tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post2154808932848103942..comments2023-12-23T19:04:18.739-05:00Comments on The Crow's Eye: On AusterityJack Crowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-45661645962252939212010-11-21T00:16:47.976-05:002010-11-21T00:16:47.976-05:00@Charles: Fare enuff.
@cripes & Jack: hmmm, m...@Charles: Fare enuff.<br /><br />@cripes & Jack: hmmm, maybe, dunno. I think what secures the loyalty of a national proletariat to the state/elites is complex/over-determined. Isn't one of the apparent contradictions of contemporary US politics the support given hostile political actors (Republicans blah blah blah) by a largely White, and impoverished 'proletariat'? Like, as analysed by, for example, Joe Bageant, or Tom Frank? At which point, a whole other question about race and US political constitution comes into play. And 'false consciousness'. And a whole lotta other stuff.<br /><br />Anyway.<br /><br />This essay may be of interest:<br /><br />http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=22123@ndyhttp://slackbastard.anarchobase.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-2848890013963634692010-11-20T09:46:36.460-05:002010-11-20T09:46:36.460-05:00Cripes: "The privileges of a national proleta...Cripes: "The privileges of a national proletariat once served to secure their loyalty to the order are outmoded, and rapidly disappearing."<br /><br />Truth.<br /><br />But I wouldn't wager on their scientific commitment to socialism, all the same.<br /><br />When it comes down - especially in a country with as much lingering jingoism and jeebus, that whole "wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross thing" comes to mind.<br /><br />Respect,<br /><br />JackJack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-54252100422763842602010-11-20T08:54:11.018-05:002010-11-20T08:54:11.018-05:00Thinking I was having an epiphany of sorts the oth...Thinking I was having an epiphany of sorts the other day, I was trying to explain to someone that this austerity nonsense has nothing to do with "saving money."<br /><br />It is precsely about the fact that Americans are just another cog in the international capitalist order, and the project is intended to render them, and Europeans, as indigent as the rest of the planet and desperate for the plantation wages that colonials have suffered for years.<br /><br />The privileges of a national proletariat once served to secure their loyalty to the order are outmoded, and rapidly disappearing.<br /><br />The only thing exceptional about this country is in playing the role of world capital's military enforcer, and the astounding ignorance of our people.cripesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-40319804356573807722010-11-19T14:18:05.658-05:002010-11-19T14:18:05.658-05:00@ndy,
Only some of it made sense. The "econ...@ndy,<br /><br />Only some of it made sense. The "economics" part, the Qs on econ-policy strategy... I find them pointless, like sports fans discussing statistics instead of playing the game.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-66191604651670926942010-11-14T23:11:20.137-05:002010-11-14T23:11:20.137-05:00G'day,
@Jack: Maybe. Dunno. I suppose one of ...G'day,<br /><br />@Jack: Maybe. Dunno. I suppose one of the things that occurs to me as an issue is the question of agency. That is, to what extent the particular permutations of the (global) market economy at any particular historical juncture are the product of state or corporate planning (conscious political agency) as opposed to proceeding from the cyclical nature of capitalist production (the investment cycle). To put it another way: I wonder to what extent financial or other elites can determine the general thrust of their responses, whether in terms of encouraging particular forms of mass consumption, employing legal strategies, or crafting state policy. I suppose I have in mind shit like the G20 summits and other meetings of the transnational ruling class, their planning systems and institutions. Also, to what extent the global economic system is structurally bound to generate 'crises' of one sort or another.<br /><br />The situation is further complicated to the extent that (you or I or) we make further distinctions -- specifically in terms of exchange -- between other kinds of social relations (that is, in addition to capital/labour). Also, to what extent any is reducible to the other.<br /><br />Fwiw, and on a slight tangent, I've been reading some blah blah blah by Mark Latham (a former Australian Labor leader) recently on 'social capital'. It's this kind of thinking -- described, broadly speaking, as constituting the 'Third Way' -- which I think, perhaps especially in Australia and the UK, aids our understanding of the kinds of broader social planning Western elites are engaged in in response to the contemporary economic and social crises associated with 'neoliberalism'. It's also worth noting inre the recent upsurge in social struggles in Europe in response to the (attempted) imposition of new austerity measures...<br /><br />Where was I?<br /><br />Oh yeah.<br /><br />About the creation of a 'sub-lumpenproletariat whose sole purpose... is to provide fodder for wars and terrorism, as well as bloodsport...'.<br /><br />Pretty much, yeah. Only, I think this role has been allotted to many for some time. In fact, perhaps even a lesser role (that is, termination). In which sense it's not 'new' perhaps so much as seemingly terminal. (I have in mind the kinda stuff written by Mike Davis et al.)<br /><br />@Charles: Oh yeah, totes. And it's a general trend, not peculiar to the US by any means (altho' of course each territory has its own local peculiarities). But as I understand it, mass consumption actually varies in its economic effects from that associated with the om nom nom of elite sectors. That's why economists, those miserable scienticians, debate the nature of 'stimulus packages'. It appears to be generally recognised that re-distributing some minor fraction of national incomes to the poorer sectors in the economy is much more likely to lead to increased consumption, whereas subsidising 'los ricos' can often provide a weaker stimulus to the economy given elites' rational preference for re-investment (and further accumulation).<br /><br />If any of that makes sense.<br /><br />Anyway, here's a song you might enjoy...<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTgAsNeumDM@ndyhttp://slackbastard.anarchobase.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-32951638048894839362010-11-13T08:24:15.216-05:002010-11-13T08:24:15.216-05:00Wow, BBBB. That's a great insight. Do you mind...Wow, BBBB. That's a great insight. Do you mind if I make reference to this (sex tourism) in the future?<br /><br />Respect,<br /><br />JackJack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-13398590633819509532010-11-13T02:45:19.648-05:002010-11-13T02:45:19.648-05:00Austerity is about preserving the State as a milit...<i>Austerity is about preserving the State as a military-policing instrument, whilst shedding those functions which currently provide a buffer against the mastery of the class which controls the state</i><br /><br />Feudalism's back.<br /><br /><i>** - it's my belief that the future presents an opportunity to global capital to capture, especially in third world and peripheral zones, a sub-lumpenproletariat whose sole purpose, from their perspective, is to provide fodder for wars and terrorism, as well as bloodsport...</i><br /><br />The prevalence of sex-tourism junkets is a foretaste of this.Big Bad Bald Bastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01983025559556548658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-16912101772975863912010-11-11T13:15:07.353-05:002010-11-11T13:15:07.353-05:00You did just fine.You did just fine.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924326177370725150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-4528139406890646212010-11-11T12:22:52.508-05:002010-11-11T12:22:52.508-05:00Thanks, Charles.
I'd also like to kindly reco...Thanks, Charles.<br /><br />I'd also like to kindly recommend Justin's piece at Americana. He does a better job with the subject matter than I:<br /><br />http://americancrackpot.blogspot.com/2010/11/short-changed.htmlJack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-16614952160197185652010-11-11T11:55:37.680-05:002010-11-11T11:55:37.680-05:00Yeah Jack. Yeah.
********************
@ndy,
Qu...Yeah Jack. Yeah.<br /><br />********************<br /><br />@ndy,<br /><br />Quite easy and not inconsistent to have "austerity" for <i>los pobrecitos</i> and ramped up consumerist spending for <i>las ricas</i>.<br /><br />"We'll bail out the mortgage banks, but you broke Ameicans losing your homes to foreclosure, you're gonna have to learn some austerity."<br /><br />Always the way, in Amerikkka.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-30241999269807281472010-11-11T08:53:39.192-05:002010-11-11T08:53:39.192-05:00Bill Gates, on cell phones:
http://www.huffington...Bill Gates, on cell phones:<br /><br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-gates/cell-phone-science_b_781602.html<br /><br />Heh. Thanks, Bill. Funny thing to find on the SwoonPo this am...Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-29844934496692106922010-11-11T01:26:34.178-05:002010-11-11T01:26:34.178-05:00@ndy,
Thank you.
Great point about the tidal for...@ndy,<br /><br />Thank you.<br /><br />Great point about the tidal force tension between consumption and austerity.<br /><br />Is it possible that the (military, subsidization, tax credit, etc) encouragement of broad late capitalist consumption is an attempt to create a temporary stop gap, once which allows the various factions and clusters of financial elite time to create legal and structural firewalls around the emerging forms of capital and exchange systems* which appear likely to dominate exchange (between those with access and wealth, as well as between master, client/creative, laboring, lumpen and fodder** classes) in the near future?<br /><br />Respect,<br /><br />Jack<br /><br />* - For example: the cell phone as a currency transfer/banking/consumption node? And its potential replacement of credit cards and other payment vehicles?<br /><br />** - it's my belief that the future presents an opportunity to global capital to capture, especially in third world and peripheral zones, a sub-lumpenproletariat whose sole purpose, from their perspective, is to provide fodder for wars and terrorism, as well as bloodsport...Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-69779878465155464032010-11-11T01:12:02.468-05:002010-11-11T01:12:02.468-05:00Glad to help. (Hope you can find the 99% hard work...Glad to help. (Hope you can find the 99% hard work!)<br /><br />Off the top of my head: probably also worth recognising the (economic) contradiction between enforcing austerity on the one hand and requiring increasing consumption on the other. To some extent this has been solved by military Keynesisanism (in the US), but is arguably not sustainable in the longer-term as other productive forces develop elsewhere...<br /><br />Nice blog btw.@ndyhttp://slackbastard.anarchobase.comnoreply@blogger.com