Political and Economic Organization
The Population “Bomb” and its Distortions in Capitalist Culture
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Ever since Malthus, the question of population overshooting carrying capacity has been cast as the specter of unwashed ever-breeding hordes who will overrun the society of “developed” nations and bring an end to “progress”. That this way of thinking became an historical pattern arises from a capitalist culture that justifies its economic system and excuses [...]
Through the Looking Glass: Adventures in Landgrant Land
Saturday, February 27th, 2010 Through the Looking Glass: Adventures
in Landgrant Land
- Karl North, 5-09
“If Alice were reborn in these times, she would not need to step through the mirror; it would suffice that she lean out the window.” – Eduardo Galeano
Once upon a time in a faraway empire, a land so prosperous it overflowed with gmo milk, [...]
Economics as brain damage
Thursday, February 4th, 2010Economics as Brain Damage*
Karl North 2004
On the first day of my first formal introduction to economics as an undergraduate, the professor defined the discipline as the scientific study of the distribution of scarce resources. But the course from then on was concerned only with such matters as market variables like supply and demand, and market [...]
Two Folktales for Comprehending Late Stage Capitalism and its Scientific Culture
Sunday, January 17th, 2010Karl North 2006
Folktales distill the wisdom of the ages. All too often their teachings are applicable to any era. Perhaps their continuing relevance comes, as the saying goes, from the human propensity to repeat history, once as tragedy, again as farce.
My favorite tales to explain the hilarious but tragic human behavior patterns of late stage [...]
The Left and the Zioncons
Monday, January 4th, 2010The Left and the Zioncons[1]
Karl North
January 2010
Back a couple years Michael Moore wrote a piece about how “we”[2] should get out of Iraq. It was all very nice, cheeky, classic Michael Moore. And much of it of course true. But by saying the oil industry wanted the war, he made the same mistakes about war [...]
