debt

The Commoner #7: The "governance" of Imposed Scarcity

Issue 7 of The Commoner magazine

The illusion of the precapitalist gift - humanaesfera

What was the precapitalist gift? In what concrete material circumstances did it make sense? Here, we briefly want to show that the precapitalist conditions which made the gift to make sense are not only without return, but are also absolutely undesirable today. In communist society the enjoyment of the productive forces can neither be a gift nor an exchange of commodities.

Capitalism’s Crisis of Stagnation and Austerity

Submitted by Internationalis... on Jan 30 2018 16:11

As 2018 opens economic optimism is breaking out amongst the capitalist class. Leaving aside the vainglorious boasts of the current President of the United States that unemployment in the US has reached lows only last seen in the post-war boom, or that the New York stock market is now at all time record highs, more serious economic commentators are arguing that after a decade of misery (at least for 99% of the planet) the signs of recovery from the 2007-8 banking collapse are now behind us. If this sounds familiar it is because we have heard the same tale so many times.

Ten Years Since the Financial Crash: What Price Education?

Submitted by Internationalis... on Sep 29 2017 15:48

Ever since the post-war principle of free education was abandoned in 1998 by Blair’s New Labour government, fees for higher education have risen steeply and expanded to include maintenance charges.

The Politics of Debt

This paper was presented to the CSE Scotland conference on The State, the Poll
Tax and Class Struggle held on 27th January 1990. It is very much the product
of discussions within the CSE Edinburgh group.

5,000 years of debt?

William Hogarth, "The Rake in a debtors' prison", from "The Rake's progress", 17

Aufheben's critical review of David Graeber's book Debt: The first 5,000 years.

Shays' rebellion, 1786

Submitted by Steven. on Aug 26 2014 14:26

A short history of the "Shays' rebellion" in Massachusetts in the wake of the American Revolution, in which many poor farmers and war veterans attempt to shut down the state's courts in protest at the debt burden on veterans and high taxes on farmers.