“Unlearning Economics”: Jon Erickson, Josh Farley, Steve Keen, and Kate Raworth

I shared this video at The R-Word.

And then I made a comment about it there. Here’s what I said.:

“Nearing the end of this discussion, Kate Raworth asks (paraphrasing) “What if we were to take Elinor Ostrom’s observations about the well-functioning of the commons and apply it within The State?”

Wow! That was worth the full price of admission!

It helped me to more deeply understand what The State really is, which is an engine built for the purpose of maintaining the present class system, in which there are very distinct “social classes” (also “economic classes” whose “winners” happen also to be the protectors and maintainers (reproducers) of what is sometimes called “the political class” and which also is sometimes called “the ruling class”. Of course, not everyone in the “political class” is in the “ruling class,” per se, but as we can readily see, by the typical definition of the political class in functional terms, they may as well be.

I’m becoming more of an anarchist each day!”

https://rword.substack.com/p/unlearning-economics-jon-erickson/comments

I suppose I’m drawing on what is sometimes called “historical materialism” type theoretical methodology here. That is, it seems to me that when historical materialists ask “What is the state?” they mean mostly, “How has the state tended to behave historically?”

Raworth’s question, which I highlighted, seemed very counter-intuitive to me, in the sense that what we now know as “the state” has always behaved in such a way as to eliminate (or seek to eliminate), not boost, the practice of commoning. In this sense, the modern / contemporary state is a pure representative of capitalist ideology. Capitalism is… in a word … anti-commoning. So the state is anti-commoning.

Could a commoning state emerge? Perhaps?!? But it would not be a modern state.

A very interesting podcast. Many people believe they are captured by our economic system. We can’t free ourselves of the necessity of a good job or higher prices for essentials. We can’t do anything about corporations that control the market or the current economic system, which concentrates wealth in the hands of the few and encourages corporations to maximize profits and socialize costs

I’ve taken a different approach that I used to simply call “sustainable living”. It involves several practices that allowed us to have more control over our personal economics.

I recommend firstly, reduce or eliminate debt. The more debt we carry, the more dependent we are on the vagaries of the economy. The biggest debt most people have is their home mortgage. So ignore the bank when they calculate how large a mortgage you can afford (usually monthly payments are 40% of your disposable income) and buy a smaller home that requires a smaller mortgage. Save as much as possible and try to make a down payment of 25 to 30%. This will allow you to make extra principle payments and greatly reduces the amount of interest you pay over the life of the loan. The second debt is now likely college loans, which would take much more discussion on how to avoid them. The third debt category is credit cards. Use them as little as possible and always pay off credit card balances every month. Save before you spend and delay gratification. This allows us to actually see the difference between needs and wants.

Secondly, become more self-sufficient at home. Grow, cook, and preserve food at home. Buy the most reliable appliances and vehicles. Make and repair clothing. Invest in high quality hand tools and learn to use them. Avoid buying cheap crap that breaks.

Thirdly, save money by spending less on energy. We did this by investing in energy efficiency and then eventually renewable energy. When we reduce our home or vehicles energy use we save money on energy bills. Reinvest these savings in more efficiency measures and eventually install solar panels and become your own energy producer. The return on investment for renewable energy is roughly now 10 years. Solar energy is an upfront investment so once you install the system your energy bills drop immediately. We purchased our PV system in 2017 and our monthly energy bill has been $10/month. Later we invested in new windows and now our home uses even less energy and our PV system generates enough energy to power an EV. As we enter retirement we will have low fixed energy costs and the market prices won’t have a significant effect on us.

All of these changes give us more control over our family budgets, and make us more resilient to swings in the market or economy. It may be difficult if you lose your job, but if your mortgage is paid off or you have paid off a significant amount of the principle your bank is more likely to work with you until you find a job. If your living costs are low and you don’t have enormous debt hanging over your head, you can get by with lower income.

I realize that the price of a home or college education today is significantly higher than it was 25 years ago when we bought our first home. That may mean that we have to find new and creative ways to achieve home ownership. Maybe extended families will need to stay together under the same roof, supporting each other in raising children and caring for us in our elder years. We don’t need to accept what the corporate mouth pieces, the advertisers, or the social influencers tell us is the best life for us to lead.

Yup. Lots of Big Money folks, the Koch’s included, have for a long while been funding “economics departments”. Google (or use another search engine) using the terms koch grants economics department.

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=557255143&rlz=1CALBTX_enUS1062US1062&sxsrf=AB5stBgUDGVyPVJf3wTzgZRv5lOCgbFY8A:1692140618014&q=koch+grants+economics+department&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjTg8mD49-AAxUxMjQIHWJhAxsQ0pQJegQICBAB&biw=1366&bih=612&dpr=1

Is there anything billionaires (and multi-millionaires) don’t control in the USA, and elsewhere?