Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

  Economist Branko Milanovic  described  recent events as the “largest setbacks to global poverty and inequality reduction since the end of Second World War.” The rot at the heart of the global economy

An alternative to monetary or wage policy

“ Whoever controls the institutions that distribute wealth in the world economy controls who gets what.” The pandemic is very bad. Yes, but not for everybody.

What might he say about today’s pandemic?

Five Crises

The pandemic slump has raised poverty across the globe

Shutdown Related Pro-market thinking: ministers want it to survive Covid

Factory farms of disease

Fighting for unpaid wages in pandemic’s shadow

From February (in four languages) Back to business as usual

A social-democratic view. The pandemic-induced global slump is just part of a 20-year financial crisis

“ Sunday’s coup had nothing to do with the virus. It was planned at a time when the virus was under control.” True. However, one also needs to look at what social classes and social strata involved in the protests on the eve of the coup and what alternative to the 10 years of political instability and worsening of living conditions the leaders of the coup have.  Is the situation in Tunisia unique and isolated from the global crisis and not structurally connected to the weak capitalism and the ‘unpatriotic’ bourgeoisie–be it Islamic or secular? Can a small, poor country with very limited resources escape the domination of and dependence on powerful states–regional and Western–and international capital? David Hearst speaks about the involvement of the United Arab Emirates. But is it disingenuous from him to ignore the involvement of other regional powers, including Qatar. There is nothing constitutional about Qais Saied’s coup In May, the country started talks with the International ...

 

“ [W]hat is needed is political discussion, revolutionary ideological rearmament, accountability and workers’ democracy.” I don’t think that would be enough. How to feed the people and providing them with a decent standard of leaving is tied up with how developed and productive the economy is and what class re-alignment is possible. In the current circumstances as in the previous decades Cuba as an isolated island with limited resources, lack of technological means and embargo is unable to provide for the majority of its people.

1% own 45% of the world’s personal wealth while nearly 3bn people have little or no wealth at all Related The Great Lockdown hits the Third World

This is not news; it’s been going going for years. “Rather than selling off the NHS  outright – a decision politicians know would be unpopular – they are instead doing this through the backdoor, by stealth.” The NHS is being privatised by stealth under cover of the pandemic

The roaring twenties repeated? Related Why the threat posed by Covid to the global economy is not over

The IMF is Hollowing out Pakistan’s Sovereignty

A New Consensus?

UK budget: coming out of Covid Related An arsonist posing as a firefighter