[Marxism] Michael Roberts

[Philip Ferguson via Marxism]

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I agree with Gary McL about Roberts' use of empirical detail.  Everything
he does is well backed up by data.

But I also think his great strength is his use of LTRPF theory.

There are several problems with under-consumptionism.  To an extent it is
always present, which is why Marx rejected it as the key to crisis (in vol
2).  At most, it can only cause some capitalists to go under, while other
capitalists thrive.  It can't explain why the system as a whole goes into
crisis.

That is one of Roberts' great strengths.

I thoroughly recommend this talk by him at the British SWP annual
educational conference the year before last:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/marxism-2014-michael-roberts-on-world-economy-plus-discussion-session/
Also good, because it includes the audience discussion.
Mike is very non-sectarian - he must be one of very few people who speaks
at both the SWP and the CPGB summer educational conferences.

Here's a great piece by my friend Tony Norfield on the rate of profit,
finance and imperialism:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/the-rate-of-profit-finance-imperialism/

Tony, who worked in banking for several decades, recently, as a mature
student, completed a PhD on the economics of british imperialism, which is
being published as a book some time this year.

Phil
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[Marxism] Fwd: Stephen Kinzer and Jeffrey Sachs: latest recruits to the Baathist amen corner | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://louisproyect.org/2016/02/15/stephen-kinzer-and-jeffrey-sachs-latest-recruits-to-the-baathist-amen-corner/
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[Marxism] A comment on my Sanders article

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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From Michael Hureaux:

I keep hearing about all this mass “awareness” Bernie Sanders is 
allegedly generating, but I have not heard any consciousness from 
anything but a tiny, tiny handful of his supporters of the kind of 
political machinery they’re up against. It seems to me that if their 
“movement” were anywhere near as hot as they think it is they’d be a lot 
less butt hurt around the jackassry of the democratic national committee 
and its favored candidate. They get caught flat footed by the basic 
viciousness of the Clinton machine every time, and it’s not exactly like 
we’ve never seen a backwoods nasty politician at the national level. 
That is what the national parties do, after all. I am so tired of their 
shock and dismay at this mess that I’ve recently stopped discussing the 
Sanders candidacy one way or another with anyone on facebook. It’s 
exhausting, I heard the same arguments about Obama, about Kucinich etc. 
The democratic party, in the meantime, has grown far more consultant 
driven, far more insular, far more stacked with precinct committee 
people who do nothing but parrot the wealthier sections of the 
leadership. It has done nothing of any promise, really, since the 
rebellion within its ranks driven by personalities like Chisholm and 
McGovern almost 45 years ago. The Rainbow Coalition was a best a faint, 
faint echo of that energy, and from what I’ve seen so far, the Sanders 
forces aren’t even that. I have yet to have a single Bernie volunteer 
knock on my door. I do not believe they have either the depth or the 
breadth they claim for themselves, even as democratic party activists.

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Re: [Marxism] [UCE] Proof that God exists

[Mark Lause via Marxism]

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A close miss with a shotgun can induce a heart attack.  Was Scalia out
hunting with Dick Cheney?
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Re: [Marxism] Joel Beinen asks Sanders to go after pro-Israel donors

[Zakhyst Pratsy via Marxism]

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#1 

15 февраля 2016, 18:51:37, от "Dennis Brasky via Marxism" < 
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu >: 

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Joel Beinin asks Sen. Sanders < http://www.merip.org/letter-bernie-ii > to
extend his critique of money in electoral politics to the influence of
pro-Israel donors on US policy toward Israel-Palestine.


 http://www.merip.org/letter-bernie-ii 
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[Marxism] Joel Beinen asks Sanders to go after pro-Israel donors

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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Joel Beinin asks Sen. Sanders  to
extend his critique of money in electoral politics to the influence of
pro-Israel donors on US policy toward Israel-Palestine.


http://www.merip.org/letter-bernie-ii
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[Marxism] Fwd: Israel boycott ban: Shunning Israeli goods to become criminal offence for public bodies and student unions | Home News | News | The Independent

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israel-boycott-local-councils-public-bodies-and-student-unions-to-be-banned-from-shunning-israeli-a6874006.html
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[Marxism] Fwd: Chris Hedges: Bernie Sanders’ Phantom Movement - Chris Hedges - Truthdig

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Bernie Sanders, who has attracted numerous young, white, 
college-educated supporters in his bid for the presidency, says he is 
creating a movement and promises a political revolution. This rhetoric 
is an updated version of the “change” promised by the 2008 campaign of 
Barack Obama and by Jesse Jackson’s earlier National Rainbow Coalition. 
Such Democratic electoral campaigns, at best, raise political 
consciousness. But they do not become movements or engender revolutions. 
They exist as long as election campaigns endure and then they vanish. 
Sanders’ campaign will be no different.


full: 
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/bernie_sanders_phantom_movement_20160214

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[Marxism] AI and robots threaten to unleash mass unemployment, scientists warn

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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FT, February 14, 2016 12:55 pm
AI and robots threaten to unleash mass unemployment, scientists warn
Clive Cookson in Washington

Scientists have warned that rapid strides in the development of 
artificial intelligence and robotics threatens the prospect of mass 
unemployment, affecting everyone from drivers to sex workers.
Intelligent machines will soon replace human workers in all sectors of 
the economy, senior computer scientists told the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington at the weekend.


“We are approaching the time when machines will be able to outperform 
humans at almost any task,” said Moshe Vardi, computer science professor 
at Rice University in Texas. “Society needs to confront this question 
before it is upon us: if machines are capable of doing almost any work 
humans can do, what will humans do?


“A typical answer is that we will be free to pursue leisure activities,” 
Prof Vardi said. “[But] I do not find the prospect of leisure-only life 
appealing. I believe that work is essential to human wellbeing.”


“AI is moving rapidly from academic research into the real world,” said 
Bart Selman, professor of computer science at Cornell University. 
“Computers are starting to ‘hear’ and ‘see’ as humans do . . . Systems 
can start to move and operate among us autonomously.” He said companies 
such as Google, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft were scaling up investments 
in AI systems to billions of dollars a year.


Professors Vardi and Selman said governments — and society as a whole — 
were not facing up to the acceleration of AI and robotics research. Prof 
Selman helped draft an open letter issued last year by the Future of 
Life Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, urging policymakers to 
explore the risks associated with increasingly intelligent machines.
Among the 10,000 or so signatories to the letter is Elon Musk, the tech 
entrepreneur whose company Tesla Motors has a large AI research 
programme aimed at developing self-driving cars.


Mr Musk will fund research at Cornell University “on keeping AI 
beneficial to humans”, said Prof Selman. The project will predict 
whether and, if so when, “super-intelligence” — all-round superiority of 
machine to human intelligence — might be achieved.


According to Prof Selman, one of the fastest advancing areas of AI is 
machine vision, and particularly facial recognition. “Facebook can 
recognise faces better than any of us,” he said. Machine vision is key 
to the self-driving vehicles that scientists predict will take over our 
roads in the next 25 years. Prof Vardi said automated driving would cut 
accidents by 90 per cent or more, compared with vehicles driven by 
error-prone people.


“With so many lives saved and injuries prevented, it would be hard 
morally for anyone to argue against it,” he said. Yet around 10 per cent 
of all US jobs involve driving a vehicle, he added, “and most of those 
will disappear”.


Prof Vardi said it would be hard to think of any jobs that would not be 
vulnerable to robotics and AI — even sex workers. “Are you going to bet 
against sex robots?” he asked. “I’m not.”

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[Marxism] Fwd: A Second MSF Hospital Has Been Bombed in Syria in the Last 10 Days | VICE News

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://news.vice.com/article/a-second-msf-hospital-has-been-bombed-in-syria-in-the-last-10-days
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[Marxism] Fwd: Robert J Gordon and the rise and fall of American capitalism | Michael Roberts Blog

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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In the last few years, Robert J. Gordon, a professor of economics at 
Northwestern University, has persistently argued against the trendy view 
of the moment that robots, AI and other ‘disruptive technologies’ are 
about to launch the global economy into a productivity boost never seen 
before.  I have commented before on Gordon’s series of papers developing 
this proposition.


And very recently, Gordon presented his arguments yet again at ASSA 2016 
when he critiqued a paper by David Kotz and Deepankur Basu at an URPE 
session.


As Gordon says succinctly in that critique: “The evidence accumulates 
every quarter to support my view that the most important contributions 
to productivity of the digital revolution are in the past, not in the 
future.  The reason that business firms are spending their money on 
share buy-backs instead of plant and equipment investment is that the 
current wave of innovation is not producing novelty sufficiently 
important to earn the required rate of return.”


full: 
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2016/02/14/robert-j-gordon-and-the-rise-and-fall-of-american-capitalism/

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[Marxism] Fiddling with negative gearing isn't revolutionary tax reform

[John Passant via Marxism]

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Fiddling with negative gearing isn't revolutionary tax reform

 If Labor were serious about addressing the high price of housing and 
the impact this is having on both first home buyers and renters it would 
begin a program of state housing that addressed the needs of working 
class Australians. Such a program could be funded by taxing the rich 
capitalist class who benefit from having a well housed, rested working 
class.  Labor won't do that since it is wedded to the market and market 
'solutions'.  That marriage explains its mickey mouse negative gearing 
proposals.


http://enpassant.com.au/2016/02/15/fiddling-with-negative-gearing-isnt-revolutionary-tax-reform/

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