interesting video with Grace Blakeley

The Myth of Free Markets: Blakeley argues that neoliberalism did not create free markets; instead, it established an economy dominated by large monopolies and reinforced by state intervention to protect corporate interests (13:52 - 14:30). Moral Hazard: The discussion highlights how governments and central banks frequently bail out large financial institutions and corporations (like Boeing), shielding them from the consequences of their own risky behavior (18:28, 23:28 - 25:35). Primitive Accumulation & Enclosure: The video traces the roots of capitalism back to the historical enclosure of common resources, which forced a landless class to sell their labor power to survive (31:19 - 33:13). Imperialism & Global Extraction: Blakeley explains how capitalist expansion relies on the appropriation of resources from the Global South, often enforced through mechanisms like investor-state dispute settlements that prioritize profits over human rights and environmental safety (37:09 - 43:35). Solutions & Collective Power: To counteract this, the discussion emphasizes that workers' organizing and forming unions is essential to build collective power (59:08 - 1:00:26). The path forward, according to Blakeley, is embedding democracy into the economy—not just in politics—to ensure institutions are held accountable to the collective rather than a small group of elites

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Interesting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... AI summary:

This video features a conversation with Jason Hickel, a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and author of The Divide and Less is More. The discussion explores the intersection of political economy, inequality, and ecological economics. Key themes discussed: Critique of Capitalism: Hickel argues that a growth-based capitalist economy is fundamentally incompatible with a habitable planet (0:00-0:30). He suggests that capitalism is inherently anti-democratic because decisions about production, resource allocation, and labor are controlled by a small elite rather than the public (7:05-10:00). Economic Democracy: The alternative proposed is a democratic ecosocialist transition. This involves establishing a decommodified social foundation for essential services like healthcare and housing, and implementing public finance mechanisms to ensure production serves the public good rather than profit (10:04-11:04). The Role of the State: A central pillar of this transition is the public job guarantee, which would provide socially meaningful work while addressing community needs (25:04-29:45). Hickel emphasizes that the state has the unique capacity to finance these initiatives through public money creation (30:42-31:00). Imperialism and Geopolitics: The conversation highlights how capitalist growth in the Global North relies on the appropriation of cheap labor and nature from the Global South. Imperialist wars are framed as a tool to prevent these nations from achieving sovereign development (43:42-49:40). AI and Technology: Addressing the current tech landscape, Hickel argues that AI is not inherently destructive, but its current use is dictated by the profit motive. He advocates for democratic control over technology to ensure it benefits society at large (16:12-18:00). Historical Context: The discussion touches on the importance of past revolutionaries, such as Thomas Sankara and Mohammad Mosaddegh, as well as the concept of cultural hegemony coined by Antonio Gramsci, which explains how ruling class values are instilled as common sense

bear attacks, solving the birth dearth and stopping the Yen from tanking

China Is 100 Years Ahead of Us With Its New Farming Robots https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Instead of 1.5 trillion going to imperialistic wars that benefit the 1%, that money could be helping you. In fact that is a great idea: the 1% should pay for the entire war budget.
There are still a few primaries coming up: https://www.fvap.gov/guide/app... If you don't see a DSA candidate see who Bernie recommends https://www.youtube.com/@Berni...
Don't worry about 'need a moderate to beat Republicans'. This time the two party system works in your favor, many many people will vote for 'who ever is not a Republican'.

John Maynard Keynes predicted that his grandkids would work just 15 hours a week. How was he so naïve? Here is what always happens if work starts getting done faster: The employees think "hey we can leave early or take friday off". The boss thinks "Well shit, I can cut headcount, everyone will work a bit harder but I'll boost profits this quarter"

Musk has expressed a similar view in his Economist interview; there will be abundance because things will get too cheap to meter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Don't believe it. This view was expressed in 1902 and never materialized.
Our Benevolent Feudalism by William J. Ghent 1902
https://www.gutenberg.org/eboo...

Professor John B. Clark, of Columbia University, also sees in vast inequalities of fortune the basis of a happy state.

But Professor Clark, touched by prophetic fire, pictures a new society in which inequality is the great blessing. “The world of the near future,” he writes in his recent article on “The Society of the Future,” “will not be one with inequalities levelled out of it; and to any persons to whom inequality of possessions seems inherently evil, this world will not be satisfactory. It will present a condition of vast and ever growing inequality. With a democracy that depends on a likeness of material possessions it will have nothing in common. The rich will continually grow richer, and the multi-millionnaires will approach the billion-dollar standard.... If an earthly Eden is to come through competition, it will come not in spite of, but by means of, an enormous increase of inequality of outward possessions.”

Will Musk & the oligarchs be our Benevolent Feudalist masters? Meanwhile Musk is a near trillionaire and supporting far right candidates for this next election.

The trends are clear, this is the start of the AI/robot revolution. Think it over, all your old objections to socialist policies are moot when robots/AI do the bulk of the work. Some oligarchs are blabbing about how AI will enable solopreneurs but they'll just copy what your AI did and do it better with their access to better AI as well as out-market you. If you don't see a DSA candidate see who Bernie recommends https://www.youtube.com/@Berni... still a few primaries coming up: https://www.fvap.gov/guide/app...

located a mere100 miles away from regional hegemons, here is the news on Cuba: After Blocking Fuel, the US Turns to Cuba’s Food Supply https://jacobin.com/2026/08/cu...

Seems you lack imagination, how about this: not having a job in a capitalist society and the rent is due in 30 days. Many Filipinos rely on these jobs and have big families thanks to avoiding birth control thanks to big Catholic church influence.

verify if this is true (it would explain the speech clampdown) Max Otte says Germany Is Racing Toward Total Collapse https://www.youtube.com/watch?... AI summary:

Economic Decline: Otte explains that Germany is failing to adapt its industrial base—long reliant on mechanical and electrical engineering, chemicals, and automotive sectors—to the modern AI and chip revolution (4:03 - 4:16). He characterizes Europe as lagging behind global competitors like China and the US. Geopolitical Dependency: Both participants argue that the European Union has become a "vassal territory" for US interests, with many regulations and political decisions being steered by Washington rather than serving the internal needs of European nations (14:00 - 15:35). They discuss the historical and contemporary efforts to keep German industrial capacity and Russian energy resources divided (20:58 - 21:20). Military Keynesianism: Otte notes that leaders are turning to "military Keynesianism"—attempting to use increased defense spending to spur technological and economic development—which he views as a dangerous shift toward conflict-driven economics rather than sustainable growth (1:24 - 1:35, 4:43 - 5:27). Strategic Vision: Otte suggests that a potential path forward would require a cohesive European-level industrial policy, though he expresses pessimism about the political will of current leaders to break away from existing power structures and foster cooperation with regional partners

Nothing gets their attention like geopolitics and apparently North Korea is booming, Max Fisher lays out this interesting turn of events: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Experts in economics are struggling how to handle the biggest economic paradigm shift in decades? LLMs are so darn useful for society but none of the money is flowing back to you. Well time to think of something, propose something, Bernie Sanders has proposed LLMs are using the collective knowledge of humanity so the people should own 50% of each LLM company. Do you economists like that proposal? Guess what, if you take the Economist out of the LLM training the models might become more left leaning in their responses, the very thing the Economist fights tooth and nail against! oh dear what a dilemma.

How many of these authors are now using Claude, or another LLM, to assist in their next book?