A modern Achilles: The savings glut and the paradox of capitalist development

I would like to consider a paradox. On the one hand, prices are driven by demand for the product, and thus for the expenditure of savings from the income of labour. On the other hand, prices are shaped by the accumulation of savings which are diverted from ordinary spending to extraordinary spending on financial commodities. … Continue reading A modern Achilles: The savings glut and the paradox of capitalist development →

Freedom or slavery: An integrated theory of the Ukraine war

I recently saw a Tweet thread by Taras Bilous, a ‘Ukrainian Socialist’ who wants to ‘Resist the Russian Invasion’. He opens the Tweet with ‘I don’t like [Slavoj] Žižek’, the Hegelian philosopher and left-leaning political commentator, and proceeds to offer reasons for why Ukraine’s economy is not too bad, and why its politics aren’t so … Continue reading Freedom or slavery: An integrated theory of the Ukraine war →

Trade makes war: A social theory of violence

War and violence are words that denote extreme forms of social behaviour, even referred to as asocial or antisocial behaviour, in keeping with the immoral and dehumanising acts they accompany. But this was not always the case. War and violence were once seen as far more normal parts of the human conditions than they are … Continue reading Trade makes war: A social theory of violence →

The upside-down narrative of HAMILTON

After Stephen Sondheim’s jazz-influenced era of musical theatre and Jonathan Larson’s rock-infused follow-up, Lin-Manuel Miranda took the world by storm with a third age of musicals, drawing on hip hop in the ‘90s and early ‘00s to make the hits In the Heights and Hamilton in the late ‘00s to mid ‘10s. The latter combined … Continue reading The upside-down narrative of HAMILTON →