Jun 21 2012 17:09
Jun 21 2012 19:29
Yeah, I once had it described to me as the British equivalent of The Nation, which I think is fairly accurate. Tepid Clintonite/Blairite/Schroederite left-liberalism.
Jun 21 2012 21:29
So why the need for "like"
Jun 21 2012 21:47
Battlescarred wrote:
So why the need for "like"
It's, like, idiomatic American English.
Like, deal with it.
Jun 23 2012 20:58
Mmh, New Statesman. Had my dose of Die Welt and Spiegel this week, total bourgie BS overload.
Growth, the holy cow of capitalism...
Jun 23 2012 22:15
Railyon wrote:
Growth, the holy cow of capitalism...
I dunno. I mean, there's ideology, and then there's ideology, know what I'm sayin'? With the mainstream of bourgeois ideology pleading for eurobonds and a slight easing of austerity, the current German government's strategy is something of a puzzle.
I mean, it's easy to say Merkel is just pandering to populist prejudices in the German electorate about the common currency, but if that's the case then it's kind of unusual for a servant of the bourgeoisie to prioritize that over the interests of capital as a whole, no?
The only plausible explanation I've heard is that Europe is a decreasingly important export market for German machine goods, and that the trend is towards East Asia taking its place.
P.S. I've learned that if I want to keep my blood pressure low, I have to cut Der Spiegel and Die Zeit out of my reading diet entirely. The Taz and the Berliner Zeitung are about as bourgeois as I allow myself to go these days. But since German newspapers don't have a comics section, sometimes I have to read Welt Online and Junge Freiheit to get a humor fix.
Jun 30 2012 17:53
Angelus Novus wrote:
Battlescarred wrote:
So why the need for "like"It's, like, idiomatic American English.
Like, deal with it.
One of the most annoying idioms ever spoken. It will wither away in the camps post-revolution.
Jun 30 2012 18:32
Like, whatever.
Jun 30 2012 19:02
You can, like, just go down the salt mines, man.
Jun 30 2012 22:27
That's, like, your opinion, man.
Jul 1 2012 02:29
totally.
Jul 1 2012 09:45
Like oh my god, so random!
Jul 1 2012 11:30
Khawaga wrote:
That's, like, your opinion, man.
Well like yeah dude, theres no, like, actual moral standard, its all relative ya know. Moral relativism for the win, right ?
Jul 2 2012 08:35
wojtek wrote:
Like oh my god, so random!
Jul 2 2012 10:01
Angelus Novus wrote:
Railyon wrote:
Growth, the holy cow of capitalism...I dunno. I mean, there's ideology, and then there's ideology, know what I'm sayin'? With the mainstream of bourgeois ideology pleading for eurobonds and a slight easing of austerity, the current German government's strategy is something of a puzzle.
Indeed. In fact it's a major weakness of anticap critique that no-one has yet come up with a convincing story of why this is happening. The few speculations I've seen have been hugely unconvincing. The fact that a small amount of ground has been given last week, does not remove the evident puzzle.
Angelus Novus wrote:
I mean, it's easy to say Merkel is just pandering to populist prejudices in the German electorate about the common currency, but if that's the case then it's kind of unusual for a servant of the bourgeoisie to prioritize that over the interests of capital as a whole, no?
It would be even more weird if the mainstream capitalist press were agitating popular prejudices in a direction that was not in keeping with the local capitalist class' perception of their strategic interest (which, n.b. should not be confused with "the interests of capital in general" - real compositional processes must apply to both poles of the class relation). AFAICS most commentators agree that the very heads of the export industries that would, prima facie, appear to have most to lose from an austerity policy undermining demand in (still) their biggest export markets, are solidly behind the policy. At least so far. (and it is only recently that exports are actually beginning to fall, n.b.).
Angelus Novus wrote:
The only plausible explanation I've heard is that Europe is a decreasingly important export market for German machine goods, and that the trend is towards East Asia taking its place.
But that wouldn't explain the seeming indifference to the dangers of massive currency appreciation of a Euro shorn of its weaker members.
Another commentator proposed:
Quote:
Für die exportorientierte Industrie in Ländern wie Deutschland hat die Austeritätspolitik einerseits negative Folgen, weil die Nachfrage in den betroffenen Krisenländern sinkt. Entsprechend negativ fallen die Wachstumsprognosen für 2012 aus. Andererseits scheinen gerade die Vertreter des exportorientierten industriellen Kapitals in Deutschland Befürworter der Austeritätspolitik zu sein. Der Grund dafür könnte sein, dass wesentliche Teile der deutschen Industrie in der internationalen Arbeitsteilung eine so überlegene Position einnehmen, dass sie nicht auf Währungsabwertungen angewiesen sind, um ihre Konkurrenzfähigkeit zu verteidigen.[For the export oriented industries in countries like Germany the austerity policy, on the one hand, has negative consequences, because the demand in the crisis countries is sinking. On the other hand, the export oriented capital seems to be the advocate of austerity. The reason could be that most parts of the German industry is so predominant in the global division of labour that they do not depend on currency devaluation to uphold their competitive abilities.]
(apols for rubbish trans.). For one thing, I don't find this proposal very convincing, at first sight. But more worryingly, it is transparently the product of pure speculation, without any grounding in factual or material research. It concerns me that ad hoc, speculative "stop gap" explanations are considered sufficient for what is, after all, an important question from a class analysis point of view.
If anyone has come across more grounded analysis, please share links.
Jul 4 2012 12:44
"Every time I hear the word Like used unnecessarily, I reach for my revolver."
Nestor Makhno
Jul 4 2012 11:19
Battlescarred wrote:
Every time I hear the word Like used unnecessarily, I reach for my revolver.
Jul 4 2012 13:10
Jul 4 2012 15:40
This is where the rot set in,I believe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JSC9XKEhDA
Yep, Mr Jinks ( and the sinister man behind him, Daws Butler!)
Can comment on articles and discussions
That's pretty amazing. But otherwise the magazine is awful.