Author Archives: Nathan Tankus

About Nathan Tankus

Nathan is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus.

Nathan Tankus: The Transit Coup – How Robber Barons got New York City to Bail Out Their Subway Lines.

By Nathan Tankus, a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus

Since the Reagan/Thatcher era, it is common to view politics over infrastructure as simply a battle between right wing forces attempting to privatize infrastructure and others trying to defend it (I covered the latest attack by President Obama on the TVA). However, this is only the recent history of United States infrastructure policy.

Nathan Tankus: Centralized Planning in the United States

By Nathan Tankus, a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus

Discussions of centralized planning in the West often take it for granted that the Soviet Union and similar social systems are the only ones with centralized planning. This is a basic (albeit ideological) confusion that results from the belief that markets and centralized planning are incompatible. This is not the case

Obama Honors Thatcher with TVA “Privatization” Plan, Kicks Ordinary People in the Stomach Again

Nathan Tankus is a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus

President Obama adopted a reflective tone to mark the passing of Maggie Thatcher. Commenting on her death, he stated “the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.” In Obama’s proposed budget, we found out what the terms “freedom” and “liberty” mean: the freedom for the old to go hungry and the freedom of the poor to go cold.

Nathan Tankus: News Flash – North Korea is a Rational Actor

By Nathan Tankus, a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus (https://twitter.com/NathanTankus)

Sometimes debates that surround a country’s policies are about whether that country’s officials are taking the correct course of action. Other times, however, when a country is perceived as a virulent enemy, the attitude forms that their actions aren’t just wrong, they are irrational and crazy (it’s telling that in a society obsessed with rationality and the “rationality” of the market, our worst insult is “irrational”). As a result, it is radical and disreputable to argue that these countries are pursing their objectives in rational manner. North Korea is one of the best examples of this dynamic the post-war period has to offer. As such, I think it’s time to offer a disreputable opinion of North Korea.

The Terrifying Political Economy of Waiting

By Nathan Tankus, a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus

Remember, things are darkest before they go completely black.

Nathan Tankus: Germany, the “German View” of Hyperinflation and the Ghettoization of Dissent

By Nathan Tankus, a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus

Money is a social construct. It also facilitates many complex, interrelated social relations. As a result, it’s difficult to pin down for the average person what the effects of a particular policy will be, especially with regard to economic policy. While inflation may have negative effects in certain times or places, it’s difficult to figure that out just by looking around a city or country. As a result when politicians or other figures with agendas want to talk about inflation, they inevitably go for the most visceral descriptions available. For some number of decades now, the example they go to do decry inflation is people carrying around “wheelbarrows full of money” to go buy something such as bread. One of their favorite examples is Weimar Germany. So let’s talk about it.

Geithner Finally Leaves Treasury, Blurts a Whole Series of Lies on His Way Out

By Nathan Tankus, a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus

I can’t emphasize enough how satisfying it is to see Timothy Geithner finally leave government. True, it would have been more enjoyable to see him leave in handcuffs, but I take my satisfaction where I can get it.

The Euro as Idealist Project or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Pragmatic Elites

By Nathan Tankus,s a member of Occupy Wall Street Alternative Banking working group. He is also deeply involved in the heterodox economics community and plans to have a PhD in economics before the decade is done. Cross posted with View From the Metropole.

In accounts of American economic history, the early days of banking are typically described as chaotic, contradictory and many decisions are depicted as awful, stupid mistakes. That period certainly included all these things, but looking at Europe now, one can’t help but feel that many back then (especially the elites) understood money better and were much better pragmatists.