Kyoto Report 2024 – 6
This Tuesday report will provide some insights into life for a westerner (me) who is working for an extended period at Kyoto University in Japan.
The dislocation between the PMC and the rest of the working class – Part 1
A while ago, I caught up with an old friend who I was close to during our postgraduate studies. We hadn’t seen each other for some years as a result of pursuing different paths in different parts of the world and it was great to exchange notes. At one stage during the conversation, she said to me that I had become one of the ‘super elites’, a term that evaded definition but could be sort of teased out by referring to lifestyle choices etc. The most obvious manifestation was the fact that she was visiting my new home in an experimental sustainable housing estate, which apparently marked one demarcation between being an ordinary citizen and one of the ‘super elites’. That group also apparently doesn’t have any power in society like the real elites – the old and new money gang – but is privileged nonetheless. I understand the notion even if it somewhat amorphous. I was reflecting on that conversation as I have been trying to understand why the US voters chose Donald Trump over the seemingly more progressive and decent candidate Kamala Harris. I use that description of Harris guardedly, because if one digs below the surface, even just a bit, it becomes clear that the Democrats were not particularly progressive or decent (Gaza!) at all but more interested in lecturing people they look down on as to how they should behave and look. All that stuff about restoring joy – was really what ‘super elites’ think about and is far removed from the aspirations of the voters who went for Trump. Here are some additional thoughts on that topic.
Both main candidates were unelectable but one was more in tune with the nation than the other
So from January 20, 2025, Donald Trump will inherit the on-going genocide that the US government has been party to in the Middle East. He will then have no cover and will be judged accordingly. What follows are a few thoughts that I had when I watched the unfolding disaster for the Democrats and the amazing victory that Trump has recorded. It was obviously a Hobson’s Choice facing the US voters (from an outside perspective), which also tells us something about the way the US society has evolved. Both candidates were in my view unelectable. But the voters didn’t agree with me. And, one candidate was much smarter that the other and better understood the plight the American voters are in after several decades of neoliberalism. Spare the thought.
RBA monetary policy decision defies logic
Well, as I write this late in the Kyoto afternoon, Donald Trump has just made a victory speech after an incredible day of election outcomes unfolding. As I wrote last week, the only moral and reasonable position for a progressive to take in this election would be to vote for Jill Stein and send a strong message to the two major candidates that they were totally unelectable. I reject the claim that that strategy would just deliver a victory for Trump. However, the Democrats can’t really deflect blame like that for their horrendous policies in relation to the Israel issue and more. So the US faced a Hobson’s choice and I hope progressive parties elsewhere heed the message of Harris’s loss. But today I want to write a bit about yesterday’s (November 5, 2024) decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to hold their cash rate target interest rate (the policy rate) constant. With inflation falling quickly, there is no logic to that decision. The RBA keep claiming that there is excess demand in the economy but that is an unsupportable claim given the evidence.
Kyoto Report 2024 – 5
This Tuesday report will provide some insights into life for a westerner (me) who is working for an extended period at Kyoto University in Japan.
Government job creation programs deliver significant (net) long-term benefits
On April 5, 1933, US President Roosevelt made an executive decision to create the – Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – which was a component of the suite of government programs referred to as the – New Deal – that defined the Federal government’s solution to the mass unemployment that arose during the early years of the – Great Depression. These programs have been heavily criticised by the free market set as being unnecessary, wasteful and ineffective. Critics assert that no long-term benefits are forthcoming from such programs. However, those assertions are never backed by valid empirical evidence. A recent study by US academics has provided the first solid piece of evidence that the CCC delivered massive long-term benefits to the individuals who participated in it. And these benefits considerably outweigh the dollars outlaid by the government. I discuss that research today. The results also point to the effectiveness of a Job Guarantee program.