More Economic Wisdom

Yet another guru from the world of economics weighs in; former US Treasury Secretary and zealous neoliberal Robert Rubin. In today's Times he warns of the major threats to our economy ( AI, federal debt, Iran, tarrifs) and fails to mention the gravest one, climate change.Then goes on about "animal spirits" and free markets markets yada yada. Idiot society stuck in the loop. When asked by pollsters, "independents" think the Democratic Party is too far to the left. By which they mean trans people in bathrooms, etc. Cultural issues. Because the party could not possibly be considered on the left economically. Yet another economist in today's Times: We need "a government that actually works. One that continues to mint millionaires and billionaires but allows everyone else to prosper too." This one worked for the Biden administration so of course we would want to listen to her. She should teach at an Ivy league school. And does. She also makes the point that consumers feel unsecure and that they are shopping more than ever. Maybe that's a problem? She goes on to say: "Attacking the economic system that has produced so many successful entrepreneurs and wildly profitable businesses misses the point too. The more our economy grows, the more likely a Newer Deal is to succeed, because growth means tax revenue to fund these initiatives and jobs and innovations that improve Americans’ lives.' Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said the United Nations was “pushing the woke Green Energy Scam, pressuring countries across the world to jeopardize their economic and national security in order to meet arbitrary climate goals.” She is talking about the threat to growth. And then there is another "doomloop" :France is not the only country facing a debt trap. As borrowing grows in many wealthy nations, populist political parties are surging. Experts warn the mix could combust into an economic crisis. Governments face a “doom loop,” in which market turmoil and political tumult feed off each other." The real ruler is the bond market. And yet they still mouth the empty slogans about "democracy" and "liberty for all".

Economic Wisdom

And the Nobel prize (and 1.2 million dollars) goes to economists who showed " the importance of how real-world behavior impacts policy and why it must be taken into account alongside broad economic variables like inflation and production. A critical aspect of their models rests on the idea that households and businesses make decisions based on what they believe will happen in the future. So when governments and policymakers communicate their economic plans, they can influence people’s expectations. That in itself can help steer the economy." Brilliant indeed! It's all about what we believe. For instance, we believe we can have infinite growth on a finite planet. We believe we can run off the cliff as long as we don't look down. We believe smart people will figure everything out, that new technology will solve everything. And yes, we can be influenced. By influencers. There is a reason they call economics "the dismal science". Do these people have to give the money back if the economy crashes? Will they just say oops? Not a word anywhere of criticism. This is capitalist realism at it's apex, market logic so dominant it becomes the ambient atmosphere. As riots break out in Albania and France and elsewhere we get this drivel from economists, "explaining behavior" in the Age of Anxiety. As for the riots in France, the peaceful demonstators are "stunned" that the black-clad anarchists destroyed property. Stunned, really? They hijack demonstrations/protests everytime, causing a violent reaction which favors the far Right. So why would the lifestyle "anarchists" still be described as "far left" in the press? I suspect they are split between morons and right-wing provacateurs. They are the politics of smash, which feels good for a moment. But they are not the Rupture they believe themselves to be. Don't be stunned.

"Billionaire Class"

Some dweeb in the NYTimes: “I would be nervous if we started using the focus on billionaires as a license to ignore the many other ways the tax code preferences the wealthy and high income over everyone else,” he said. “But I don’t think that’s really happening.” So he believes equity is a salient issue with "the masses"? I would argue they perversly enjoy their own humiliation and debasement. Enjoy as joisance. They are assurred that at least the Big Other cares enough about them to make them miserable. This is where we run into definitional issues around class. Left populists have focused their ire on billionaires, because sure, yeah, who needs a billion dollars? But what about the multi-millionaires? And yada yada on down the line. Everyone chants in unison: tax the rich, feed the poor, till there are no rich no more. Trouble is, there is no set definition of "rich". The old guard still talks about "the ruling class" but that's almost as fuzzy. Who rules what? The one thing we do know is if you want to build solidarity in the "ruling class/ rich" just try taking some of their wealth. Workers used to fight with "whatever means necessary", including guns and bombs, but those days are long gone. Now you just threaten to raise the interest rate on their Master Card and they roll over like puppies. RIP David Cobb. On the climate front: Elise Otten, a spokeswoman for Exxon. “We firmly believe climate change is a real and pressing issue, and that’s why we need sound policy at the federal level to reduce emissions and keep affordability top of mind.” We all know that affordability is drill baby drill so I can fill up my Humvee. When she says "at the federal level" she means not at the state level, where some accountability could actually take place. Because unlike Congress, state legisltures have not all been bought. Elise knows this but her job is to act AS IF she doesn't. Last bit of news of the day: Lula vs Bolsanaro? Really? Do we need any more proof that electoralism is all shit theatre? Oh, maybe I should vote for Putin, or Modi, or Trump. Or Netahyahu or whatever. I can't believe people still buy into this idiocy. Why not coyote vs roadrunner? Elmer Fudd vs Bugs Bunny?

Collective Action Problem

Isn't this problem of out of control AI rooted in the same capitalist contradiction as climate change? This dilemma of "alignment", trying to make sure the technology is in humanities best interest, is the same one we face with fossil energy. The Market, it shpould be obvious by now, is useless. And government is controlled by Capital. So a good liberal like Ezra Klein sees these labs competing with each other to achieve "recursive self-improvement", AI agents who take over their own training, and he calls for social "control". He asks why aren't their permits and regulations and governance working to serve the publics general interest? Well, why are we still burning fossil fuels: the collective action problem. With so much wealth and power at stake, no one actor is going to stop (building RSI, burning fossil fuel) unless everyone does. Kind of like a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Give up your nukes and get crushed by the other nuclear powers (see Libya). Does Ezra Klein expect the United Nations to enforce a ban on AI development? He claims this development should face the same constraints as building a new high-rise in San Francisco. But this is apples and telephone poles: wholly separate categories. I would love it if these liberals would just admit market failure in both pollution and AI development and begin advocating for democratic planning. Tearing down these corporations and putting ownership of production in the hands of the people who make and consume. Then you would be able to exert genuine "control". You can't have it both ways. If you stick with Capital you face the growth imperative and therefore are doomed to competition and the collective action problem. The only way out is planning, not for profit, but for sufficiency. We all know perfectly well that infinite growth leads to doom but we act as if we don't know it. One day just leads to the next as we slowly crumble around the edges. Not unlike a melting glacier.

Ministry of Culture

The U.S. needs a culture minister. Like Israel's. The actual title is Minister of Culture and Sports and what an important job it is! Israel has an important role in the culture of Germany and we are seeing that played out as the Far Right regains power. “The AfD understands that through culture, they can get into people’s heads, into their mind-sets.” One important part of the job is distraction: keep people focused on things other than genocide and expansionist goals. AfD leaders say as much. “An AfD state government will trigger an overall cultural renewal,” Mr. Tillschneider said in an interview this spring. As in Israel, and the U.S., this is code for anti- Muslim. Then there are the young conservatives in Spain, dressed in their slacks and loafers and dress shirts. they are concerned with the overreaches of feminism, multiculturalism and woke politics as a threat to Spain’s traditional identity. If any of this sounds like the re-kindling of fascism it's because it is, and of course it is trending all across Europe and India and the Americas. "They say that they are on the front lines of a battle for Europe’s cultural and political reversion, with a renewed adherence to religious institutions, traditional gender roles and, for many, the politics of nationalism." In other words, history provides no lessons and it is an important part of the Minister of Culture's job to make sure we learn nothing as a species. Mark Fisher said we should be especially worried when the young stop being full of surprises. What if the surprise is total conformism? Learning to accept conditions as they are so as to get "ahead"?

Running In Place

Some totally new, unorthodox, out-of-the-box thinking: the treasury secretary says economic expansion can get the US out of debt! How original. Wow. Elite thinking at its best. The problem isn't that a drone like Bessent would spout such idiocy. It's that the Wall Street Journal would print it. It's that the WSJ readers would nod and say yeah, that could work. All we would have to do is burn more fossil fuels, extract more productivity out of workers and gut the social safety net. Joila! And right on point we have the EPA removing greenhouse gas regulations from power plants. Remember Obama telling us we could "de-couple" economic growth from emissions? Not so. We can have capitalism or we can have robust ecosystems but we can't have both. Elites understand this perfectly. Guys like Robinson Meyer, founding executive editor of Heatmap, doesn't get it. In a piece in today's Times he says Democrats must embrace fossil fuels if they expect to win elections. Because in a capitalist "democracy", voting will save us eventually. Yes, according to the latest UN report we are blowing past 1.5 degrees, yes, the tech oligarchs are fuelling all their AI compute with methane ( remember how "natural gas" was the "transition fuel" that would wean us from coal?) But Alaskans vote for whoever supports oil so Democrats should support oil. Duh. Robinson will never use the word capitalism because somehow Markets and price and innovation yada yada. The woman running for Senate in Alaska is indigenous, adding even more contradiction to the equation. Water Is Life, right? Seven generations, right? Capitalist realism colonizes everyone equally, regardless of race or religion. Naomi Kein and Astra Taylor are calling out what they term "End Times Fascism". This is a sect or cult which has fused Christian millenialism with tech-utopian/dystopian futurism into a hyper-capitalist nationalism. Basically a genocidal attack on the poor and Nature. These are the same Christians which support the Zionist project because of the prophesy that Jesus will return and bring about the End Times. Therefore the more dead Palestinians (and Jews) the better.

Drill Baby Addendum

Nobody else is willing to sacrifice so why should I? To wit, drilling in the North Sea: "Now applications for two new offshore drilling projects — a lifeline for the region — could be decided by the government in the coming days or weeks. Andy Burnham, Britain’s prime minister, faces a choice with complex economic and political ramifications, no matter what he does. He could approve the projects — known as Rosebank and Jackdaw — and face a potential revolt from powerful clean energy constituencies that strongly oppose more drilling." Canada and America keep drilling, (including in our new protectorate Venezuela) South America keeps drilling, Russia keeps drilling. We just blew past 1.5 and no one cares, So what the heck?

Drill Baby Drill

Oil boom in Argentina. More drilling being proposed for the North Sea. All the big tech corporations walking away from their emission goals. In my novel Oblivions Cross there is a scene where protesters drag a guillotine to the headquarters of the evil fossil fuel inve4stment corporation. Today I saw this headline in the WAPO: Guillotine parked next to the Supreme Court leads to arrest Good on em! There is lots of concern about social media induced "brain rot", especially among youth. An opinion piece in todays Times argues that kids understand perfectly well what is being done to their minds by idiotic content yet prefer it to more covertly manipulative content: "when simulation admits it is simulation, it becomes more trustworthy than content that pretends to be real." This post-post modern affect is what explains Trump's appeal. In a totally corrupt, transactional system, the clown who proudly announces he is a fraud gains trust. Yes it is all Spectacle, and I'm here to entertain. It's all you can expect at this stage of late capitalism. Something like this occurred in the inter-war period in Europe with the art/culture movemnent called Dada. Part nihilism, part burlesque. Interestingly, it was Thoreau who coined the term in his book Walden as he observed the pop culture of his time. The Times article insisted it wasn't that youth were getting stupider but in fact there are some metrics pointing in that direction: " the share of American teenagers who failed to reach even a basic level of proficiency in reading and math, considered the minimum needed to read a utility bill, for example, has risen over the last decade." Asian students, on the other hand, ace these tests. This would be worrying if there wasn't already so much to worry about. For instance, the level of water in Colorado River reservoirs? Super El Nino? Shipping through the Bering Sea? AI bots hacking my bank account?

Working Class Heroes

Gustavo, a leader of NY City DSA who I have worked with, is enmeshed in the old class contradiction. Born into wealth, his credentials as a champion for the working class are questioned. The spotlight brings scrutiny and the quest for "gotcha" moments: "Look, he lives a life of privilege! Look, he doesn't have calloused hands!" Socialistsare being attacked from the right for being too educated. The right doesn't have that problem with its working class supporters; very few of them could find Iran on a map. Those who do know the difference between the two countries are still waiting for the US to find the WMD's in Iraq. I'm not saying stupid people shouldn't be represented in government, I'm just not sure they should have all the positions of leadership. For instance, the US just re-threatened China with sanctions, the one country keeping the price of oil under 150 dollars a barrel. At some point they will tire of listening to these morons rant about regime change and will bring the hammer down. The working class electricians union (IBEW) supports the build-out of data centers, a position even right wingers are backing away from. They just want good jobs, who can blame them, stuck as they are in a capitalist system which forces them to murder their offspring. They will build the gas chambers for good union wages and generous benefits.

Demand = Death

As the world burns under deadly heat waves, fires and drought, Big Tech Capital and their government enablers have decided to add more fuel to the fire.From the Financial Times: "An FT analysis of 60 of the largest planned data centres being built in the US by Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta found that they could together produce 101.5mn tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year once fully operational, based on the most recent snapshot of US power generation. That would be equivalent to about 7 per cent of US power-sector emissions in 2025 — the annual emissions of 27 coal plants or 24mn petrol-powered cars." Most of these emissions are new gas fired generators but there are also those aging coal plants that were slated to be de-comissioned but are now being extended. All this for a technology which will provide...certain benefits? some advantages? a better life? None of that is clear. We do know it is propping up the U.S. economy. Then there is insurance, where governments are becoming the insurer of last resort. "Climate impacts are no longer a marginal or far-future risk, but a structural macro-fiscal problem today. They will rapidly get more expensive in Europe because it is the world’s fastest-warming continent (EEA, 2024)." For some reason the movement against data centers prefers not to focus on climate impacts. They generally focus on water issues or noise or electricity bills going up. In fact conservative environmentalists urge capaigners not to use the word climate, that it triggers people who might otherwise support some policy. This is exactly why activists must use the climate argument continuously. Over and over and over. But the argument has to include capitalism as a failed system.

More Capitalist "Democracy"

So the DSA wants to try governing. With some electoral wins under their belt and other aligned progressive winning against establishment Dems, they now have their eye on the prize. But as Bernie or AOC have shown us, playing in the arena of capitalist "politics" has a real cost. At its most basic, you have to decide how anti-capitalist-pro-socialist you want to be. You can hedge by talking about Medicare for All but eventually someone is going to bring up Marx- you know, things like ownership and markets and Capital. Already we see the uncomfortable questions around policing and prisons and military budgets.You can give speeches about the working class but at some point the middle class is going to start pressing hard. They are used to a steady supply of treats and anything that smells like austerity will not get hteir vote. On the other hand, Having Trump blather on about communists may actually help to swell the membership, give young folks an option for a political home that isn't run by consultants and corporate donors.The bottom line is this: the struggle for socialism will require more than canvasing and voting. We have seen this movie before and even when there was a massive base of industrial workers, oligarchs found ways to contain and divert populist insurrection. They start wars. They cause recessions. Remember, capital can go on strike as well. One very positive thing this left-wing politicking has done is exposed Zionism to critique, something that was absolute taboo just a few short years ago. The word genocide is now commopn parlance among progressive politicians. Closely followed by the insinuation that Netanyahu talked The Donald into attacking Iran only heightens Israels pariah status. And now AIPAC lost an election it dumped 30 million dollars into, reinforcing the ant-semitic trope of the rich manipulative Jew working behind the scenes. It is hard to imagine a more spectacular fall from grace. What is totally insane is that the average Israeli is apparently stunned at the American reaction. But we are the victims, they cry! The perpetual ever-lasting victims, now matter how grotesque our brutality. This new cadre of left-wing Dem candidates may end up backing down on de-funding police but not on support for Israel while the genocidal Zionist project remains their nationalist ideology. And Netanyahu will remain an irritating thorn in the side of Trump and the Republicans as he throws sand in the gears of any kind of Iran deal. In the meantime DSA Co-chairs are out trying to explain democratic socialism on conservative media. They are having to explain the part of the DSA platform that calls for abolishing the Senate and city owned grocery stores.

More Bill

NBC wants to do a feature segment on the climate so who do they call? Good old Bill McKibben. This speaks to the total void when it comes to new, fresh, climate movement leadership.An article in the Guardian reports that climate activists are tired of being "hushed" and argue talking climate is not a distraction from the "affordability agenda". So what new, exciting strategy has Bill and the young campaigners come up with? " In other districts, organizers have circulated petitions calling on the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, to prioritize climate issues or plan to call on their representatives to connect the climate crisis to recent heatwaves." That ought to put a fire under their asses! You could almost imagine that the fossil fuel industry is funding the whole thing. The "hushing" is something the Searchlight Institue has proposed after polling showed:"While battleground voters overwhelmingly agree climate change is a problem, addressing it is not a priority for them." For these folks, it's a problem, just not one they are willing to risk anything to solve. In other words, it's their children's problem. And while the children should logically be the ones in open revolt, their brains have been donated to tech enchantments. So there you have it. Sclerotic leadership, lazy, boring strategy, and more petitions as the world burns. Bill thinks the super- elNino will kick things into gear. "Many more will have to suffer, many more will have die - don't ask me why". The entire Colorado River system is in crisis mode. Do you hear anything about it? No, but when Jeff Bzos and Leonardo Di Capria give a few million to save species faced with extinction it's on the front page. A few million. C'mon. And now as fires rage across a burning planet, everyone breathlessly awaits the end of the Iran war so we can get oil tankers moving again. Exactly as happened with the pandemic, any slow down in fossil fuel emissions is viewed as a threat to our way of life, something to be avoided at all costs. Upside dwon world!

Which Side Are You On?

Couldn't be much clearer. An email from the local Democrats states: "We are capitalists!" Obviously the recent success of Democratic Socialists running for office has caused some consternation, along with the red-baiting that is now coming out of the White House and Republican headquarters. It always eventually comes down to this; we saw it with Bernie and AOC: how do you talk about capitalism. The local Dems want to insist there is a kinder, gentler capitalism that they are working to achieve. They are both liberal and "progressive". They want to separate political economy into two spheres, claiming they can make the system of liberal democratic capitalism work for everybody. That we can have a modern New Deal where everyone shares in the growth. But this is all a fantasy, as the last seventy years has shown. "Democratic" capitalism is an oxymoron. If you claim to be a capitalist you are claiming allegiance to a class and claiming you will work in the interests of that class. Simple and clear. So it is good they are so out front about where they stand. Now it is up to workers to decide where they stand. As the old John Sebastion song says: Did you ever have to make up your mind? Of course we know that when push comes to shove ( as it will) the Dems will hang the far left out to dry. It's always the damn radicals who spoin their dream of labor peace and the rising tide lifting all boats yada yada. The dream of government of, by and for The People. Of environmental laws that protect the environment. Of justice for all. Yada Yada. Along these same lines of acknowledging the unity of politcal economy, I wish Nate Hagens, who pilots the Great Simplification project, would acknowledge the Marxian critique of Capital when he describes what he calls the "Superorganism". Capital is a superorganism in the way it encompasses systems of law and governance and politics and cutural production along with the economic. He may simply have the same issue Michael Albert has, that it sends the wrong rhetorical signal or there is too much historical baggage with Marx. But we need to give credit where credit is due. Marx saw the catastrophe Nate describes 140 years ago. He predicted "the common ruin of the contending classes" and that the "metabolic rift" with the earth's natural systems would be our civilization's undoing. Capital's Achilles heel. I think Nate is doing great work but it wouldn't hurt to have someone on who could talk about Capital. Just sayin.

From Hero to Zero

Poor Graham Platner is headed back to oysters and he must be wondering why the Groper In Chief gets away with it and he doesn't. Damn those double standards! And why wouldn't a candidate with lots of skeletons in the closet be able to represent his constituency? Headline in Wall Street Journal: World’s largest meat group JBS scraps a key climate goal. Like all the big investor groups and Fortune 500 companies. A piece in the Times titled How American Socialism Changed never mentions the labor movement or unions. Nor does it mention class. This new socialism wants a little redistribution of wealth (call it "progressive") but nor property. A bridge too far. EJ Dion argues that conflating socialism with social democracy is a good thing and we should all stop arguing about ownership of the means of production. Black and brown folk are upset about these mostly whiite, young socialist interlopers in their neighborhoods but as I've argued, they have themselves to blame. From todays Times : "Just five years ago, Eric Adams’s victory in a hotly contested Democratic mayoral primary seemed to signal a high-water mark for Black political power. Mr. Adams would become only the city’s second Black mayor; Alvin Bragg was to become the Manhattan district attorney; Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn congressman, was on a path to become the House minority leader." The lesson here is clear folks. Your centrist politics suck. To wrap up, here is more liberal faith in a "sane" world with "rational" politics. Bill Mc Kibben talks to Ezra Klein and holds out hope in the price of renewables, in enlightened politicians, in fewer bureaucratic regulations. The only concern is climate change. Nobody has to sacrifice anything (maybe the evil fossil fuel majors) and technology will come to the rescue. in other words, same old same old. Like me , Bill is getting old but still writes books advocating a common sense approach. In classic contradictory fashion ( disavowal) he recommends Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor's new book yet maintains that totally discredited liberal faith in "democratic" capitalism.

Alan Greenspan's Ghost

Too bad Alan Greenspan didn't live long enough to see the election victory of the Democratic Socialists. The obituaries all mentioned the fact that Alan, as chairman of the Fed, admitted his "mistake" to Congress; he assummed Markets worked, that they factored in risk perfectly. Oops. The obits wanted us to believe that this error only applied to the 2007-8 financial meltdown but of course Markets still aren't pricing in the risk posed by ecological collapse. Economists believe they can calculate "the social cost of carbon" but it is a wildly random estimate with a huge range. And that's just carbon- no one is calculating the cost of crossing all the other planetary boundaries. That would crush the fantasy. Instead they keep talking about the price of oil and about raising interest rates and AI IPO's blah blah blah. Good luck with that. Speaking of hyperscalers and super intelligence, they plan to focus on putting their energy-gobbling data centers in the rural south, where intelligence is a rare commodity. This could replace the tobacco and textile industries. The Wall Street Journal has a quiz you can take to find out what class you belong to. "See what your lifestyle says about your economic class" and we are given these categories: upper, upper middle middle, working and lower. This is the thing Marxists like Vivek Chibber have so much trouble accepting; conciousness has been traded for identity. Consumption won. Do you shop at Nordstroms or K Mart? With a large enough line of credit you can join the upper class for a few hours, even days. Till the bill shows up anyway. I'm not sure if working or middle classes shop at Wal Mart or who it is that has an REI membership. Does the upper-middle go on Princess Cruises but have their own hot tub? Who gets to fly first class? Then there is the all-inclusive approach, from a member of DSA New York: "Mr. Custodio, a 28-year-old investment researcher, has a ready reply. “If you’re someone who has to work for a living, and you’re not living off a trust fund, you are part of the working class,” he says. There goes the Proffessional Managerial Class. Now a bank president or CEO is as much "working class" as a plumber with investments. But will they join the revolution?

Blame Yourselves

When Bernie Sanders tried to disrupt the Democratic establishment by running to the left of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020 he could not get the support of black voters. In both instances black voters preferred the establishment candidate. Now they are being systematically shut out of power. Ooops. They listened to old leaders like James Clyburn, who said Berie was too radical. They thought neoliberalism, as represented by the Clintons and Bidens of this world, was working for them and they thought Bernie's social democracy was scary. Oops. They thought after Obama, they were in the catbird seat, that they might tag along when Whitey went to the moon, when Whitey gave us the "information economy" and deportation and an "all of the above" energy policy. Ooops. Like most Americans, blacks will keep believing the arc of history bends toward justice, that democratic capitalism can work for them, that they can be part of the middle class and that the Bill of Rights will protect them. On another note, what might some of the less-talked about aspects of Trump's legacy be? We may look back on this period as the beginning of the end for the popular support for Zionism. Ever since I can remember, the word remained unspoken or if acknowledged at all it was simply an assumed aspect of support for Israel. But the legitimacy of both the State and the ethnic project are now questioned thanks to first Biden's complicity in genocide and now Trump being played by Netanyahu. Here is why class is simply an identity with no link to conscious solidarity. From the NY Times: Here is why class is simply an identity with no link to conscious solidarity. From the NY Times: 'In a recent report, we measured class using constant, inflation-adjusted thresholds. The “core” middle class shrank, but so did the classes below the middle — the poor, the near-poor and the lower middle class." Using income as a metric for class position means you are always trying to escape your class and "move up". We all hate the rich but we all wish to be them. Black, brown, white or purple.

Feeling Safe

During the protests against Israel's assault on Gaza we often heard Jews saying that they "didn't feel safe". Now we see the justification of Israel's expanding incursion into Lebanon as the need to feel safe. But what if their fear is pathological? What if Jews can never "feel" safe, no matter objective conditions. It may be that Zionists will dominate the entire region militarily and still not "feel" safe because the feeling is the result of historical trauma for which there is no cure. This is not to minimize actual threats and an actual persistant anti-semitism, but it should be easy to see the circular aspect of this pathological violence. : Back to disavowal: An opinion piece in the Times described the effect of our newest technology on our ability to know very well but all the same act as if we don't: "You can know that the scroll is erasing the war from your consciousness in real time and keep scrolling anyway." With the algorythm quickly sending us bites of information? Knowledge? Belief? it all becomes flattened and hollowed out, finishing off what little agency we had to effect change." How about this amazing example, Tucker Carlson speaking about Trump: " I think the Venezuela operation allowed him to retreat into a kind of fantasy in which he told himself this is going to be easy. But I don’t think he believed that." The relationship between knowledge, fantasy and belief is key here. This could prove problematic: "Surging concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, have produced potent changes in the way plants grow — from increasing their sugar content to depleting essential nutrients like zinc. Experts fear the degradation of Earth’s food supply will cause an epidemic of hidden hunger, in which even people who consume enough calories won’t get the nutrients they need to thrive." I'd not heard this type of analysis before. I wonder if there is a connection between nutrition, CO2 and stupidity? Speaking of, I keep seeing these interviews with people who voted for Trump but now feel betrayed. People who listened to ANY politician and believed he/she was going to do what they said and make your life better. Really? What alternate universe do they live in? Why would people refuse to learn from experience? They know perfectly well that politicians will let them down and yet...

"Imperfect as it Was"

We notice how it has become standard practice to include a mea culpa when describing the present system: "imperfect as it is". Because only the fool expects perfection. And so yes, the status quo, the so-called "rules based order" of contemporary capitalist "democracy" may entail a bit of genocide, a bit of inequality, forever wars and ecological destruction, but c'mon, no one can expect perfection! Thinktankers express many opinions as they think deep in their tanks: "Cliff Kupchan, chairman emeritus of the Eurasia Group, a political risk assessment firm, said the risk of a months long shutdown of the strait was only beginning to “enter the collective mind of the markets.” And yet, imperfect as it still is, the Market's "collective mind" is still to be relied upon. We see much discussion about the "uncertainty index" and prediction markets, with insurance actuaries trying to parse the increasing chaotic tea leaves, yet day to day life in The West is an exercise in sublimating this anxiety and pathologically pushing ahead as if all was well. But all is not well. In the Manifesto, Marx presented history as the record of choices made, either "the revolutionary reconstitution of society at large or the common ruin of the contending classes." It is clear which choice we are making here in the 21st century. As Benjamin pointed out, there is already a massive pile of wreckage built up behind us, but it is nothing compared to what lies in store. This is why "imperfect" is such an obscene description of the current system, and such an incrdible example of disavowal, the ability to wake up so as to be able to keep dreaming. And why "woke" is such an ironic expression of our current historical conjuncture. The true nightmare is that we can't actually wake up and face head-on the traumatic reality of our situation. Of course the ruling elite believe they have the wherewithall to escape ruin; spaceships and private islands, and OH YEAH, private armies. Here is a new threat that could prove critical, from the WaPo: "Surging concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, have produced potent changes in the way plants grow — from increasing their sugar content to depleting essential nutrients like zinc. Experts fear the degradation of Earth’s food supply will cause an epidemic of hidden hunger, in which even people who consume enough calories won’t get the nutrients they need to thrive."

Wile. E. Coyote

In my recollection, it was Slavoj Zizek (twenty-five years ago?) that first used Wiley and the road runner cartoon as a metaphor for our current reality, such as it is. Now I am watching Adam Tooze appropriate the same image of that goofy coyote lured off the edge of the cliff, suspended there as he realizes his predicament, not wishing to look down. As if magically, by not looking down, he will somehow escape his fate. Welcome to modern progress! For Tooze, the coyote is the financial and stock markets, oblivious to the overwhelming evidence of the polycrisis, assuming tomorrow will be like today. That there will always be a bailout, that the economy is too big to fail. But what about "pricing in the risk"? For instance, the type of brinkmanship that we are seeing in Iran, with the Revolutionary Guard daring Trump to invade or start more bombing. China daring the US to interdict one of its ships. And oh yeah, the planet heating past 1.5 degrees, bring super-storms and draught and mass migration. How would you actually price in that risk? You can't, obviously, so best to ignore it, pretend it will all work out. Pretend that you haven't run off a cliff. Just don't look down. After following the saga of The Straight of Hormuz for weeks now, I have decided it basically exists in a quantum state, a superposition, where it is both open and closed at the same time. This presents a dilemma for the Market, which has been bouncing like The Wham-O Super Ball, a famously high-bouncing toy invented in 1964 by Norman Stingley, made from a durable, synthetic rubber compound called Zectron. We citizens, however, are required to believe The Market is the best vehicle for pricing in risk, that insurance actuaries can tell us the future. What we know is that the longer this stalemate lasts, the less storgae capacity Gulf petro states have, forcing them to shut down wells. Some of which will be extremely difficult to get back online.The best strategy for investors is to just not look down. At some point I suppose we will have to open the box and see if Shrodinger's cat is alive or dead, but we can put it off as long as possible.

Prisoner of War or Peace

Quote of the DaY: "The market is inscrutable — and a terrible predictor of price moves. One thing we do know, though, is that we can’t separate ourselves from the global marketplace." Mark Finley an energy fellow at the Baker Institute at Rice U. (James Baker?) This is his answer as to why the price of gas won't go down. The deeper revealed truth is that we have all been captured and colonized by an "inscrutable" force, one from whose tentacles we can't escape. Apart from that minoir glitch, we are all kinds of free! Free to post on X, free to choose any deoderant you choose... This is an interesting take from a minister in the UAE government, basically set up as a mafia, saying they want to invest over a trillion of their hard earned dollars in the US. If only we can bring some stability to the region: "American firms increasingly see the Emirates as a launchpad into Africa, South Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific. In the other direction, the country’s vast network of family-run businesses, a largely untapped force in cross-border investment, is ready to deepen its stake in the American economy alongside Emirati sovereign capital." I guess No Kings doesn't include our new friends in the Middle East. To hear the neo-neocons, bringing freedom to the Iranian people is of the highest order but they are less concerned with the people living under the Gulf monarchies. Of course, the Iranian people would not be free to build a nuclear weapon, as are the Israelis. Sure, they can vote on it - but we have veto power. On the climate front, Microsoft has decided to back off on its committment to carbon removal. The latest IPCC report says not only do we have to stop burning fossil fuels starting yesterday, we also have to remove 5-16 gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year from now to 2050 to prevent massive overshoot of 1.5 degrees. So there was investment in technologies like direct air capture followed by burial. Bill Gates was buying carbon offset credits from these unproven projects but now he sees the need to invest in AI data centers instead. Air capture and storage was always a joke and planting trees isn't going to cut it either. All this news is on the bottom of page six because what are you going to do? Massive overshoot, obviously. Now just imagine the emissions caused by these latest wars. Yes there is some slight possibility that nations will begin to orient more toward renewable energy, but it will be added to the mix of fossil fuels.