Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
November 13, 2022
In the neoliberal era, economics marginalised the social sciences. But, Sheri Berman writes, only politics can tame capitalism’s chaotic gyrations.
https://socialeurope.eu/putting-politics-back-in-charge-of-the-economy
Decades of capitalist triumphalism following the collapse of Soviet Communism came to an end with the financial crisis of 2007-09. Since then, recognition of capitalism’s downsides has grown. Today, capitalism is attacked by a revitalised socialist left and parts of the growing populist right. Even establishment pillars, such as Bloomberg, the Council on Foreign Relations and McKinsey, regularly feature discussions about ‘the future of capitalism’—implying that is in question.
One clear reflection of the changing assessment of capitalism is the economics profession. During the early 21st century, as one influential study declared, neoliberalism was essentially hegemonic within it—and economists were accordingly sanguine about the ability of the economy to flourish relatively unfettered. But over the last decade or so scholars such as Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, Mariana Mazzucato, Adam Tooze, Anne Case and Angus Deaton have come to the forefront of debate by highlighting the economic as well as social flaws of capitalism.
Interpreting capitalist development
Into these waters steps J Bradford DeLong, an influential professor of economics in the United States, a former deputy assistant Treasury secretary and the author of a widely-read economics blog. DeLong’s Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century provides an interpretation of capitalism’s development which reflects how much contemporary economists are grappling with its vicissitudes. Yet the book also makes clear how difficult it is to understand these things by looking at capitalism alone.
DeLong frames Slouching Toward Utopia around the assertion that the 20th century was ‘the first century ever in which history was predominantly a matter of economics: the economy was the dominant arena of events … and economic changes were the driving force behind other changes’. This perspective, which might be termed the ‘primacy of economics’, leads DeLong to periodise modern history in a particular way.
snip
Putting politics back in charge of the economy
In the neoliberal era, economics marginalised the social sciences. But, Sheri Berman writes, only politics can tame capitalism’s chaotic gyrations.
https://socialeurope.eu/putting-politics-back-in-charge-of-the-economy
Decades of capitalist triumphalism following the collapse of Soviet Communism came to an end with the financial crisis of 2007-09. Since then, recognition of capitalism’s downsides has grown. Today, capitalism is attacked by a revitalised socialist left and parts of the growing populist right. Even establishment pillars, such as Bloomberg, the Council on Foreign Relations and McKinsey, regularly feature discussions about ‘the future of capitalism’—implying that is in question.
One clear reflection of the changing assessment of capitalism is the economics profession. During the early 21st century, as one influential study declared, neoliberalism was essentially hegemonic within it—and economists were accordingly sanguine about the ability of the economy to flourish relatively unfettered. But over the last decade or so scholars such as Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman, Mariana Mazzucato, Adam Tooze, Anne Case and Angus Deaton have come to the forefront of debate by highlighting the economic as well as social flaws of capitalism.
Interpreting capitalist development
Into these waters steps J Bradford DeLong, an influential professor of economics in the United States, a former deputy assistant Treasury secretary and the author of a widely-read economics blog. DeLong’s Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century provides an interpretation of capitalism’s development which reflects how much contemporary economists are grappling with its vicissitudes. Yet the book also makes clear how difficult it is to understand these things by looking at capitalism alone.
DeLong frames Slouching Toward Utopia around the assertion that the 20th century was ‘the first century ever in which history was predominantly a matter of economics: the economy was the dominant arena of events … and economic changes were the driving force behind other changes’. This perspective, which might be termed the ‘primacy of economics’, leads DeLong to periodise modern history in a particular way.
snip
November 13, 2022
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-and-newsweek-caught-up-in-pay-for-play-political-scandal
Romania’s media market is engulfed in a pay-for-play political scandal which includes newsrooms using the brand names of CNN and Newsweek. CNN’s Romanian affiliate, Antena 3 CNN, has a TV broadcasting license which precludes it from taking money from political parties outside of designated election campaign periods. Yet that is reportedly exactly what the biggest names in Romanian news media have been doing through their websites, which are unregulated.
Investigative reports based on insider evidence have exposed money being transferred to media companies via intermediaries by the very political parties they are supposed to hold to account. “It’s a big problem for the credibility of the media industry, because it has become difficult to distinguish what is bought up and what is organic journalism,” Septimius Pârvu, of the Expert Forum think tank, which has launched a lawsuit over Romanian political spending, told The Daily Beast. “I get a sense that the parties have come to impose their own agenda on the media and the money they pay means negative news is omitted. It’s a bad influence on the media market.”
Two weeks ago, the elections regulator, which governs how much political parties can spend inside and outside of election periods, proposed a cap on party funds going to news organizations and more transparency around the recipients of the cash. The two main political parties in Romania, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), which have joined forces in government, have ramped up spending on “press and propaganda” to the tune of around $40 million in 2022, twice as much as they spent in 2021, according to an analysis from the local edition of the U.S. government-backed Radio Free Europe (RFE).
Independent investigative journalists at Recorder.ro meanwhile published confidential contracts between political parties and intermediary firms which distributed millions of dollars of state subsidies to the news media. The details of how much each news organization received, including Antena 3 CNN and Newsweek, had been kept secret until Recorder.ro first obtained leaked contracts between the parties and their suppliers of media coverage in September. RFE also obtained data from party insiders.
snip
CNN and Newsweek Caught Up in Pay-for-Play Political Scandal
Millions of dollars in alleged hush money is being paid to media outlets by political parties who reportedly hope for favorable coverage.https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-and-newsweek-caught-up-in-pay-for-play-political-scandal
Romania’s media market is engulfed in a pay-for-play political scandal which includes newsrooms using the brand names of CNN and Newsweek. CNN’s Romanian affiliate, Antena 3 CNN, has a TV broadcasting license which precludes it from taking money from political parties outside of designated election campaign periods. Yet that is reportedly exactly what the biggest names in Romanian news media have been doing through their websites, which are unregulated.
Investigative reports based on insider evidence have exposed money being transferred to media companies via intermediaries by the very political parties they are supposed to hold to account. “It’s a big problem for the credibility of the media industry, because it has become difficult to distinguish what is bought up and what is organic journalism,” Septimius Pârvu, of the Expert Forum think tank, which has launched a lawsuit over Romanian political spending, told The Daily Beast. “I get a sense that the parties have come to impose their own agenda on the media and the money they pay means negative news is omitted. It’s a bad influence on the media market.”
Two weeks ago, the elections regulator, which governs how much political parties can spend inside and outside of election periods, proposed a cap on party funds going to news organizations and more transparency around the recipients of the cash. The two main political parties in Romania, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), which have joined forces in government, have ramped up spending on “press and propaganda” to the tune of around $40 million in 2022, twice as much as they spent in 2021, according to an analysis from the local edition of the U.S. government-backed Radio Free Europe (RFE).
Independent investigative journalists at Recorder.ro meanwhile published confidential contracts between political parties and intermediary firms which distributed millions of dollars of state subsidies to the news media. The details of how much each news organization received, including Antena 3 CNN and Newsweek, had been kept secret until Recorder.ro first obtained leaked contracts between the parties and their suppliers of media coverage in September. RFE also obtained data from party insiders.
snip
November 13, 2022
Arizona Democratic Party @azdemparty: bye bye fake cowboy and cali tech bro 👋
https://twitter.com/azdemparty/status/1591274231547191297
November 12, 2022
“The whole operation was run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas,” a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk on condition of anonymity.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/10/bankman-frieds-cabal-of-roommates-in-the-bahamas-ran-his-crypto-empire-and-dated-other-employees-have-lots-of-questions/
"Shocking" is a word that aptly describes the rapid fall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency empire. To a surprising degree, it’s a sentiment that pours out from people who worked for him, people who you’d think would’ve had a clue. How can that be? It may have something to do with a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas. That’s where 30-year-old Bankman-Fried is roommates with the inner circle who ran his now-struggling crypto exchange FTX and trading giant Alameda Research.
Many are former co-workers from quantitative trading firm Jane Street, others he met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his alma mater. All 10 are, or used to be, paired up in romantic relationships with each other. That includes Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, whose firm played a central role in the company's collapse – and who, at times, has dated Bankman-Fried, according to people familiar with the matter.
CoinDesk spoke to several current and former FTX and Alameda employees who agreed to talk on the condition of anonymity, citing ongoing harassment and death threats due to the exchange’s solvency issues. And they said essentially this: It’s a place full of conflicts of interest, nepotism and lack of oversight. “The whole operation was run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas,” a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk on the condition of anonymity.
FTX and Alameda employees CoinDesk interviewed say they have been kept in the dark about the events of the past week, adding that only CEO Bankman-Fried’s inner circle may have had knowledge that the exchange, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, siphoned customer funds into corporate sibling Alameda. “It’s been radio silence from Sam,” a second Bankman-Fried employee told CoinDesk on Wednesday. “When we saw the CZ [CEO Changpeng Zhao] tweet saying Binance was going to buy FTX, we honestly thought it was fake. But then Sam’s tweet just confirmed it.”
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1590013613586411520
snip
Bankman-Fried's Cabal of Roommates in the Bahamas Ran His Crypto Empire - and Dated. Other Employees
Have Lots of Questions“The whole operation was run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas,” a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk on condition of anonymity.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/10/bankman-frieds-cabal-of-roommates-in-the-bahamas-ran-his-crypto-empire-and-dated-other-employees-have-lots-of-questions/
"Shocking" is a word that aptly describes the rapid fall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency empire. To a surprising degree, it’s a sentiment that pours out from people who worked for him, people who you’d think would’ve had a clue. How can that be? It may have something to do with a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas. That’s where 30-year-old Bankman-Fried is roommates with the inner circle who ran his now-struggling crypto exchange FTX and trading giant Alameda Research.
Many are former co-workers from quantitative trading firm Jane Street, others he met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his alma mater. All 10 are, or used to be, paired up in romantic relationships with each other. That includes Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, whose firm played a central role in the company's collapse – and who, at times, has dated Bankman-Fried, according to people familiar with the matter.
CoinDesk spoke to several current and former FTX and Alameda employees who agreed to talk on the condition of anonymity, citing ongoing harassment and death threats due to the exchange’s solvency issues. And they said essentially this: It’s a place full of conflicts of interest, nepotism and lack of oversight. “The whole operation was run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas,” a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk on the condition of anonymity.
FTX and Alameda employees CoinDesk interviewed say they have been kept in the dark about the events of the past week, adding that only CEO Bankman-Fried’s inner circle may have had knowledge that the exchange, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, siphoned customer funds into corporate sibling Alameda. “It’s been radio silence from Sam,” a second Bankman-Fried employee told CoinDesk on Wednesday. “When we saw the CZ [CEO Changpeng Zhao] tweet saying Binance was going to buy FTX, we honestly thought it was fake. But then Sam’s tweet just confirmed it.”
https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1590013613586411520
snip
November 12, 2022
Besides the NY clusterfuck, IF we lose the House by one seat, here is a candidate for the shadiest loss:
https://www.workingclassfight.com/elections/michigan-2020/andrea-l-kirby/
Deep dive on ultra close House losses has yielded a Working Class Party ratfuck in M-10
The Working Class Party (not to be confused with the Working Families Party) are Trotskyites, and ran in only half of the many US House races in Michigan, with MI-10 being the ONLY close one they chose to run in.Besides the NY clusterfuck, IF we lose the House by one seat, here is a candidate for the shadiest loss:
https://www.workingclassfight.com/elections/michigan-2020/andrea-l-kirby/
November 12, 2022
Kelly wins per MSNBC
November 12, 2022
3 'IFS' here, but if we end up with 51 Senate seats (likely IMHO) and 218 House seats (HARD), and if
Manchin and/or Sinema agree to a ONE OFF filibuster exception for reproductive rights codification (flip a coin on that one maybe, it is a damn shame we lost WI, as that would have negated both Coal and Curtsy), will Henry Cuellar (he won the general easily, which make me think Cisneros would have also won had she beat him in that ultra close primary), a rabid forced birther who votes that way for years, fuck us hard and block the bill in the House?
Bonus question:
Are there ANY pro choice House Rethugs who would vote with us?
November 11, 2022
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/06/spam-twitter-account-horse-ebooks-human-internet-relationship/661409/
Though everybody complains about Twitter, no one can deny that it has brought some amazing phrases into our lives—things we can’t imagine having read in any other place, or at any other time in history. Near the top of any list of the most treasured sentence fragments posted there, the now-defunct account @Horse_ebooks would have several entries. Twitter users still recirculate strange classics like “(using fingers to indicate triangular shape) SMELL SMELL SMELL GOOD NEW NEW NEW slice drink MATCH SPARKLER (thrown in air) STARS STARS STARS.” But the best-known @Horse_ebooks tweet, posted 10 years ago today, was astounding in its clarity and salience. It described both the internet and our entire human world. “Everything happens so much,” @Horse_ebooks tweeted on June 28, 2012.
https://twitter.com/Horse_ebooks/status/218439593240956928
The tweet was an immediate success, generating thousands of retweets and spreading across the site like a copy-pasted prayer. Its renown has only grown since then. Over the past 10 years, “Everything happens so much” has been turned into a shrine and a site of pilgrimage for those who spend their lives in front of a computer. When the news is not just bad but overwhelming, people search out “Everything happens so much” and reply to it or repost it to their feeds, often with a note like “now more than ever” or “the eternal mood.” These messages acknowledge what feels like ancient wisdom: The absolute best we can say about this moment in time is that everything is happening, as it always has and always will, so much.
https://twitter.com/aemilius_heros/status/1470470084640583685
https://twitter.com/osheamobile/status/1383595516974403584
The reposts of the tweet provide, in combination, a cryptic catalog of recent history’s most dizzying events. A retweet on January 30, 2017 likely had something to do with President Donald Trump’s immigration ban and the subsequent protests at New York City’s John F. Kennedy airport. One from September 25, 2019, seems connected to the announcement of the first Trump impeachment inquiry. The replies and references to “Everything happens so much” in March 2020 marked the onset of the pandemic, while a February 24, 2022, reply surely commemorates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/ashleyfeinberg/status/826271302084390912
https://twitter.com/damsorrow/status/1239385460763492360
https://twitter.com/DavidWeiss9/status/1496858219385221120
When the sacred tweet first appeared, it was understood to be the product of an algorithm. The account, @horse_ebooks, had started as a spambot, pulling text from an e-commerce site and posting it as marketing. It developed a following because it was poorly written, and because its random phrases sometimes read like the mystical mumbles of a sleeping fortune-teller. But then in September 2013, just 15 months after “Everything happens so much,” fans of @Horse_ebooks learned the truth: The “bot” had, in fact, been dead for years. In 2011, the account had been taken over and turned into a performance-art project run by Jacob Bakkila, and his friend Thomas Bender. Bakkila had purchased the account from the e-commerce spammer, and started tweeting snippets of found—but carefully selected—text from all over the internet, including instructional e-books and scans of public records. Bakkila told The New Yorker’s Susan Orlean that he couldn’t remember exactly where his most famous tweet had come from, but thought the original context might have been, “Everything happens so much faster when you’re retired.” In chopping that sentence in half, Orlean noted, Bakkila had made it koan-like. “I was trying to wrest wisdom from these wisdomless piles of information,” he agreed.
snip
The 10-Year-Old Tweet That Still Defines the Internet
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/06/spam-twitter-account-horse-ebooks-human-internet-relationship/661409/
Though everybody complains about Twitter, no one can deny that it has brought some amazing phrases into our lives—things we can’t imagine having read in any other place, or at any other time in history. Near the top of any list of the most treasured sentence fragments posted there, the now-defunct account @Horse_ebooks would have several entries. Twitter users still recirculate strange classics like “(using fingers to indicate triangular shape) SMELL SMELL SMELL GOOD NEW NEW NEW slice drink MATCH SPARKLER (thrown in air) STARS STARS STARS.” But the best-known @Horse_ebooks tweet, posted 10 years ago today, was astounding in its clarity and salience. It described both the internet and our entire human world. “Everything happens so much,” @Horse_ebooks tweeted on June 28, 2012.
https://twitter.com/Horse_ebooks/status/218439593240956928
The tweet was an immediate success, generating thousands of retweets and spreading across the site like a copy-pasted prayer. Its renown has only grown since then. Over the past 10 years, “Everything happens so much” has been turned into a shrine and a site of pilgrimage for those who spend their lives in front of a computer. When the news is not just bad but overwhelming, people search out “Everything happens so much” and reply to it or repost it to their feeds, often with a note like “now more than ever” or “the eternal mood.” These messages acknowledge what feels like ancient wisdom: The absolute best we can say about this moment in time is that everything is happening, as it always has and always will, so much.
https://twitter.com/aemilius_heros/status/1470470084640583685
https://twitter.com/osheamobile/status/1383595516974403584
The reposts of the tweet provide, in combination, a cryptic catalog of recent history’s most dizzying events. A retweet on January 30, 2017 likely had something to do with President Donald Trump’s immigration ban and the subsequent protests at New York City’s John F. Kennedy airport. One from September 25, 2019, seems connected to the announcement of the first Trump impeachment inquiry. The replies and references to “Everything happens so much” in March 2020 marked the onset of the pandemic, while a February 24, 2022, reply surely commemorates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/ashleyfeinberg/status/826271302084390912
https://twitter.com/damsorrow/status/1239385460763492360
https://twitter.com/DavidWeiss9/status/1496858219385221120
When the sacred tweet first appeared, it was understood to be the product of an algorithm. The account, @horse_ebooks, had started as a spambot, pulling text from an e-commerce site and posting it as marketing. It developed a following because it was poorly written, and because its random phrases sometimes read like the mystical mumbles of a sleeping fortune-teller. But then in September 2013, just 15 months after “Everything happens so much,” fans of @Horse_ebooks learned the truth: The “bot” had, in fact, been dead for years. In 2011, the account had been taken over and turned into a performance-art project run by Jacob Bakkila, and his friend Thomas Bender. Bakkila had purchased the account from the e-commerce spammer, and started tweeting snippets of found—but carefully selected—text from all over the internet, including instructional e-books and scans of public records. Bakkila told The New Yorker’s Susan Orlean that he couldn’t remember exactly where his most famous tweet had come from, but thought the original context might have been, “Everything happens so much faster when you’re retired.” In chopping that sentence in half, Orlean noted, Bakkila had made it koan-like. “I was trying to wrest wisdom from these wisdomless piles of information,” he agreed.
snip
November 11, 2022
This article was originally published on November 7, 2022. Update November 11, 2022: Phil Knight has waded in the Kyrie Irving controversy this week, the Nike founder saying the Brooklyn Nets point guard ‘stepped over the line’ by sharing an anti-Semitic documentary to his social channel.
https://www.sneakerfreaker.com/news/nike-drops-kyrie-irving-cancels-kyrie-8
‘I would doubt that we go back,’ co-founder Phil Knight said in an interview with CNBC that aired Thursday. ‘But I don't know for sure’. The comments come after Nike suspended their ties with Kyrie Irving, and slammed the breaks on the launch of the Kyrie 8 (originally scheduled to arrive this week). Kyrie has also been suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for at least five games; he has missed four already. ‘Kyrie stepped over the line,’ Knight said. ‘It's kind of that simple. He made some statements that we just can't abide by and that's why we ended the relationship. And I was fine with that.’
Kyrie Irving continues to generate news headlines for all the wrong reasons, the masterful and mercurial point guard this time creating furore by ostensibly showing support for the controversial documentary, Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America. Re-tweeting the documentary to his millions of followers last week, the film has generated backlash for its overt anti-Semitic content. Nike have subsequently dropped the NBA champion, halting the release of the upcoming Kyrie 8 – scheduled to launch next week. It’s a significant move from Nike, with Irving's signature line undoubtedly one of the most popular league-wide.
snip
Nike Drops Kyrie Irving, Cancels Kyrie 8
Phil Knight Says Nike Relationship With Kyrie Likely OverThis article was originally published on November 7, 2022. Update November 11, 2022: Phil Knight has waded in the Kyrie Irving controversy this week, the Nike founder saying the Brooklyn Nets point guard ‘stepped over the line’ by sharing an anti-Semitic documentary to his social channel.
https://www.sneakerfreaker.com/news/nike-drops-kyrie-irving-cancels-kyrie-8
‘I would doubt that we go back,’ co-founder Phil Knight said in an interview with CNBC that aired Thursday. ‘But I don't know for sure’. The comments come after Nike suspended their ties with Kyrie Irving, and slammed the breaks on the launch of the Kyrie 8 (originally scheduled to arrive this week). Kyrie has also been suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for at least five games; he has missed four already. ‘Kyrie stepped over the line,’ Knight said. ‘It's kind of that simple. He made some statements that we just can't abide by and that's why we ended the relationship. And I was fine with that.’
Kyrie Irving continues to generate news headlines for all the wrong reasons, the masterful and mercurial point guard this time creating furore by ostensibly showing support for the controversial documentary, Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America. Re-tweeting the documentary to his millions of followers last week, the film has generated backlash for its overt anti-Semitic content. Nike have subsequently dropped the NBA champion, halting the release of the upcoming Kyrie 8 – scheduled to launch next week. It’s a significant move from Nike, with Irving's signature line undoubtedly one of the most popular league-wide.
snip
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
Home country: US/UK/Sweden
Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
Number of posts: 43,708
