Debt in the banana republic
Submitted by With Sober Senses on Jan 5 2013 01:09
An exploration of the reasons for austerity in Queensland, Australia and a critique of those arguments that would reduce the cause to one of 'ideology'.
( For non-Australian readers the title refers to jokes about the nature of Queensland, based on its history of agricultural production and its experience under the Joh Bjelke-Petersen National Party Government that ruled from 1968 till 1987)
The university is a racket
Submitted by Soapy on Dec 30 2012 01:44
Discussing conflicts of interest on my school's Board of Trustees and some forms that all non-profit institutions are required to keep on their premises and that you can request!
About two months ago, a professor at my university gave a talk sponsored by the student union entitled, “The University as a Racket.” The talk dealt with major conflicts of interest going on inside the upper echelons of university decision-making. At our school, the Board of Trustees (BOT) makes all major decisions. The BOT is primarily made up of financial executives.
Circulation and the new university - Reclamations Journal
An analysis of the financialisation of American universities and their integration into the circuits of capital accumulation.
During the 1990s, a rationalization of the workplace in American universities occurred, a process that critics described with terms like privatization, neoliberalization, financialization, and commericalization.
Housing speculation, student debt, fees and dispossession; a 21st century love story - Communique concerning UCL Stratford
An article from the website of The Imaginary Party exposing the relationships between tuition fees, rents, student debt, university funding, and private equity funds, in the context of UCL's £1bn plans to dispossess the 300 residents of the Carpenters Estate in Stratford in order to build "profitable" student housing units.
There are several questions we have all been asking over these last few years. Where will we live? How will we be able to afford such expensive rent in London? How will we find jobs that pay enough to enjoy ourselves and live in comfort? When will we pay back our student debt? How?
Review of Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
Wayne Price reviews David Graeber's book on the history of debt.
In “An Anarchist FAQ,” Iain McKay writes, “…anarchists have, traditionally, been weak on…economics (which is ironic, as Proudhon made his name by his economic critiques)” (2008; p. 13). This is why David Graeber, the anarchist anthropologist, deserves praise for writing a major work on political economy.
No interest but the interest of breathing
Book review David Graeber: The First 5,000 Years
advance publication of Wildcat no. 93, Summer 2012
When I tell any Truth it is not for the sake of Convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those who do.
William Blake
Debt, debt, debt
An edition of the Novara radio show talking to David Graeber about debt, its history and the possible future(s) for the debt-riddled countries of the global north.
David Graeber is an anarchist anthropologist and is a lecturer at Goldsmiths University in London. He is the author of 'Debt: The First 5,000 Years' and you can follow him on Twitter at @DavidGraeber.
Novara - a weekly show on Resonance FM discussing political theory, practice and aesthetics. Discussions and interventions will be with workers, theorists, students and activists. Hosted by Aaron Peters.
Burdened with debt reloaded: The politics of devaluation - TPTG
Greek communists TPTG take another detailed look at the impact of austerity measures in the country, the devaluation of capital and the attack on the power of the working class.
In Greece, the initial austerity measures developed into a full blown shock policy of devaluation of capital, which has deepened the recession and increased public debt.
The time of crisis
Joshua Clover discusses spatial and temporal strategies of attacking capitalism, and discusses the possibility of organised, militant debt default as a revolutionary tactic to complement workers' struggles. Originally posted at Occupy Everything.
Author’s Note: This text with images was originally presented at the Historical Materialism New York conference in May of 2011. Given the context, the text does not go into the sort of detail the matter really requires.
The apotheosis of money: the structural limits of capital valorization, casino capitalism and the global financial crisis - Robert Kurz
In this 1995 essay, Robert Kurz examines “fictitious capital”, “unproductive labor”, the “tertiary sector”, “State debt”, “speculative bubbles”, “derivatives”, and “globalization” in the context of the wave of bankruptcies, crashes and bailouts of the 80s and 90s; discusses Rosa Luxemburg’s crisis theory, Keynesianism, Aglietta’s “regulation theory”, and the “neo-liberal” offensive; and predicts a “devaluation shock” that will invalidate the bloated property claims of fictitious capital in a “monetary atomic explosion” heralding “the end of the history of the mode of production based on money”.
The Apotheosis of Money: The Structural Limits of Capital Valorization, Casino Capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis – Robert Kurz
1. Real Capital and Interest-Yielding Capital
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