“The long con that is breaking America”

Matt Taibbi, author of the new book Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con that Is Breaking America, is clear about the role of class in the current crises of capitalism. First, in causing the mortgage crisis: When I first started covering the financial crisis I would go around the country and ask [...]

Happy halloween!

“Cocaine and prostitutes for the markets”

Paul Krugman [ht: rm] found this gem, among the comments on a recent blog post by Kevin O’Rourke: The markets want money for cocaine and prostitutes. I am deadly serious. Most people don’t realize that “the markets” are in reality 22-27 year old business school graduates, furiously concocting chaotic trading strategies on excel sheets and [...]

Theater of the absurd

The world has gone crazy. Perhaps the only possible response is to identify its absurdity. That’s what Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert did today in their Washington D.C. rally: they used comedy to identify the absurdity of U.S. political discourse in the midst of the worst crisis since the Great Depression. And that’s what the [...]

Return of zombie ideas

This weekend is the appropriate time for zombie ideas to return from the dead, to scare us out of our wits. Such as. . . The idea that the rich need coddling. Because the Obama administration hasn’t been business-friendly enough? The idea that immigrant workers are stealing jobs from native-born workers. Only because, in the [...]

“I’m very interested in politics”

for sw & adm

“I want to be a college professor”

[ht: ea]

Remaking higher education

It’s the revenge of neoclassical economics inside the ivory tower: measuring the costs and benefits of higher education. For decades, neoclassical economists have promoted the idea of cost-benefit analysis. Measure the costs and benefits, and rank projects according to the best bottom line. Applied inside organizations, the presumption is that it’s possible to measure each [...]

Public art of the day

“Ordem e Progresso?” (Order and Progress?) Os Gêmeos

Private property über alles

Richard K. Green has finally figured out why he’s so adamantly opposed to a home foreclosure moratorium: private property must be defended! last night it occurred to me why I have such a visceral reaction to such things as moratoriums: they strip property rights without due process. If a borrower agrees to repay a mortgage, [...]