political answer. Yet the old pseudo- scientific blank slate-ism still survives, as Paul Romer’s latest project demonstrates.
Quite. And now that I think about it, I’ve seen how a charter city works, in a Detroit ruled by OmniConsumer Products. And we know how well that turned out.
What planet are these people on? July 25, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in Capitalism, European Union, The Right.11 comments
Two recent stories make it still clearer just what an alternate universe those who control financial institutions and governments of the world live in. The first is the recent “stress tests” carried out on 91 banks by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors. 7 banks failed – 5 Spanish, 1 German and 1 Greek. Amazingly, AIB was passed as healthy, as well as the Bank of Ireland, the only two Irish banks included. The summary report is available here. The 7 banks that failed the test needed 3.5bn euro of new capital to meet the standards required.
In AIB’s case, passing the test assumes that it would succeed in a €7.4 billion plan to raise further capital by the end of the year.
I wonder where they got the idea it would be able to raise whatever extra capital it needed?
Let’s call this stress test what it was – an attempt by the European financial elite to con the public into believing that the capitalist system has resolved the contradictions that led to the recent crisis. They must think we are stupid, and that throwing a few sacrifical lambs to the wolves will give it added credibility. Nonsense. See the RTÉ report for Lenihan’s attempt at spin.
Speaking of whom, the second story that shows how the political elite remains trapped in the failed ideology of neo-liberalism is the planned privitisation of public assets such as the ESB, CIE, An Post, and Bord Gáis, with the “stock-taking” under the chairmanship of Colm McCarthy. This has been aptly described by WP President Mick Finnegan as “a firesale of the people’s assets”. The market has failed disastrously. So what is the answer these people propose? Take the semi-state companies that have been working well, and hand them over – cheaply of course – to the market, so that customer service standards can fall, the workers can see their working conditions devestated, and multi-nationals can make still more profits. This money can then be used to avoid increasing taxation on those best able to pay, and will also realise cash to throw into the black hole of the banks and property speculators should they need it. Awesome. Back to Mick Finnegan.
Having near bankrupted the country with reckless economic policies and crippled the next generation of our people with debt through the banking bailout, the government is now intent on selling the family silver. These state and semi-state companies were built over many years of public investment and hard work. They must not be sold off by a deranged government and there is an onus on the trade union movement, the left and anyone who believes in the future of this country to stand up and oppose this madness.
Exactly.
For Faith, Family and Country January 13, 2008
Posted by franklittle in Culture, Irish Politics, media, Media and Journalism, Religion, Secularism, The Right.33 comments
It was the front page headline ‘Hilary Clinton, Cultural Marxist’ that did it for me. The January 2008 issue of The Hibernian warns that this year is a crucial one for Ireland, but points to hopeful signs of the ‘first manifestations of Catholic nationalism’ in an editorial from Gerry McGeough. Some of these signs are stretching it just a little. McGeough seems to claim that his candidacy in the Fermanagh/South Tyrone Assembly election had something to do with the decision by the Assembly not to extend the British 1967 Abortion Act to the North.
He also makes the claim that in the general election in May:
“politicians were surprised to find themselves confronted at the doorsteps by voters concerned about Catholic issues. It was also interesting to note that former Justice Minister Michael McDowell who was an ardent advocate of legislation favouring homosexual ‘marriage’ (So ardent that we’re not closer to it after ten years of him being in power), was not re-elected. The obvious lesson for all politicians is that they should stay well clear of this evil, toxic issue, unless they are prepared to tow the Catholic line on it.”
Somehow I suspect one of the most notoriously liberal constituencies in the country didn’t fail to elect McDowell because he claimed to support legislating for gay marriage. The 40 page magazine contains some of the usual bits and bobs you might expect to see in Ireland’s Own including lyrics to traditional songs such as The Star of County Down and even a jokes page including one unwieldy submission which attempts to insult atheists. The Desmond Rebellion in the late 16th century, a review of the shrine to Sister Lucia and a lengthy six page piece on a talk given by Bishop Bernard Fellay on the Moto Proprio Summorum Pontificum are all in there, and they even find space for an article on Katy French warning us that since ‘we can never know the day or the hour (Of our deaths) it behoves us to attend confessions regularly and pray that when our times comes we are in a state of Grace and ready to meet our God’. There’s the usual attacks on the EU and secularism and an interesting piece on ethical shopping under the heading Catholic Agriculture and Trade taken from the British Catholich magazine, Christus Rex.
There are a couple of political pieces. McGeough’s article on Sinn Féin is even pretty rational, pointing to the shambolic state of the party following the general election here and the resignation of Fermanagh MLA Gerry McHugh and makes a number of good, though not novel points about the failure to deliver the Irish Language Act and the lack of a strategy for ending partition. He goes off the deep end a little towards the end accusing the party of ‘fanatically promoting the Homosexual Agenda and preventing any of its members from joining the Assembly pro-life lobby’. He also seems to think the party shifted on immigration policy at its recent conference in Dublin though, as I pointed out here before, they actually didn’t say anything new.
Moving completely away from rationality, we have a piece from Cathal Ó Broin, who should really go with a byline photograph that makes him look a little less like a psycho if he is going to write like this:
“Patriots of Ireland, let us make 2008 a turning point…Irish Patriots, let us wake up and disturb this fatal cosiness which is strangling our sovereignty. Let us throw out the stale, and bring in the fresh…”
And my personal favourite:
“And how can we ever forget the injustice of the slander against the good name of ‘No to Nice’ campaigner Justin Barrett? This true Irish patriot of the finest order was painted in a very unfair light. Our degenerate media and despicable government showed their horns as they all ganged up on one person. Let us not be fooled – such people are the servants of the devil, and they want to bring us all with them to Hell.”
Yes indeed, those people who pointed out Barrett attended a conference of European fascists are actual servants of Satan himself.
The thrust of Ó Broin’s article is that we need to change our political class. Away with ‘shrewd businessmen’, ‘nicey, nicey celebrity politicians’ and ‘socialist revolutionaries…proposing a twisted system of self-imposed slavery’. No, what Ireland needs are ‘true philosophers – lovers of wisdom who think about the long term. We need men (Not women it seems) who serve the Divine Master. We need men who seek first the Kingdom of God. ‘
The Cedar Lounge Revolution: We read this stuff so you don’t have to.
The most curious thing about The Hibernian though, is its finances. What we have here is a 40 page magazine, about half of which is in colour. It is now been going for almost two years, no small accomplishment in the Irish printing world. There are three advertisements. One is for what looks to be a personally published book, Karl Marx: Prophet True or False? by Deirdre Manifold. The book promises to unveil the ‘esotheric (sic), sophistic and cataclysmic global impact of his writings and the insiderous effect that he has had on humanity’. I know I’ve ordered my copy.
The other is for another magazine called The Mass Rock, which is interesting because of the contact addresses for it. Complete subscription forms can be sent to the offices of The Hibernian in Drogheda, or to an American post office box in Naperville, Illinois. The magazine also occasionally publishes letters from US readers, including as it happens one from Naperville. Clearly there is some sort of distribution of the magazine in the US, but it’s not clear by whom. And even at that, how is the magazine staying afloat without advertising, at quite a low cover price? Even if a lot of the contributors work for free what salaries and expenses there are, as well as paying layout and design and rent of their premises, must all add up.
So who’s signing Gerry McGeough’s pay cheques?
The Financial Times? Uh-oh… just where is my newspaper reading taking me? November 22, 2007
Posted by WorldbyStorm in media, Media and Journalism, The Left, The Right.25 comments
Here’s a thing. The other day I wasn’t able to get a Guardian. So casting my eye along the newspapers I saw no Independent (UK), my default alternative choice. Didn’t want the Irish Times which I get anyway in work on the internet. What was left? The Wall Street Journal. Nope. I dislike intensely their editorial stance, although the actual reporting is pretty good. International Herald Tribune. Nah, too reheated New York Times for my taste. And always somehow with a sense that it’s been written some way past Mars and we’re having to endure a time delay on it.
So I picked up the Financial Times. I haven’t bought it in at least a decade. But, I’ve got to be honest. It was pretty darn good. The reasons being? Well, first up the aesthetics of an actual broadsheet. The soothing pink colour. The full newspaper size. The Guardian has made considerable noise since it adopted the Berliner format and how this bridging size between tabloid and broadsheet can deliver the best of both worlds. But… there really is nothing like a full sheet paper. Lots of room for articles and good sized pictures. No sense of compression.
But the content wasn’t bad, either. The news pages had news. And not slanted news, just basic information on Italian politics, the upcoming Australian elections (no boosterism here for the right, just a dispassionate account of how the Australian Labour Party appeared on the point of besting Howard – great stuff for those of us who think sometimes even a small incremental shift in opening space on the left or centre left is good).
The editorial on OPEC was interesting and one on ASEAN in the context of Burma which was thought provoking. I didn’t agree with the one which threw around the idea that ‘reform’ of the public sector requires private ‘help’ (I’ve seen far too many private sector assistance which seems to devolve to charging inflated prices). But it is the ‘Financial’ Times after all.
And on the editorial pages there were good articles on British foreign policy, America losing it’s faith in Empire and immigration. I didn’t agree with some of what they said either, but all equally thought provoking.
Sure, back in the day there were quite a number of FT contributors and journalists who were loosely attached to the CPGB’s ill-fated ‘New Times’ project (I’m channelling the name Leadbetter…), and I’m sure that’s long gone. Perhaps the prospect of changing the world with a copy of Capital in one hand and a filofax in the other has passed. Or perhaps they just decided to change the world in other, different, ways.
But then, when I read the Guardian and in particular the G2 section I think that that’s not the only thing that’s long gone. And perhaps it’s telling that for my Sunday read I now buy the Sunday Business Post (and occasionally the Observer).
Perhaps it’s to get a handle on the other side. Perhaps it’s simply because they’re ‘serious’ papers in a way the Guardian – or God knows – the Irish Times aren’t. Perhaps because business and finance can actually throw up something unexpected, or perhaps because as a left-winger I find there’s more to ‘mine’ here in terms of raw information about our society and our economy than in any number of fluffy feel-good feel-bad articles in the more usual suspects, or the often doomy yet curiously congratulatory and self-referential solipsism of the further left. Perhaps too it is because, as has often been said here there is simply not enough understanding of Capital and economics at it currently is by those on the left and that’s a huge failing of mine…
A quick scan of wiki supports my own reading over the years that in editorial line it has been broadly pro-Labour in the 1990s and 2000s. Okay to a point. And that it has been critically pro-EU. Fair enough. Noam Chomsky in perhaps a backhanded compliment stated that it is”the only paper that tells the truth”.
You know, it’s a bit too pricey, being 2 euro, but I think I might just buy it again.
You’ll know also, that there’s trouble down t’mill if I change my username to Financialmarketsbystorm….