Politics got weird because neoliberalism failed to deliver

Ian Welsh says that the USSR collapsed because its promises — "a cornucopia and a withering away of the state" — conspicuously failed to materialize; now, neoliberalism's promises ("If the rich have more money, they will create more jobs; Lower taxes will lead to more prosperity; Increases in housing and stock market prices will increase prosperity for everyone; Trade deals and globalization will make everyone better off") are likewise being shown to be lies, and so we're in crisis.

Grim meathook future, Singapore style


Charlie Stross's "Different Cluetrain" is a set of theses describing the future we live in, where capitalism not only doesn't need democracy — it actually works better where democracy is set aside in favor of a kind of authoritarian, investor-friendly state.

Blogging History: Stross's Neptune's Brood; Book planters; Dweeb is the new black

One year ago today

Stross's Neptune's Brood: science fictional companion to Graeber's Debt Neptune's Brood is Charlie Stross's newest, weirdest and most thought-provoking book.

Five years ago today

Books as planters: Tara McGinley spotted these delightful planter kits, called Honbachi, from Japan, containing the plant, soil, and a hollowed-out book

Ten years ago today
Pencil necked chic: Dweeb is the new black, according to this LA Times article about the transformed social status of geeks from outcasts to arbiters of cool. — Read the rest

Bullshit jobs: why we're not all working 4h days


David Graeber, who wrote last year's incredible Debt: The First 5,000 Years, has an extraordinary essay up called "On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs," which explores the phenomenon of people in productive industries (nursing, teaching, etc) being relentlessly ground down on wages, job stability and working conditions; while all the big money aggregates to the finance industry and a layer of "bullshit jobs" like corporate attorneys, administrators, etc — who do jobs that produce no tangible benefit. — Read the rest