tcpip | Economics and Political Activity, Languages and Travels, Speculative Fiction

The second part of my article of on the global financial crisis has been published on LeftFocus. Will be speaking at the St. Kilda branch of the ALP on the same subject next month. Primarily inspired to address concerns raised by

forwrathandruin I have elaborated material regarding a transformation of policing and military forces under the title Arm The People, Abolish The State (this is, of course, just a sketch). Have arranged speakers for a public transport forum in early June; Gavin Putland from Prosper Australia, Tony Morton from the PTUA and Carlo Carli, former parliamentary secretary for infrastructure.

Continuing Bahasa studies; with a fortnight of simply reading through books have started to write-up what I've learned: lesson one, more coming during the week. On a completely unrelated travel matter, on Sunday I was informed that I had been nominated as one of two delegates of the Melbourne Unitarian Church to attend the ANZUUA conference in Sydney in October; so that's New Zealand, Indonesia, Brisbane (Gencon) and Sydney (ANZUAA) I have to get to in the next few months. I think I should plant a few trees to make up for all this.

My review of John Wick's "Houses of the Blooded" is up on RPG.net. Finished the final session (round-trip) of Gulliver's Trading Company on Sunday and playtest; have recommended to author that now the game system has a greater level of stability to work harder on the thematic content. On a related sombre note one of the greatest (in my opinion) psychoanalystic science fiction authors, J.G. Ballard (The Drowned World, Atrocity Exhibition, Vermilion Sands, War Fever) has died.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I haven't really formed any opinions about a regulated civil militia, but the other article is pretty good, I think. It's been a long while since I took an economics class, and capitalist class has at least some function in terms of contributions to society, but land ownership shouldn't be private.

=3= either way, it's all kinda complicated ~ Economics aren't my forte.

I think you have it pretty much spot on wrt economics.

The tricky part is that people can have membership to multiple classes in different proportions.

So if you're earnest interest from a bank account you are, whether you realise it or not, a capitalist (albeit in a very, very miniscule level).

There is a good argument to suggest that in at least advanced countries there is also a welfare class.

Welfare class??

Oohyeah. Which is why many people have so much investment in the current regime as it stands, I suppose. Regardless, the lower middle class and the middle class white collars are too many and near enough to the prole blue collars in that they provide labour (even though they are also more likely to be capitalists in larger amounts) so that there isn't really much to fault them for.

Speaking of which, I keep mentioning this (I think? I forget) but nobody seems to get it. There are many small food producers (like street stalls) and the main reason the prices keep rising, besides the cost of commodities, are also the landowners who rent out the place (or in situations, large organizations with the capital to do so buy the place or rent it, and then re-rent it out). Small capitalists too are being exploited and reduced to proles, despite being business owners, in these situation because hours are mandated and so on, and also they can't afford to hire too many workers so they have to produce the commodity (in this case, food) themselves. To be honest, as a Marxist I can't really fault small businesses, either; the best case scenario is really one of perfect market, I think, where true pareto optimality is acheived or is coming closest to.

Yeah, welfare class being those people who can't contribute labour (due to physical disability or circumstances) and derive an income from the welfare system.

You're absolutely spot on with 'small capitalists'. All the political economists from the classic period, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx, were quite open about saying that for all intents and purposes these people were actually members of the working class.

So if you're earnest interest from a bank account you are, whether you realise it or not, a capitalist (albeit in a very, very miniscule level).

Given the profit on bank accounts is negative for most account holders (their $1 or less interest is easily dwarfed by bank fees), I don't think you could call them capitalists in any but the most technical sense of the word, well beyond normal reality.

The only reason they have these accounts in the first place is to allow businesses to avoid paying staff in cash. It's not an investment for the poor sods with accounts, just a completely unavoidable cost thrust upon them.

I don't think you could call them capitalists in any but the most technical sense of the word, well beyond normal reality.

Well, in terms of income, not even in the technical sense of the term! Although this does include people who are deriving income from loaning property (usually a second house) that they own and on the landlord scale, the site-rental they receive.

Of course, such people are often paying off the bank in such situations with unrealised capital value.

The basics of economic class analysis is pretty easy... But it gets messy very fast!

JG Ballard died Sunday 19 April at 7am. A giant in literature, he'll be greatly missed. One of my best and oldest friends.

There is a certain level of quiet sadness over this event, I think. People knew it was going to happen, after all, he was almost 80 and nobody really wanted to make much of a fuss over it, because that would ill-suit his personality. But nevertheless the sense of loss is there. JG Ballard had such an interesting mind, such insight and perspective and could play allegory and motif with the best. The world is much less without him.

I have a signed, limited edition, annotated and autographed edition of The Atrocity Exhibition. I will read it tonight.

Landlords produce no value - Lev, you've been too influenced by Adam Smith.
Go back to the physiocrats - Land is value. You folks in cities are just fighting over the scraps :-)

Ok, to be a little more serious, there may be some value to consider the physicocrats as a way of addressing enviornmental issues. Perhaps we could have a 'caloric theory of value', rather than a 'labour theory of value'.

Labour after all is constrained by its capacity to be reproduced. Constraints are social (class distortions) and physical (environmental carrying capacity).

The physiocrats argued that all wealth ultimately came from the land, not landlords :) Turgot's actions as Controller General of finances (1774-76) included an abolition of internal tariffs, and a tax on land-owners (not so sure of his abolition of Guild's however), and an abolition of peasant corvee labour.

There is certainly a lot to be said for the implementation of other resource/environmental fees based on their capacity to damage the environment in general. I suppose we need a "Nouvel Tableau Economique et Environnement", eh?

Pah
I should have known better than to try to out nerd you on obscure economic theory. Now I have to think :-)

Oh, the physiocrats aren't that obscure. In a sense they are the founders of economic theory. Probably more appropriate to say that they have been obscured; after all, do you remember being taught about them except in the most passing fashion?

Apparently I was wrong about Turgot tho'; he didn't abolish guilds as such, just special privileges and positions they had.

Quensey's tableu does show their opinion on the flow of agricultural and manufactured output.. It doesn't hold much regard for landlords or merchants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tableau1.gif

You have articles everywhere. Very active. Quite the online presence. Inspiring.

Thanks. It's something that I've built over many years; both in the real world and online.

Economics and Political Activity, Languages and Travels, Speculative Fiction

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Mike's statement

Re: Mike's statement

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject