Northern Dragon

… life in the twilight years of modern-day democracy …

Tag Archive for ‘capitalism’

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A Tale of Two Cookies – Economics 101

Today, I am following up with a new post in a series, which is delving into the foundations of modern-day capitalism. We have already seen how the accumulation of wealth is built into the very structure of the system, and how the incessant call for privatisation – far from being a way of making the public service sector more efficient – is generally merely an excuse for further concentration of wealth and power. Now, let us dig one level further down again. Into the world of the science behind it all…

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The Alt-Right Playbook

I was visiting a friend the other day, drinking coffee and chatting about stuff and politics, when he suddenly turns to me and asks, “By the way, have you seen this?” And turning on the screen, he went to YouTube, “The Alt-Right Playbook: You Go High, We Go Low”. I am not sure that “flabbergasted” is the right word. But certainly somewhere just between “intrigued” and “fascinated”. The way that […]

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Binding the Beast

In 1776 the Scottish economist and philosopher, Adam Smith, released his magnum opus, “The Wealth of Nations” and laid the foundation for classical economic theory – and modern Capitalism. The world at that time was significantly simpler in many ways than it is today, and our knowledge of economics, sociology, and politics has advanced considerably since then. But underneath all of our modern-day complexity, the economic foundation is the same: […]

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The Baying of the Pack

There is a common superstition doing the rounds in our modern, Western democracies today. It is kept alive by hearsay, by greed, and – sadly – by the “wise words” of economists and politicians who have never actually been out in the real world and worked for a living. And it is repeated, again and again, as a sacred litany against all ills in our economy: “Privatisation is good!” Which […]

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The Sickness Within

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” — Edward Abbey, American author and essayist There is a sickness within capitalism. It is endemic, part of the system, and thus very difficult to fix. It is also largely ignored these days, except when it manifests in its most blatant and symptomatic form: monopolies. Monopolies, however, are only a symptom. The underlying disease is quite different […]

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Faux News

The problem with captive media is that when a news channel like, for instance, Fox News is owned lock, stock, and barrel by a major corporation, it will find it immensely difficult to be neutral and objective in its reporting. There will be a strong pressure – directly or indirectly – to report in a way which is aligned with the fundamental interests of their corporate owners. There is, indeed, […]

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