Thoughts for the post-2008 world

How Technology Is Destroying Jobs Given his calm and reasoned academic demeanor, it is easy to miss just how provocative Erik Brynjolfsson’s contention really is. ­Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and his collaborator and coauthor Andrew McAfee have been arguing for the last year and a half that impressive advances in computer technology—from improved industrial robotics to automated translation services—are largely behind the sluggish employment growth of the last 10 to 15 years. Even more ominous for workers, the MIT academics foresee dismal prospects for many types of jobs as these powerful new technologies are increasingly adopted not only in manufacturing, clerical, and retail work but in professions such as law, financial services, education, and medicine.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and more than met the Air Corps' expectations. Although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing's design that they ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances. The race to lend Greece: A short story by Klaus Kastner In this remarkable short story, Klaus Kastner (Kleingut) offers a fictionalised account of how Europe’s banks channelled billions to their Greek counter parties. It makes for excellent cross reading with my recent take on the Ant and the Grasshopper fable. [Click here for Klaus’ original post.)

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed toward the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918,[2] it is the oldest independent air force in the world.[3] Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged – at the time – the largest air force in the world.[4] Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history, in particular, playing a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.[5] History[edit] Origins[edit] The RAF developed its doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became the basic philosophy in the Second World War.[10]

The Global Minotaur In this remarkable and provocative book, Yanis Varoufakis explodes the myth that financialisation, ineffectual regulation of banks, greed and globalisation were the root causes of the global economic crisis. Rather, they are symptoms of a much deeper malaise which can be traced all the way back to the Great Crash of 1929, then on through to the 1970s: the time when a 'Global Minotaur' was born. Just as the Athenians maintained a steady flow of tributes to the Cretan beast, so Europe and the rest of the world began sending incredible amounts of capital to America and Wall Street. Thus, the Global Minotaur became the 'engine' that pulled the world economy from the early 1980s through to the financial collapse of 2008. Today's deepening crisis in Europe is just one of the inevitable symptoms of the weakening Minotaur; of a global 'system' which is now as unsustainable as it is imbalanced.

Economy of Greece A developed country, the economy of Greece mainly revolves around the service sector (80.6%) and industry (16%), while agriculture made up an estimated 3.4% of the national economic output in 2012.[4] Important Greek industries include tourism and shipping. The Greek Merchant Navy is the largest in the world, with Greek-owned vessels accounting for 15.17% of global deadweight tonnage as of 1 January 2013.[31] With 15.5 million international tourist arrivals in 2012, Greece was the seventh most visited country in the European Union and sixteenth in the world.[32] The country is also a significant agricultural producer within the EU. Greece is classified as an advanced,[38] high-income economy,[39] and was a founding member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). History[edit] Strengths and weaknesses[edit]

7 The Empire is Striking Back, gross failure continues to be handsomely rewarded That the Empire has struck back there is no doubt. Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd C. Blankfein just rewarded himself with $19 million bonus for 2010: the year during which he appeared in front of a Senate Committee, a court , an SEC investigation revealing in full technicolor the great variety in which GS broke the law, manipulated markets and even defrauded its clients. And in a bid to make this bonus seem positively reasonable, Transocean, the offshore drilling firm responsible for running the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, has awarded large bonuses to its top executives. Guess what for: For its “best year” for safety. Granted that the Minotaur’s Handmaidens (see here, here and here) are back with a vengeance, what can we say about a world in which the Global Minotaur has perished while its Handmaidens are wreaking havoc?

The current economic development model is defunct – we need to ditch it 21 months and counting What is development? To many conventional economists it has been China, though not without irony. Economic history of Greece and the Greek world The economic history of the Greek World spans several millennia and encompasses many modern-day nation states. Since the focal point of the center of the Greek World often changed it is necessary to enlarge upon all these areas as relevant to the time. The economic history of Greece refers to the economic history of the Greek nation state since 1829. Earliest Greek civilizations[edit] Cycladic civilization[edit]

How Greece could build up so much foreign debt - a purely fictional short story Greece’s foreign debt was 399 BN EUR by mid-2011. It was composed of 174 BN EUR in the central government; 208 BN EUR in the banking sector and 17 BN EUR in other sectors. Many people ask these days how foreigners could lend so much money to Greece. Let me tell a tale how this could have happened. Any similarities with actual persons and/or banks are strictly coincidental. Imagine that there are 3 major banks in Europe: the Merkel-Bank AG; the Sarkozy-Bank S.

Economic growth doesn't create jobs, it destroys them After so many years of being told the same thing, it is barely surprising that we believe it. Economic growth is good, we are told, and essential to all we do. Growth creates work. Work creates wealth. Wealth closes the gap between rich and poor. Greek government-debt crisis Greece's debt percentage since 1977, compared to the average of the Eurozone Overview[edit] The downgrading of Greek government debt to junk bond status in April 2010 created alarm in financial markets, with bond yields rising so high, that private capital markets were practically no longer available for Greece as a funding source.

Ending 2011 with a fable for our times As 2011 is drawing to a close, with the ECB only having managed to paper over the deepening cracks of the eurozone, it is time to allow ourselves to abandon the barricades for ten days or so. If the soldiers in the Great War’s killing fields could maintain a humane ceasefire, tend to the wounded, and bury their dead, we too can afford to put a cap for a while on our hectic rythm. Anyhow, the Crisis will be back with hideous vengeance soon after the New Year. Hundreds of mental health experts issue rallying call against austerity Austerity cuts are having a “profoundly disturbing” impact on people’s psychological wellbeing and the emotional state of the nation, hundreds of counsellors, psychotherapists and mental health experts have said in a letter to the Guardian. They said an “intimidatory disciplinary regime” facing benefits claimants would be made worse by further “unacceptable” proposals outlined in the budget. These amounted to state “get to work” therapy and were both damaging and professionally unethical, they said. Increasing inequality and poverty, families being moved out of their homes and new systems determining benefit levels were part of “a wider reality of a society thrown completely off balance by the emotional toxicity of neoliberal thinking”, according to more than 400 signatories to the letter. The consequences were “most visible in the therapist’s consulting room”.