From WZZM TV: West Michigan in a ‘shallow recession,’ GVSU economist says How shallow it might be is of course wild guesswork, but such is the tightrope walked by financial journalism given the realities of mass psychology. I for one accept that it is in the nature of economies (capitalist and otherwise) to behave cyclically,…

Whether late stage capitalism is something one could wish for is a good question, since there seems to be no non-traumatic way out of it. In my young adult years (let’s say late 1980s, early 1990s), I was a little (but only a little) inclined toward what would today be called “accelerationism.” I hadn’t yet…

I’m never quite sure who to believe when it comes to international matters, as that’s where the disinformation runs thickest, but I am sensing a pattern. The American right has been trending isolationist (NOT the same as dovish) in a way somewhat reminiscent of pre-WWII era. Both 🇷🇺 and 🇺🇦 seem to me to be…

Had you asked me 20 years ago I’d have said that economic power is a lesser evil than political power, and that bottom unity is a more appropriate strategy than left unity. America’s irrational and irresponsible reaction to “9/11” (Patriot Act, unitary executive doctrine, “total information awareness,” etc.) somewhat solidified that position. Since then, the…

Mozilla is like the Democratic Party. This is of course a simile, not a speculation about Mozilla’s internal politics. I assume they’re very much a nonpolitical, let alone nonpartisan, organization. Perhaps for the brief period of time when Brendan Eich was their CEO, they were like the Republican Party. But the gist of it is…

Cory Doctorow: A country whose residents’ dignified retirement depends on house prices going up is a country whose government is committing to making shelter more expensive. The Arthurian: As for myself, I think it is sad that we still have to dwell on the evils of slavery. I think we need to focus today on…

Inflation is my least favorite subject mainly because counterinflationary policy is basically severe austerity. To the extent that it’s a tradeoff, I’d much rather live in a high inflation low unemployment economy (apparently the status quo) than the opposite. Obviously the supposedly liberal media want the exact opposite. They’re absolutely salivating at the prospect of…

There seems to be an assumption by many that electric vehicles will be subsidized, perhaps down to the upper middle class (in the American sense of that term), or maybe even the middle-middle class. Something tells me the hoopty class will never get a seat at the EV table. Our socio-economic tier is running on…

Code I advocate is, businesses have a right to attempt to safeguard trade secrets, but hackers have a right to attempt to reverse engineer technologies. Reputable engineering careers, like reputable science careers, would be “publish or perish,” with more emphasis this time on perishment of research than that of researchers. “Legit research (AND development!) is…

Like anything pertaining to organized religion, it’s about social control. Within strict Catholic practice, the only way out of having kids is swearing to poverty, celibacy, and obedience. Emphasis on that last one, since cheap living has evolved into a life strategy, and family planning is a more exact science than ever before. If you…