My Life So Far in Type (Partly, at Least)
Reminiscence of the transition from analog to digital in the publishing world.
Read more...Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.
Reminiscence of the transition from analog to digital in the publishing world.
Read more...“History for an urban, globalized, and divided planet, written from a position of empathy for the all-too-human dreams of fossil-fueled escape that now lie in ruins.”
Read more...Reference works I have known
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Friday Charts: RCP chart; shows Big Mo shifting toward Trump; Covid charts show nothing but good news; Walz fabricator vanishes; Trump cancellations; Boeing waits on SEC approval for stock and bond offering; FAA opens new safety review ~
Read more...Communities are still shaking off the shock of a storm they never thought could touch these mountains.
Read more...Any labor action today will inevitably lead to someone getting called a scab, an insult used to smear people who cross picket lines, break up strikes or refuse to join a union.
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Democrat angst; Musk PA events for Trump could break the law; Boeing strike: Wall Street, WSJ, maybe DOD, rush to Boeing management’s assistance; Reader query: AI poisoner sought for photographs ~
Read more...Our tiny singing dinosaur friends, and the assets they create….
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Michelle stays home; Trump to work the grill at McDonald’s in Philly; Trump’s “fascism”; Boeing borrows $10 billion, fights off junk status for now, faces break-up ~
Read more...After a period of rapid growth, recent trends in world trade reveal a phase of stagnation. Rising geopolitical tensions have been accompanied by trade restrictions in the name of national and economic security. Analysis of economic security measures should consider multiple dimensions, including the effect on global supply chains, efficiency, costs, foreign direct investment, trade in services, and international competition.
Read more...~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; CIA Democrats; Kamala and Biden teams at odds; Trump singing and dancing Town Hall not the debacle portrayed; Boeing to borrow billions, delays 777X, plans drastic white-collar cuts ~
Read more...“Our democracy” has quite a history of problems….
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