#economic analysis

[my-autumn-soul]

new semester just started and we're coming strong with economic analysis

[kesarijournal]

Money, Myths, and the Modern World: Unraveling the Economic Tapestry from a Modern Monetary Theory Lens

**Welcome to the Grand Economic Theater!**Picture the global economy as a grand stage, where the U.S., Australia, and China play the leading roles, each grappling with their own economic scripts. But what if the script they’re reading from is due for a rewrite? Enter Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) – the understudy that’s been waiting in the wings, ready to challenge the status quo. Let’s embark on…

[eninrac-consulting]

Eninrac Store | Exploring Faridabad City: PEST Analysis, Key Industries, and Investment Opportunities

Explore a comprehensive industry overview of Faridabad City, featuring a PEST analysis and in-depth analysis of key sectors including Agro-Based, FMCG, Leather Units, Breweries, Cotton. Discover investment opportunities in this dynamic city.

[financeprozone]

Massive £3.5K Tax Hike Looms for UK! Shocking IFS Report!

UK households are bracing for a substantial tax hike, with an average increase of £3,500 per year anticipated by the next election, marking the most significant fiscal burden over a parliamentary term in over seven decades, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the country’s foremost economic think tank.

For more visit: financeprozone.com -

[i-news-you]

📉 Is the United States' Credit Rating in Jeopardy? 📈

In our latest video, we dive deep into the potential consequences of an impending government shutdown on the US credit rating. Moody's Investors Service has issued a warning, and it's a wake-up call for all of us.

Join us as we unravel the intricacies of this critical issue, shedding light on how political polarization and fiscal challenges are impacting the nation's financial stability.

Discover the ripple effect of a credit rating downgrade - from Treasury bonds to your mortgage rates. We've got all the insights you need to make informed financial decisions.

Stay in the loop with the latest in finance and economics. Watch our video, like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell to stay ahead of the game!

[subsidystadium]

The Washington Commanders/Commanders have officially stopped screwing over Richmond, Virginia

The year is 2012. The city of Richmond at this time was dealing with “revenue shortfalls” that “forced (public) schools to cut millions of dollars … forcing scores of layoffs, furloughs and other job cuts”. What better time to help out a billionaire sports owner. That year, the Washington Redskins (Commanders will be used from now on) announced that their training camp would move 100 miles south…

[batfambyval]

Okay here’s the thing I’m really annoyed about concerning Tim Drake:

He didn’t remain CEO in more than name. He let Lucius take care of everything he just used the position to create his Neon Knights initiative. He isn’t running WE. He is however running NK. He’s traveling around the world setting up NK locations in cities with lots of at risk youth. He’s not running a Fortune 500 company he’s running a non-profit charity organization dedicated to protecting kids and getting more people on a stable path earlier in life. He isn’t out here dealing with rich, white, assholes so he can make money for himself! He’s doing it to better the world, he’s doing it for education and a safe environment for kids around the world! And he is facing a lot of resistance from the rest of the rich and powerful. He is endearing himself to no one in the business world because his ultimate goal is to dethrone them all by fixing the wage gap. He wants people to have choices so the rich and powerful can’t exploit them as easily.

Tim Drake is not a business man. He has the skills, the ruthlessness and the determination but not the desire. He uses his status and money to help people in need. And it’s a more realistic way of helping the world. You can’t just throw money at problems and expect them to go away. Donating money doesn’t help nearly as much as using money to create systems that help people get the skills and opportunities they need. It takes dedicated work and meticulous oversight and it’s not something that can be done casually. It’s a commitment, not a hobby. The world is to fucked up for any easy fixes. But Neon Knights is a great idea, a long term solution if done correctly. I’ve always thought that fixing education and making sure everyone has equal opportunity from a young age would fix a lot of the issues in the world. More educated people making smarter decisions, more diversity because everyone’s success in entirely merit based. Anyway I’m getting off track. Point is, Tim isn’t some business man with charitable contributions here and there. He’s dedicated his civilian life to the long term benefit of society. He’s not a slacker or a full time vigilante. He’s out there building an entirely new system, a global network of people and locations dedicated solely to helping kids have better futures.

[racefortheironthrone]

It’s often said that poor people in developed countries are wealthier than medieval kings, but is that really true? Yes, they may not have had smartphones, or flat screen TVs, but they also would never need to worry about having things like food, or clothing, or shelter. If they got sick, the royal physician was a call away (figuratively speaking). Depending on the time and place, they might live in an armed compound and have armed men at hand wherever they went. How much of this is true for the poor today?

This comes down to a dispute over how one measures material standards of living - which, to the contrary of what economists sometimes tell the public, are wildly divergent estimates that depend heavily on weighting and the estimates that economists use to arrive at a sense of "purchasing power" and far from an exact science.

Notoriously, standard definitions tend to overvalue material possesions because they're easier to quantify, and undervalue services because they tend to be more qualitative and subjective in their value.

This is particularly difficult for medieval kings, because a lot of their wealth was in services - namely, servants. These servants served the same functions that a lot of our "labor-saving devices" and other consumer durables. If a king needed warming up, they didn't turn up the heating, the servants started a fire or put a warming pan between the sheets or dressed them in warm furs. If a king needed cooling down, servants would fan them or bring them chilled drinks. If a king wanted food, they didn't call Doordash, they just snapped their fingers and food was brought to them from the kitchens, and the cleaning-up was done by scullions and the king probably never knew it happened.

(Similarly, medieval living standards are hard to quantify because many people weren't in the market, but were largely economically self-sufficient. This is especially true for lords and kings who had hundreds if not thousands of peasants doing free labor for them to produce goods that they didn't have to pay money for.)

That sort of stuff is very hard to quantify, and yet it was a huge part of living standards in most of the world until around the 1920s.

[zvaigzdelasas]

"just because what china is doing with BRI is better than colonialism doesn't mean it's not a form of colonialism"

"just because free ice cream and puppy dogs dancing through meadows is better than burning in fire for 513 years doesn't mean free ice cream and puppy dogs dancing through meadows aren't a form of burning in fire for 513 years"

[jellyfishfingernail]

Fun thing I noticed in inscryption

So, when I was in geography we started learning about the 4 main types of industries. And I feel like it fits the four Scrybes PERFECTLY.

Get ready for my nerd rambling, because I have a lot to say.

So, there are like 4 types of industries. The first type is called primary industries. They are industries where the product is resources taken from the earth. Fishing and mining are good examples. Which is exactly why I think it fits Leshy so well. Literally, the angler if a fisherman, prospector is a miner, and the pelt making man (I forgot his name) collects fur.

The second type of industry takes the resources from the primary industries and shapes them into something new. So basically all manufacturing. The dredger literally takes random trash from the ocean, the melter forms them into different shapes, and the inspector inspects them.

The third type of industry is all things service. So like your doctors, cashiers, customer service, and funeral directors (Cough cough Grimora cough cough). Most jobs people work in are service jobs now, because it usually requires less education and is actually very important. Respect customer service, people! They do so much for us.

Lastly, we have the 4th type industry. This one is actually a type of service, but is so important that it has it's own section. And it's also very new. This industry the collection and sharing of information. So like researching, most lab jobs, and education. Which is exactly why magnificus is the 4th industry, because he shares information on how to work with magic to his poor pupils.

So yeah, that's my random nerd ramble. Honestly, imagine how cool inscryption would be if all four of them just worked together. I mean, literally the way their world works is built off each other in an economic way, too. I doubt Daniel mullens intended on the similarities between the four Scrybes and the four types of industry, but it works like soooo well.

[thefirst3chapters]

Rewatched "Introducing Lorelai Planetarium," the one where Rory and Logan end up in a fight over an article Rory wrote and Logan says that Rory is "one of us." There are a lot of interesting discussions on here about whether Logan was justified in saying that, but there's also a lot of context behind what happened.

Some key details:

Rory had an intense day before she went to the party she wrote about. She was initially planning to go to a study group when Lorelai insisted that she go home for dinner that night instead. Then Logan made a surprise visit and invited her to a launch party with his team. Rory went home for dinner, and (surprise!) her parents got married in France while they were in a fairly new relationship that already had Rory somewhat concerned. After all that, she ends up at the party and stands there while someone tells her about all the challenges that have come up in building his luxury island home. Logan introduces Rory to a more down-to-earth journalist who invites her to send him an article about the party.

This launch party was for a project that Logan has been working on and is proud of, so it is significantly insulting when Rory takes a critical stance on the attendees. Even though Rory says that Logan isn't like the other people from this party, he has the self-awareness to acknowledge that he's a "rich trust fund kid," and he doesn't want to be seen as different from them.

Rory has a habit of throwing herself into projects when she is distressed, and she recognizes that is what happened with writing the article.

Logan talks to Rory like he's trying to win an academic debate and convince her that his stance is the most valid, and he has a habit of communicating in this business-like manner in personal relationships. (This is one of the reasons I ship Literati in the long run, because Rory's people-pleasing tendencies and need for stability can lead to her ideas being drowned out by both Dean's and Logan's personalities. Jess of course struggles with communication a lot as a teenager, but he does appear to be the most open to seeing things from Rory's perspective, and even if it takes time, he acts on what he's learned whether he and Rory are together or not.)

Rory doesn't claim to be a member of the working class, but she also says that she isn't living off a "$5 million trust fund." Logan tells her that she "isn't exactly paying rent, either" even though he asked her to move in with him in S6.

After this fight, the last shot is of Logan, who is visibly remorseful.

Rory brings her article to Lucy and Olivia, who think that the article had a "mean" tone. Rory is concerned because she was trying to be humorous and didn't intend to be that critical.

At the end of the day, Logan apologizes and says that he "was way out of line." Rory says that she didn't want to sound as harsh as she did in the article, and they both talk about how they are proud of each other. Rory was already thinking about moving out of the apartment since Logan is moving back to the US, and she decides that it's important to her to have her own place to live. This takes away the power dynamic of Rory living somewhere that is technically Huntzberger-sponsored and is arguably healthiest choice for both of them. A nice feature of S7 is that both Gilmore girls get to have pretty reasonable conversations with their love interests.

Anyway, there is a lot going on beyond the debate over whether Logan was right because Rory doesn't realize how privileged she is and someone needed to tell her or whether Logan was cruel and completely wrong. Besides, this isn't necessarily an either/or question. Personally, I think there is a kernel of truth to Logan's point, but the wealth he has access to is on an entirely different level from what even Richard and Emily have, and Rory spent most of her childhood in a working-class home before she benefitted financially from her grandparents. Logan might not know all that much about Rory's childhood because one of the themes of their relationship is mutual escapism. It's been brought up before that this dynamic is highlighted when he doesn't know that it's Rory's birthday in S6 and doesn't quite understand how important the plan of going to Atlantic City with Lorelai was to Rory. It's not a condemnation of Logan as a character, but it shows that Rory leaves part of herself behind, intentionally or not, when she's in the high society world. It could be (and is) argued that this is solely a side effect of Rory growing up and discovering new interests, but the narrative doesn't appear to frame it this way. When Rory retreats from her involvement with wealth, she is usually portrayed as being more fulfilled, but like Lorelai, she'll always be connected to high society at some level. This state of being caught between worlds is a major theme of the whole show.

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

Goodreads has suspended all ratings and reviews of Hillbilly Elegy, so I'm just going to post mine here:

4 of 5 stars

“By the time I was in seventh grade, many of my neighborhood friends were already smoking weed. Mamaw found out and forbade me to see any of them. I recognize that most kids ignore instructions like these, but most kids don’t receive them from the likes of Bonnie Vance. She promised that if she saw me in the presence of any person on the banned list, she would run him over with her car. ‘No one would ever find out,’ she whispered menacingly.”

Before I worked for CPS, I would’ve said the solution to the underclass was to abolish welfare. After working for CPS, I can tell you the only thing that will fix the pathologies of America’s low-income communities is true religion. They have religion, but it’s a superstitious, prosperity-gospel, liberation theology that requires no repentance and no devotion. It’s something you’re born into, and the mode of salvation is one-hundred percent customizable.

Does this mean their irreligiosity is what caused their economic plight? Not at all. Plenty of people are terribly poor despite their richness of faith. But the social problems that have increasingly plagued the lower classes since men in suits tried to finesse fate in the 60s—broken families, drug abuse, alcoholism, suicidality, sexual promiscuity, domestic violence, recidivism, and job insecurity—cannot be stuffed back into Pandora's Box by anything short of a spiritual, cultural revival. Not even the best psychologists and policy makers can solve issues that stem from the heart.

J.D. Vance reaches many of the same conclusions in Hillbilly Elegy. Certainly, there are strategies we can implement to alleviate suffering where possible. There are countless ways in which the current welfare state could be reformed (without being expanded) to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable (e.g. Section 8 not housing all its recipients together; instead, dispersing them among the middle class where attitudes of self-reliance are more necessary). And I still think eliminating the welfare system altogether, at least at the federal level, is a worthy long-term goal. But to give an escape car to a man who never learned to drive is to merely clutter up his garage at best and cause a fatal highway pileup at worst.

The core of conservatism is the knowledge that mankind is fundamentally wicked, yet many conservatives talk about the poor the same way liberals do. If only their circumstances changed, they would, too. For the liberals, the circumstance is lack of resources. For the conservatives, it’s dependence on the state. Both circumstances are deleterious, but neither is the root cause of our bloated prisons, foster care system, or failing schools.

Working for CPS made me realize that I wasn’t really conservative; I was a libertarian who believed she was conservative. I am still learning what real conservatism is. In many ways, I think J.D. Vance is also a libertarian who believes he is a conservative, but in this particular respect, he is far more conservative than most who claim to be.

I worry sometimes that regular people read books like this or watch movies like its adaptation and merely see a cast of zany characters who represent a tiny minority of people in a faraway region of the country who don’t affect you. But these people exist in your community. You just don’t notice them. They’re at the Applebee’s, the Walmart, the movie theater. They’ve driven 40 minutes to be at the psychologist’s office under the parking garage downtown.

With the rise of social media transcending all barriers, including class, I have observed middle-class teenagers and young adults behaving like these previously invisible people. Adopting the same selfish habits and hard-done-by worldviews. In my job, I saw daughters of wealthy, Christian couples end up in a trailer park, addicted to meth with two baby-daddies. If things continue this way, the underclass will ever expand.

Rather than escapees such as J.D. Vance ascending to a higher quality of life, those ignorant or resentful of their privilege and advantages will descend to this humiliated, chaotic rot that sinks its claws in and doesn’t let go except by divine providence.

[leninisms]

real-life activism is so much more enjoyable than internet activism btw. if you’ve only ever engaged in political/social activism online, i really recommend trying to find a real organization and getting involved in-person if you can

[dailyanarchistposts]

Our Rage Must Not Be Contained

It is now apparent that the autonomous procession, in all its diversity, needs to use creativity to break out of the current stalemate. To accomplish this, we need to free ourselves from the defeatist rhetoric that tends to crop up in our discussions, to accept criticism, and to abandon the ritualized framework of the leading procession. We need to become unpredictable again.

Regarding the argument currently circulating to the effect that we should join forces once more with trade unions, we have some reservations. Let’s not forget that trade union leaders are the ones who negotiate with every successive government to determine the length of the chains with which we are all bound. We don’t need longer chains, but to be rid of chains once and for all! And what about the trade union service personnel who attacked students and radicals on several occasions during the demonstrations of 2016?

Let’s make it clear that we don’t want to join forces with trade unions—with an authoritarian and hierarchical political apparatus. Rather, we want to create connections with everyone—unionized or not—who is disillusioned with the presiding political hierarchies. We can form these connections during blockades, in spontaneous actions, or in the leading processions.

Here are some closing thoughts that we could discuss in hopes of opening new breaches in our struggles:

-

First, why not take law enforcement by surprise during major events like May Day? Instead of converging for the afternoon demonstration as we usually do, we could desert the demonstration. As police units would be positioned along the official route, we could seize this opportunity to carry out actions everywhere else, outside the official route of the demonstration. Certainly, such action requires a lot of preparation and organization. The goal would be that every single affinity group that would otherwise have constituted the head of the leading procession should attack a specific target, all at the same time. It might not work, of course—calls for “autonomous actions” often fall flat, and this strategy (branded as “Plan B” for the 2007 G8 summit in Germany) has failed before. People usually need to experience a certain amount of concentration to gain the morale necessary to take transformative action. But if we could decentralize our efforts, we could outmaneuver the police and draw more people into the confrontations.

-

Another solution could be to dissolve the autonomous bloc at the head of the leading procession, as the latter is now becoming too predictable and somehow too slow. In doing so, we might be able to use to our advantage the fact that the majority of the crowd in the leading procession supports our actions, so as to move through the crowd like free electrons, attacking one target after another. If they had to control the entirety of the leading procession, police forces would constantly being harassed or overtaken by events. As mentioned earlier, traditional trade unions are still eroding, and more people are joining the leading procession; therefore, we can expect more and more people on our side. Strategically, it would be a nightmare for law enforcement. How would they carry out arrests amidst thousands of uncooperative individuals? If they sought to divide the procession, they would risk being surrounded by demonstrators as they were on May Day 2016; if they charged the crowd, it would be a public image nightmare for the government. The Police Commissioner of Paris made it clear that the current strategy of the police is to avoid direct confrontations; if this continues, it means that sending undercover officers into the crowd to arrest specific individuals is not an option. Our mobility and agility would be a precious asset. Finally, distributing the confrontational black bloc throughout the rest of the leading procession would dissolve the dividing lines of identity, creating confusion for the authorities as to who to target and opening up the possibility that people who had not previously expected it of themselves might cross the threshold into action.

One thing is certain: the present situation cannot continue. As the authors of an article entitled “Ce sera tout?” (“That will be all?”) put it:

“The self-satisfied ‘leading procession’ has now been instituted as a norm of superficial radicalism to the detriment of inventiveness, effervescence, and riotous joy, thus removing all its subversive significance and opposing the savage and uncontrollable aspects that no longer find a place to express themselves within it.”

It is vital to consider every single criticism made of the leading procession, in order to find solutions to escape from this dangerous stalemate. We need to rethink everything and begin acting according to a different logic.

All of that being said, the events of that afternoon continue to fill our hearts with warmth, joy, and passion. Count on us to continue smashing every single symbol of the prevailing order until we reach its very foundations.

[clfixationstation]

guys I have essays to write, I can't start crying about eremin again