Til Debt Do Us Part

Joris Luyendijk

For those of you who haven’t seen it I recommend checking out Joris Luyendijk’s Banking Blog over at the Guardian. It’s all about the culture of finance and banking told from the inside and he writes in the introductory piece:

“This is an experimental blog exploring new ways to make a complex issue accessible to complete outsiders. The complex issue here is finance.

This blog started in the summer of 2011 and officially launched on 15 September of that year. As the blog’s author I began at zero, meaning I knew as little about finance as any other outsider. Since then each time I learn or discover something new, it goes on this blog and periodically I write wrap-up pieces surveying surprises, “light bulb moments” and larger lessons.”

It’s a great introduction to a world that is so powerful yet so few of us know anything about.

Til Debt Do Us Part at Latitude 2012

                          

I’ll be performing a snippet of Til Debt Do Us Part at Latitude 2012 with the Battersea Arts Centre with Rebecca Biscuit - come along if you’re in the area. Expect Jurassic Park meets Economics. 

Finance and Economics Explained on the Radio

One of my favorite programs on the radio - on any format in fact - is This American Life. If you don’t know it then I recommend you listen to its weekly covering of interesting stories with unique reportage framed within a specific approach to what radio should and can be.

I mention them here because they have done numerous stories on finance and money which are at once accessible and fascinating. Together with NPRs Planet Money team - also excellent - they have covered since 2008 the credit crunch, housing crisis, eurozone break up and insider trading amongst other topics. Here’s a summary of some of their programs that I think everyone, not just those who want to understand economics and finance, should listen to (click on the link to be taken to a summary of the show): 

1) The Invention of Money - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/423/the-invention-of-money

2) The Giant Pool of Money - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/355/the-giant-pool-of-money

3) Inside Job - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/405/inside-job

4) Another Frightening Show About Money - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/365/another-frightening-show-about-the-economy

5) Return To The Giant Pool of Money - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/390/return-to-the-giant-pool-of-money

6) Bad Bank - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/375/bad-bank

7) The Watchmen - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/382/the-watchmen

8) Toxie - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/418/toxie

9) How To Create A Job - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/435/how-to-create-a-job

Whilst you are at it - consider purchasing the This American Life app for mobile devices to support the show.

Paul Simon’s Graceland - the artist’s responsibility to politics

On the subject of art and political responsibility, the story of Paul Simon’s controversial Graceland album is up on the BBC iPlayer. Watch the fascinating story - asking questions about artists and their responsibilities to politics - if you have the time:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01kkn74/

Essential Economics Blogs

I’m going to come straight out and say that understanding some of these economics blogs isn’t always easy - as with any profession related to power the language used is often obfuscating rather than helpful - but if you spend the time learning the lingo they can be really rewarding to read. Here’s a few of the economics I read to keep up to date with what’s going on and what has gone on in economics over the past few years:

1) Paul Mason’s BBC blog 

2) Robert Skidelsky’s website

3) Bagehot’s Notebook at the Economist

4) Buttonwood at the Economist

5) Zerohedge

6) Larry Elliott at the Guardian

7) Planet Money

8) Steve Keen’s Debtwatch

9) David Harvey

10) Robert Peston 

Great interviews

Just to confirm, I spoke to Professor Richard Wolff and Professor Steve Keen last week. Talking over the phone to both within the same few hours in the small - and incredibly hot - Resonance 104.4 FM studio 2 might not be ideal but they were fantastic to talk to and so generous with their time. Above all though it was extremely informative and I look forward to bringing you the interviews both in their full conversation format and as part of the Til Debt Do Us Part radio specials that will broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM later this summer. In the meantime, here’s Steve Keen on BBC’s Hardtalk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGkmgnprrIU

and Richard Wolff on solutions to the economic crisis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJlXhYigqAQ&feature=related

Richard D. Wolff

I’m interviewing Richard D. Wolff this week for one of the radio shows I’m putting together for Til Debt Do Us Part. It’s been a whilst since I engaged with his work so I’m going back over his articles and lecture notes in preparation for the program. Doing so I’m just realising how good they are and would recommend anyone who wants an alternative understanding of economics or how Marxian economic theory can be interpreted to do so also.

Professor Wolff is particularly interesting because he is a product of elite American universities such as Harvard, Stanford and Yale - at each of which he studied and eventually taught economics in the current neo-classical school of thought. It was only through his own will and the help of some colleagues that he became a Marxist economist. This is a trend I’m finding more and more as I talk to people taught in economics as well as my own experience in analytic philosophy and economics at the LSE, Bristol University and Birkbeck College.

You can find Professor Wolff’s work on his website. Do also check out his online video classes on the same site at:

http://rdwolff.com/content/marxian-economics-intensive-introduction

Mixing politics and art - like oil and water?