1y ago

"His name is Mongo"

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So uhh you got Marx on the team, solid choice.
And Richard Wolff, not my personal favorite but definitely a Marxian economist, he fits in.
And then you add in... Robert Reich? The milquetoast neoliberal? The guy from the Clinton administration who implemented NAFTA?
Does the team want to save capitalism, or dismantle it? I'm confused.
- And then you add in... Robert Reich? The milquetoast neoliberal? The guy from the Clinton administration who implemented NAFTA?
  You mean the father of dropout.tv CEO Sam Reich?
  
  Sam Reich? Where's he from?
- Frankly I had no idea who the third dude was, but that does sound like a weird choice
  
  Reich supported NAFTA from within the Clinton Administration. However in the intervening years it seems he may have learned the error of his ways. He was critical of the TPP because he thought would have been worse than NAFTA. In every interview I’ve seen him in he has been a very vocal proponent of labor power and critical of corporate power.
- Got any good recommendations or videos for actual economists who are fairly far left? I'm from the business world where everyone is convinced the invisible hand will guide everyone to the promised land but they conveniently ignore what Smith also said is the idea that such a concept, if it can work at all, only will if there's not much in terms of barriers to entry, no monopolies or corruption pulling strings, etc. Y'know, American capitalism at its core. Thanks in advance.
  
  I'm a big fan of Yanis Varoufakis, specifically his book "And the Weak Suffer What they Must?". I haven't read his new book "Technofeudalism" but it seems to be making an impact. You can find lots of interesting long-form videos of him on YouTube, not just on economics but also politics(he was an EU finance minister), and technology (he once worked at Valve, designing their community marketplace).
  I haven't fully come to a conclusion about Modern Monetary Theory, but I would recommend Stephanie Kelton, she's serious and interesting.
  I would also recommend Thomas Piketty's books, hes the expert on modern inequality.
  If those are too far left for you, then honestly Robert Reich isn't so bad. His position is further left than every president in my lifetime, but that's not saying too much. His plans to "save" capitalism are serious and technocratic, it would be great if they were implemented, but imo they dont solve the core problems of capitalism.
  
  I can't thank you enough. I appreciate you taking the time to share that with me. I've got some reading to do.
  
  Unlearning Economics is probably one of the best left-wing economist who is also a YouTuber. His video on worker democracy is a great place to start. He had a pretty good discussion on the Limits of YIMBYism on his live channel.
  
  Definitely going to check these out. Thank you!

15 comments