A bit late for an obituary

American Economy: R.I.P. by Paul Craig Roberts

Did you ever think the world would end before a former Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, a Contributing Editor of National Review or an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration made a comment about Karl Marx that did not compare him to Satan and/or Bozo the Clown? Well, Roberts was all three, and in this piece he actually gives Marx favorable (if brief) treatment - and yet still with us is the world, albeit crumbling apart.

And it's the best way to get free porn

The wiki way

This kind of masturbatory ode to the internet used to be really common back when tech stocks were soaring high as housing prices now... not so much anymore. But this is somewhat interesting; it suggests that the internet can radically reduce transaction costs (which I've seen estimated elsewhere as comprising 40% of economic activity!), which are the reason why enormous corporations arise in capitalism.

read it and find out

Welcome to Fleece U by Barbara Ehrenreich

"Our mission is to take feckless teenagers like you and turn them into full-fledged debtors."

Man, I'm lucky I left school before they started charging for the privilege of going into debt. ... but since debt is such a wonderful disciplining agent... damn it, I was jipped, I demand retroactive fees for being put into debt!

We won't cut and run, we'll bomb Iran?

Why Bush Can Get Away with Attacking Iran - When Wishful Thinking Replaces Resistance by Jean Bricmont

Just when you think you can rest easy in the knowledge that it would be impossible for Bush to attack Iran...

The author, Jean Bricmont, wrote a book criticizing postmodernism and the incomprehensible wreck it has made out of the Left. He gets a jab in this article too: "A large part of the academic left long ago gave up informing the general public about the real world in order to debate whether Capital is a Signifier or a Signified, or worry about their Bodies and their Selves..."

Speaking From Experience, Part II: Former CIA official expects war with Iran by Ken Silverstein

...and then this. Hopefully, this guy's experience in the CIA has left him unable to analyze anything with any degree of accuracy, but...

read it and find out

Debtonation: how globalisation dies by Ann Pettifor

Interesting article - I'm not as sure as the author on the likelihood of a major debt-fueled meltdown, if only because I believe it most certain that capitalism will be saved by socialism, yet again. The Fed will create more money abracadabra, and the government will bail out any enterprise deemed too big to fail. Goddamned pinkos! The beauty of capitalism is that it, like evolution, is supposed to reward wisdom and punish foolishness. If only capitalism would be left to run itself into extinction without getting propped up by socialist government intervention, then the foolishness of such an outmoded system of production would get properly punished.

Oh well, no worries, it's not like tens of thousands of people die daily from starvation, or the overconsumption of a few is imperiling the entire planet... let's cling to modern tribalism and auto-fellatio, and pat ourselves on the back for the fact that social evolution has reached its apex and we've got the bestest system of production ever.

For the bible tells me so

God Hates the World

Christian music video of the year- "God Hates the World" ... It's for real, so it would be impossible to make a parody that could top it.

Read it and weep, crustacean-loving heathens!

God Hates Shrimp

"Shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, all these are an abomination before the Lord, just as gays are an abomination. Why stop at protesting gay marriage? Bring all of God's law unto the heathens and the sodomites. ..."

You heard it here first, folks. God hates people who pinch tail and suck heads; he hates shrimp-eaters.