Category Archives: Uncategorized

Edward Luce’s Damascene moment on ‘the less well off’. Political Observer comments

It isn’t only Mr. Luce that is suddenly concerned with the welfare of ‘the less well off’. The Economist has just as suddenly come to a realization about ‘young minds’ : ‘If schools don’t open soon the effect on young … Continue reading

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Peter Spiegel reviews the ‘Deep State Analgesic’ of David Rohde. Political Observer comments

The opening paragraph of this essay reads, in part, as if were written in an American newspaper, during the the height of the McCarthy Purges, in its first sentence, while subsequently  critiquing it: call it maladroit framing, or pastiche journalism, … Continue reading

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On the Argentine Debt Crisis, in the pages of The Financial Times, with a link to Jayati Ghosh’s revelatory essay. Political Observer’s collection

From September 1 2019: Headline: Argentina: how IMF’s biggest ever bailout crumbled under Macri Sub-headline: With the Peronists waiting in the wings, the country is struggling to avoid a ninth sovereign default ‘The decision to seek what became the biggest bailout … Continue reading

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On ‘Just Hierarchy’ and other questions. Political Observer comments

Headline: Pro-people policies, dutiful citizens effective in China’s COVID-19 fight: Daniel A. Bell The myth of a ‘benevolent paternalism’ makes its return via a radical nostalgia for ‘safety’ in the age of Covid-19? Mr. Bell and his co-author Wang Pei, … Continue reading

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Jon Gray, Capitalist Hero in the pages of The Financial Times. Political Observer comments

Imagine the Blackstone Headquarters, 345 Park Avenue, New York. Just call this building, and its tenets, part of the Manhattan Corporate elite’s architectural hyperbole.   Lets focus on Mr. Gray’s private office, not that cavernous, even intimidating conference room, where each … Continue reading

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Andy Divine of April 24 2020

Andy Divine never shuts up! But when he does come up for air, to pronounce on ‘The Pandemic’ he is adept at playing the victim! Even America’s favorite discrete Neo-Liberal, Obama, tweeted about this! ‘I have direct, personal experience of … Continue reading

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The despair @EdwardGLuce in the pages @FT. Old Socialist comments

After Ms. Tett’s essay of April 22, 2020: Headline: How much should it cost to contain a pandemic? Sub-headline: Assigning an economic value to life is taboo — but we must confront the trade-offs https://www.ft.com/content/9a74f748-8427-11ea-b872-8db45d5f6714 Mr. Luce’s essay doesn’t surprise, … Continue reading

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@gilliantett on ‘Costs’. Political Observer comments

Ms. Tett is almost convincing by putting ‘the costs’ of The Pandemic at arms length from herself, via Wilkerson ‘speculative models’, but then she gives the game away: So I salute Wilkinson for publishing his speculative models — however contentious … Continue reading

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@FT Henry Paulson on saving ‘Globalization’. Political Observer comments

Note the use of antitheses in Mr. Paulson’s political intervention:   ‘Isolationism vs. Globalism’ , Populism vs  Integrationism, forces of openness rooted in market principles vs. those of closure across four dimensions: trade, capital flows, innovation and global institutions: The Potemkin … Continue reading

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@nytdavidbrooks shames the ‘Coddled Generation’. Old Socialist scoffs

From the hysterical opposition to the Free Speech movement, that rebellion led by the heroic Mario Savio, washed up Movie Star and FBI snitch Ronald Reagan, parleyed this into the Governorship of California…the rest is ‘History’. To S.I. Hayakawa, and … Continue reading

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