Yup, competing factions in power on both sides of the relationship could knock things about.
Vikings were amazing, we (or at least I) still often underestimate or forget their reach. The idea of Vikings in the Middle East and North Africa trading and marrying, and generally being part of the flow of goods, people, and ideas always seems wild.
Anyhow, it’s been lovely set of exchanges and I’ve learnt things and: thanks.
We always used colonisation for European imperialism in my history classes, but I can see how the word doesn’t fully jive with expected meaning.
And we tend to use “neo-colonial” at least in my experience of British education for the US imperialism, too.
Crossed wires, eh?
I learned thermodynamics before I learned economics, so it didn’t escape my notice that GDP looks more like a measure of heat than a measure of work. It gives an overall “operating temperature” of the economy
That’s a really good analogy for it, thanks for sharing.
Maybe I’m biased, but I find it hard to believe that those 150 million (nearly half the population of the US?) would see a notable drop in the quality of their lives if their iPhones were Samsung, or Huawai, or any other non-domestic company’s.
You’re right in that “meaningfully improve” and “disproportionate” aren’t precise or scientific terms, either.
And re: colonialism, I think more people have managed international trade without going coloniser than did, so it can’t be seen as the sole origin. Needs more to germinate.
On the main issue, I’d say while GDP is far from perfect, it’s better to have the measure than not. Even if it works best as part of a range of measures and not over relied upon as it tends to be in popular understandings at the moment, in my view anyhow.
Temper it with more inequality stats, and also median wages vs. cost of living.
I suspect that what the person you replied to, meant with “meaningfully improve the lives of US citizens” was that the amount Apple contributes to the GDP of the USA (odd, since much of the goods aren’t domestically produced) is disproportionately high compared to its impact on quality of life of people in the US as a whole.
While I’m sure most Apple employees are paid slightly above the median wage, I don’t know the median salary for an Apply employee. I also, like you, am not utilitarian enough to think that a handful of people living large in opulence makes up for the way inequality is harming living standards and the economy as whole (not to mention the impact of it all on the planet). Additionally, Apple and large companies don’t buy from, or in most cases sell to individuals. They buy and sell mostly to other companies and only at the end do smaller branches or franchises sell to actual people. Mostly you have numbers and goods moving between old fashioned AIs running on human-processing power, but not actual people.
You’re very correct, in that any measure that becomes valued turns into a gamified target.
I do think that we have a habit of using GDP rather than GNP to obscure how many British products have been bought by Yanks, and have their profits syphoned off overseas.
My bigger issues with GDP is how it does tend to end up as the sole yardstick used in mainstream economics debates, and how it often includes financial services - which seems an artifical inflation; for instance simply paying the fees on a savings account (or even the overdraft fee) count towards GDP figures by default, but then arbitrarily choosing what to exclude makes a whole lot of new problems, and is something else you’re right about, too.
I thought it was a common first name because of all the fooling around in the Cyberdog dressing rooms?
A strong belief in separation of government from society, and traditionally opposed to unity of state and religion too.
Islam as a whole, prior to Peak Colonialism (which obviously led to some serious cultural and social restructuring) Islam was big on society-religion being apart from government and power. Leave government alone and ignore it as much as you can to live well within society - Sharia as a social code for getting along, with more wiggle-room and freedom compared to medieval laws from governments or local elite.
Debt , pp. 220-225 has a lot more of Graeber on the matter and we can both check the bibliography for more in depth reading.
If any European thinks we don’t have to get much better with how we treat Romani, Sinti, and other traveller groups they’re objectively wrong.
Simply not being as terrible and as murderiffic as the US isn’t the goal, and really should be taken as a given for any society even attempting to be suitable for humanity.
Until a bunch of unknowns and uncertainty are added because no-one knows the future.
And they almost always assume that their actions won’t lead to a decline in users, too.
Despite, not because.
Europe has it due to how strong Socialism looked post Second World War. Neoliberal Capitalism has been eroding it as best it can.
No, that’s Europe.
The PRC days off are appalling in comparison. And the previous comment didn’t even mention make up days.
Generally they’re not, provided they can keep it low key.
And since within the PRC it’s quite easy to fire people, and courts and settlement is about how much 面子 you can make the company lose without pissing off local authorities vs. the 关系 and pressure they can bring to bear to have you drop it there’s not much to be done.
“ask” that people do overtime, and then fire them for not being a team player, or downmote them into a stressful deadend if they don’t take the voluntary overtime.
Shia has far fewer states and been less interested in temporal power, even Iran is quite an odd case.
Graeber also liked to point out that Shia Islam is quite anarchistic and anti-state authority.
And also that markets divorced from state power lacked a lot of the coercive power they have in the modern Anglo-European unity of state and capital.
I appreciate the choice made over X-ray fish, Xantops, and Xerus.
Going hard, and I wonder what other letters have.
No, the age of America is over.
The Trump preaidencies aren’t a radical break from the past, he’s just an unveiling of it’s darkest, ugliest, impulses and the logical conclusion of its ideals.
Maybe European mainstream leaders can convince themselves to get back into bed with US imperialism, as we benefit from it so much, but US in the eyes of the people never recovered post Iraq II, and across the whole world the US is now primarily seen as the demagogic bully that it is.
The US must learn to get along with its neighbours and treat other nations and people with respect.
Suicide only stopped being a crime in many parts of the world recently… Euthanasia is much larger step beyond that.
Let’s give things time.
Or maybe since he was an early written source for low culture, he is just the first attested source because we didn’t print out what plebs were talking about prior to that?